Genndy Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack cartoon has a lot of cool things going for it: a unique look, smart stories, good sound design, and tons of action. The Samurai Jack game, however, has none of the above. The conversion of Tarakovsky's two-dimensional characters to three dimensions makes for graphics that look familiar, yet still crappy. Where the show looks lush, the game looks bland. But the graphics aren't the only dull aspect of this title.As with the show, The Shadow of Aku follows Samurai Jack's quest to defeat the evil demon Aku by travelling back in time to thwart him before he can rise to power. Before he can head into the past, Jack has to free those Aku has enslaved. In each stage, Jack must seek out caged villagers and ancient relics to earn power-ups. Freeing villagers can earn Jack new swords, while relics can be exchanged for more life, power, or Zen (which allows Jack to enter "sakai mode" – basically a simplified bullet time). The trouble is that none of these power-ups have any real effect on gameplay. The various swords all appear to dish out basically the same amount of damage.Like most licensed games, The Shadow of Aku is a collect-a-thon with simple combat, basic platforming, and little innovation. This isn't a truly bad game, just a very uninspired one. The various combat systems all work perfectly, they're just shallow and a bit counter-intuitive. The difficulty level is hilariously low; on the hardest setting, it's still a cakewalk, on the lowest, it can be easily completed by someone in a coma. Strangely, young kids don't seem to be this title's target audience, based on the Teen rating. Overall, The Shadow of Aku comes across as an amazingly generic action title. It's a shame, as Samurai Jack is easily one of the most unique cartoons on the air today, so this could have been so much more.Concept:Take a Cartoon Network hero, dumb him down, and shove him in a generic third-person action titleGraphics:The look is pretty faithful to the show, which sadly doesn't make for a good-looking gameSound:The music, sound effects, and voiceovers are all pretty minimal and forgettablePlayability:The slightly bizarre control scheme works just fine, but it isn't exactly deepEntertainment:Even Samurai Jack fans will find themselves yawning through this oneReplay:LowRated:6 out of 10Editor:Jeremy ZossIssue:May 20042nd Opinion:Every single one of the four points I'm giving this game is for the animations seen in sakai mode. Sakai, apparently, makes time slow down and allows Jack to execute some really nice kung fu-inspired moves. But to be kind, the rest of Samurai Jack's latest outing is less than inspiring. There are hub worlds. I really thought that we were past all of that sometime back in 2001. I don't want my missions doled out by ungrateful villagers in such a predictable and linear fashion. In addition, although the look of the game kind of resembles the show, it ends up just looking gross.Rated:4 out of 10Editor:Lisa MasonSubscribe to Game Informer--Game Informer Review