Warriors Orochi

"A review from a fan of the series that has beaten the game"

Before I go into any detail I'm going to clarify that I have been playing the Dynasty Warriors series since way back when DW2 came out and made our heads spin that first time we threw Dian Wei's axe into 20 troops and watched them all die. I've always been a fan of the series, but I haven't played either of the Samurai Warriors games so hopefully this review won't throw you off when I start mentioning the new additions.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics are definitely the best we've seen in a warriors game except maybe Samurai Warriors 2. I noticed that most reviews from IGN, game informer, and 1up complain that the battlefields look "very bland". I will say right now that IGN said, and I quote "the PS2 version looks awful". Now unless the standards for PS2 graphics shot up in the last 2 weeks then that definitely isn't right.
The battlefields are not bland, they may not be too detailed but I think it's good because it doesn't take any attention from the gameplay, which will be mentioned later. The character models don't look quite as good as in DW5 and SW2 but they're still a step above all of the other past warriors games except the ones I just mentioned.

Sound 8/10

The music is basically the same music taken from DW4 and 5 and I think SW1 and 2 with a little more subtleties that can be hard to notice. Sound effects are definitely better; the blocking noises are different and sound much better. The hitting noises are much better, you no longer have just that kind of meaty thump when you hit a guy, and about half of the time now it makes a metallic sound that you would expect to hear sometimes when most of the guys that you're fighting are wearing armor. And last but not least, the voice acting is kind of mixed. Some of the voices sound better (in my opinion) but an equal amount of them just sound kind of annoying. Now the dialogue on the other hand, isn't your usual "Damn, an ambush" or "I cannot just leave these people". No, now you have more modernized, and sometimes genuinely humorous lines between characters. I've even found myself playing a stage with every character just to see what they say when they meet up with a certain person.

Story 6/10

While the story is almost completely new, which is something that especially the Dynasty Warriors series needed, it doesn't really have much to it. All it really does is tell you that the demon Orochi made some kind of a space-time rift, causing the time periods of 5th century China and 16th century Japan to be kind of fused together. Then Orochi pretty much killed or captured everyone who resisted his plan of world domination. So you're pretty much just tossed into the game as a random character on a quest to destroy Orochi, rescue someone and then destroy Orochi, or are blackmailed into serving Orochi and eventually rebel against him. There really isn't much more to it then that.

Gameplay 9/10

Gameplay is where Warriors Orochi shines. Basically, it's your typical slash up hundreds of enemies with a few sub bosses and eventually an end of level boss or two. But there are many things that have been added which give the game a fresh new feeling of bloodless bloodlust. The biggest change in the gameplay is the 3-person tag team system. You choose 3 warriors from all 77 characters from the warriors series. In battles you control one character at a time, though he or she can be switched out for another character as long as you aren't in the middle of a combo, getting hit, on a horse, or lying on the ground.

Horses have been greatly improved, your mounted attacks do a lot more damage so you can actually kill some people without having to stop and get off to kill 2 peons. I'm not sure if it was in Samurai Warriors or not, but you can also make your horse jump by pressing triangle when you're not in the middle of a combo. This can hurt and kill enemies and you can also make your character attack while the horse is in the air so you can have the horse stomp someone while you stab him in the chest. Or if you really want to do something fun, you can make your horse jump and then you dismount in midair and kill people on your way down.

The character's movesets are basically the same. Once again, I haven't played Samurai Warriors 1 or 2 so I'm not sure if the SW character's movesets are the same. But the dynasty warriors characters are the same except the evolution attacks, which were added onto the weapon in DW5, which allowed another small attack string at the end of the regular combo, are just added onto the regular moveset. Since the weapons you have no longer decides how many attacks you have, you now gain attacks at about every 2 levels until you get to about level 20.

Another big gameplay addition is special attacks. These are triggered by pressing R1, they use some of you musou meter unless you are using a speed type character (explained shortly), but they do large amounts of damage, but most of them are only good for hitting a few enemies. Most people complained that the special attacks have rendered musou attacks useless but like I mentioned a second ago, most special attacks only hit a few enemies so won't use them for large-scale crowd clearing very much. But this is where the musou attack becomes handy again, while it may not do as much damage as most special attacks, musou attacks can hit dozens of enemies multiple times meaning that if you're surrounded by peons, especially on the harder difficulties, a musou attack can really get you out of a tight spot. Plus you're also invincible while you use a musou attack, whereas when you use a special attack and get hit before the attack is actually executed, you don't perform the attack and you still use part of your musou meter.

Characters have been divided into 3 classes, power, technique, and speed. The class determines how special attacks work and some other things, which I'll mention here.

Power character's special attacks usually do more damage and in most cases can hit multiple targets, though they can't be used in a combo. Power characters generally attack slower and because of that, they get hit more but to counteract this, they have what's called "hyper armor". This makes it to where if you're in the middle of a combo, you won't flinch or be interrupted if a normal hit or an arrow hits you. But you still take damage and it doesn't help against charge attacks.

Technique type characters' special attacks, which use a bit of your musou meter, can be used in place of charge attacks to do an enhanced version of the charge attack, which is usually faster and does more damage. They also have a specific special attack, which is used, in a certain place in a combo to do a unique attack that isn't just an enhanced charge attack. Technique characters also can perform counterattacks, which use some musou power, by pressing R1 right after you are attacked. These can be very good for getting out of a tough situation and in some cases do very large amounts of damage.

Speed type characters generally attack faster then the other classes and their special attacks, while they don't do as much damage, do not use any of your musou meter. Plus these can also be weaved into your combos. Also, speed types can do a sort of air dash that's like a double jump that propels you forward in midair. This is very good for getting out of a tight spot and can be used in between hits in a combo.

Now I'll talk about the bad parts of the gameplay. First of all, the fog is still there on 2 player. When there are too many enemies on the screen for the game to handle, some of the ones behind you disappear off of the screen so you can't hit them. This is kind of annoying but it's not too much of a problem.

Game lag is still a problem though it's not as bad as previous games, especially on 2 player.

In 2 player, both players are forced to use the same 3 characters as the other person. This can be annoying, but you'll just have to learn to share when you pick characters.

Length, replay value, etc: 8/10

The game between the 4 storylines, has a total of 60 stages which is a decent amount. However, the challenge mode and versus modes are gone, though with 77 characters to play through the game with, you'll have plenty of stuff to do. Characters can be leveled up all the way to 99 instead of the usual 20. You now upgrade your weapons by spending growth points, which are gained in levels to add on stats and effects, which can be used to personalize a weapon to your liking. There are also character specific items, which are unlocked like unique items on the previous games. So you'll have plenty to do once you beat Orochi on all 4 storylines.

Worth buying?

Yes definitely, you might want to rent it first if you're new to the series to see whether or not you would like it or not. But it's definitely worth buying if you're a fan of the series.


Final score 7.75/10, rounded to 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/19/07

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