Samurai Warriors 2 Empires

"Everlasting battles, led by strategy"

Introduction

Samurai Warriors 2: Empires was an expansion to the world-wide known Samurai Warriors 2. The SW series adopted the same marketing strategy of its "big brother" Dynasty Warriors, spawning a spin-off after the launch of a main chapter. Well, SW2 mimicked the Dynasty Warriors 5 franchise, launching a strategy-hack'n'slash expansion called "Empires". Surprisingly, the game has gained good reviews and a slightly positive degree of attention by the "Warriors" series fans. Let's see what this game has got to offer.


Graphics - 8
Well, not much to say here. In-game graphics aren't surely the best around the planet, but they're quite enjoyable and rich of special effects, that don't ruin the battlefield atmosphere, indeed. On the other hand, though, Koei has always shown some quality when it comes to CG scenes. They're absolutely great and well-directed, even if it makes you think a little. In fact, players don't usually pretend nearly-perfect visuals, but nowadays, it's a must for every gaming franchise to be at least good-looking. Games who feature CG cut-scenes and have a PS1 in-game graphics quality, should ask themselves "What if these graphics were actually featured in a real-time gameplay?" Seriously though, even if this game was released quite a couple of years ago, it doesn't mean that each time that Koei spawns another game they must have the same graphics of the previous chapters... Look for DW3, DW4, SW.

Gameplay - 8,5
Gameplay is frenetic as always. Little mods have been added within the original gameplay, but it's still fluid and full of action. The feature of the "bases" is an improved version of the DW5 ones, and the only difference is that the base captains have got a shield, preventing them from sudden death-blows. The new Musou strikes are colorful, powerful and visually stunning, and it can be performed by max. 4 characters (with full Musou gauge) at the same time. Other than that, let's see instead why this game is called "Empires".
As I mentioned before, this SW2 expansion adds a strategic flavor to the basic SW typical frenetic gameplay. First of all, forget the Story modes of the previous SWs: they're replaced by "episodes" which represent some historical events of the Warring States period, of Japan. The part that may confuse everyone who didn't play DW5E is the whole new "Strategy Phase" of the episode you've chosen. It's quite a simplified version of Civilization, only that it features Japan instead. Some options available in the various menu of the Strategy Phase, might not be intuitive for beginners. At all. Only some good gaming experience can overwhelm such handicaps, if you consider the whole amount of turns you may spend while browsing the various options and such. Overall, the gameplay could be actually fun even for the non-hardcore fan of the series, but I suggest to get Samurai Warriors 2 first and then play this.

Soundtracks and Audio department - 8
Here comes the audio. Yay. *ahem* The techno-ambient songs played during the battles (with the add of some Japanese typical instruments) give to the player the right adrenaline he needs to be in a virtual "combat high", while slashing some enemies and everything in his path. Some may like this, some may don't. I personally prefer only a few songs of the whole collection, especially the seasons ones - the new Empires tracks. On the other hand, the sound effects are well-done and they rarely annoy the player with those. What I really considered as a down-fall was the voice acting: I merely prefer some of SW2 voices, while considering the majestic work done in the original SW. In Empires, I hate the voice of Mitsunari, Magoichi, Noh, and Keiji Maeda. Kenshin Uesugi has been completely wasted, and the great Nobunaga has been vocally underrated. Many SW fans have noted this, including me. It's really a shame that we can't hear the same voice quality of games like Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy X.

Replay value - 7,5
I guess it's only a matter of time before you'll get annoyed by all this "strategy". If you're brave enough to be able to max-out all your characters, then go ahead. But, really, there's not much to be done while you've completed the most number of episodes.

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Final rating - 8
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This game can be really considered as a good one, only if you've played Samurai Warriors 2 - the original chapter - or at least played Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires, just to understand the game mechanics. Playing this game it's only a matter of opinions: if you liked the whole series and you've been pointing this game for a long while then go ahead and buy it; otherwise, play a demo or rent it for a day.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/03/08

Game Release: Samurai Warriors 2 Empires (EU, 03/16/07)