Samurai Warriors 2

"Sengoku Finest Returns to Battle once again, with many new friends"

Introduction: Koei returns with the second installment of the hack and slash Samurai Warriors franchise and it turns out with a decent sequel. The first installment came out as a mirror to the Dynasty Warriors series, but with a lot more to offer, since it only had so few characters to play as such as a skill branch tree, which gives you skills that you can only find in items in Dynasty Warriors 2-5, also allowing equiping of five items. But now they return with some new and some rejected, players now will no longer will be able to play as Yoshimoto Imagawa, Kunoichi, and Goemon. But new characters arrive to take their place: Kotaro Fuma, Mitsunari Ishida, Ieyasu Tokugawa, Yoshishiro Shimazu, Ginchiyo Tachibana, Sakon Shima, Nene, Nagamasa Azai, Kanetsugu Naoe, and Musashi Miyamoto.

Gameplay:The combat system has change in many ways first and foremost you start out with a limited move set, you have to level up your character to additional moves. How those move increase depends on their type: normal, charge, or special. Each character gets two unique moves for their battles ahead; for example Yukimura Sanada R1 Square will send him charging with a flaming spear, while his R1 Triangle summon his trusty steed anywhere on the battlefield to him as long he is out side of a building. There are no Items now, since you'll be learning skills from defeated officers and buying them at the shop. You will also be buying your bodyguard and steed at the shop as well. Each character in the game with the exception of Okuni and Ranmaru Mori, has a story line which consist of five or six stages along with a dream stage.
Missions returns again, but they will only activate if you are in the vincinity of the area in battle, which gives you time to complete one you are currently trying to finish at the time. Free Mode unlike last time where you pick a character and a character story line mission and dubbing you as Player 1, you now just choose the side of a particular battle and the character you control retain his or her name and special objectives. Survival mode returns as in this mode you pick a warrior and travel up in floors, saving after every five floors until you have fallen to gain gold. The newest addition to the Samurai warriors franchise is the minigame Sugoruko, which is basic ripoff of Mario Party and Monopoly that lies only on luck and is not a recommended play in my book. You can look at the warriors progress in the Vault menu which shows all the weapons, skills, moves, movies, body guards, and steeds you have unlock. Samurai Warriors 2 has lot to offer to new players but only hardcore fans would want to return until Koei decides to revamp the game.

Story: The Story is differs from character to character, though all in Japans' Sengoku era, and it varies for what the battles the character faces. I like all the storyline, though some may not like others.

Graphics and Sound: The graphics are what you expect to see in the PS2 version decent, but the sound just like in the original Samurai Warriors game is techno like. Many may complain about the voice acting, since there is no Japanese voice overs in the U.S. version. But it should not stop you from playing if you've been a fan of this type of game for a long time.

Play Time/Replayability: It took me over 200 hours to get everything not including maxing out all the characters, though it could be more around the 100 hours mark and the replayability is medium since this game may cause others to move on to another, because it does tend to be redundant in many battles.

Final Recommendation: It is a must for the fans of the series, also with Dynasty Warriors fanbase too. Others might not be too keen on the Idea though.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/18/07

Game Release: Samurai Warriors 2 (US, 09/19/06)