Kabuki Warriors is a horrible fighting game from Genki and Lightweight, the companies responsible for games like Kengo and Bushido Blade. This Xbox fighter may feature just as much swordplay as those games, but a lack of variety, poor gameplay, and an awful presentation keep this mildly interesting concept from achieving anything beyond establishing a new low.

The main mode in Kabuki Warriors is its tour mode, in which you take a team of three Kabuki characters from city to city, "performing" by fighting opposing Kabuki teams. A successful performance on your part--which is accomplished by hammering on the game's attack button while occasionally stopping to hit your special attack button--lets you trade one of your fighters for one of the three you just faced. The object is to have a badass team of Kabuki warriors by the time you get to the final city, Kyoto. Fighting earns money, which is used to travel. The more money you earn in a fight, the farther you can travel in one turn. You can choose to save all your money by only progressing one stop at a time, or you can spend it all to get from place to place and traverse the Japanese countryside much, much faster. Money is earned by winning a bout, but you can also earn extra cash by performing combos and taunting. The twist here is that the money comes from your audience, and you'll actually see coins flying at your character when you've done something to warrant some change.