Warriors Orochi

"One of Koei's greatest achievements"

I first heard of Warriors Orochi from my brother. He had bought it for the XBox 360. I thought it looked great, and I was relieved to see that it was also released for the PS2. This game is one that is sure to please gamers for quite a long time to come.

Gameplay

Well, this game is a mesh between the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series, so it plays like them. There are people who might say that this system is being overused, and is now nothing special. Well, they, in my opinion, are very mistaken. For one thing, you don't just fight as one person...you fight as three. It's a three-way tag team, and you can level up your characters, and increase their max combo limit by increasing proficiency. Another thing special is the musou. Originally, you built it up by killing people. Well, it isn't that simple anymore. The musou bar raises with time, and the fighter that you are currently using will experience a slower musou rise. Switching fighters out will cause musou to rise quicker, as well as recover health. Also, power attacks (some of which require a bit of musou) can be used, giving more attack variety.

Sound

Oh, where to begin about the sound...it's just superb in just about every way. Yes, just about every way. The voices, overall, are astounding, and the sounds effects that you hear during fights haven't lost their touch. However, the big thing is that a few of the characters have annoying voices that would make you wish they never existed. Such characters include Zhang Jiao and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Graphics

The graphics are amazing. Nothing appears to blocky or too flat, and environmental elements just seem to go so well together. Another thing I would like to add is the character appearances. Everyone just looks perfect. Of course, there are those characters that look ridiculous on some grounds, such as a wacky helmet or funky movements, but overall, the characters just appear very smooth, as do their weapons. And another thing...if you don't like the way a character looks, you could always use their alternate outfit, and see if you like that one better than the original one. This game has the best graphics I have seen from Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors.

Replay value

This game has excellent replay value. Sure, you'll need to start off easy, and go to basically the same missions to level up. But, the more difficult you set things (which you can do at the beginning of every battle), the trickier things will become, such as officers, and sometimes basic units, guarding more, dealing more damage, and having more health. Also, the fact that there are so many characters to choose from increases replay value. "Okay, so these three do pretty well here on hard mode. But what about THESE three?" Plus, not every mission is as simple as taking down the enemy commander...you may have to fulfill certain requirements before you can do that, which is always a plus. These might also prove more stressful to do on harder difficulties.

Overall, the game is fantastic. It sold for $40 upon its release. Even with that high price tag, it is well worth the buy, and I have to recommend this game to anyone that owns a PS2 or XBox 360.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/15/07

Game Release: Warriors Orochi (US, 09/18/07)