Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends

"Its Koei, Koei we Praise!"

“Its Koei, Koei we praise!”

Samurai Warriors: Extreme Legends is an Expansion to Koei's hack-and-slash game, Samurai Warriors. This is a game that takes place during the warring states period of Japan where you have to take control of a Feudal Lord (or vassal) and fight in order to control the land. The things that makes this game an expansion is 1. You have the ability to play as new characters and there are new items and such, and 2. You have to have the original in order to play the full game.

This game makes a great expansion because it adds 4 new stories to the mix and also allows the ability to gain 6th level weapons. Another feature is the bonus point system which allows you to gain points for doing…just about anything and then spend them on things such as, voice testing, easier to obtain weapons, and the ability to surpass your characters limit caps. I was kind of irritated at the fact that some of the characters were still “not historically accurate.” Mitsuhide for example was bald and referred to by Nobunaga as “kumquat head,” while Goemon was supposed to be very fit and fight using the sword “Zantetzuken” rather than a club.

Gameplay: The gameplay is great alone, even better when paired with the original game. The idea of putting extra missions inside the maps that will effect the battle is genious. 10/10

Controls: Simple to master, this allows a very small learning gap for the player. You have your guard, attack, jump, and the “evade.” Evade being just a roll that somehow allows you to go right through enemy attacks and traps. 10/10

Graphics: Overall the graphics were good, but not great compared to these days standards, but the colors were dark. (Which is how war should be portrayed, I believe. Not all happy and beautiful.) 8/10

Sound: I loved the voice acting, it was great for the most part. The sound effects were great but confusing. I fail to see how Okuni's umbrella clashing with Date's sticks can create the sound of metal on metal. 8/10

Replay Value: This game has a slurry of items that any completionist would love to earn. The bonus point system adds to that even more. Each character has two endings (except Okuni who has 5 or 6) that someone can scramble to obtain. There is also a cameo appearance that Koei fans will probably recognize. 9/10

Rent or Buy: For anyone who has the original, buy it. For anyone who loves hack-and-slash with a strong story line, buy it. Anyone else should just rent it though.

Pros and Cons

Pros
+ 4 new characters (like Hashiba Hideyoshi)
+ 1 new map (Komaki-Nagakute)
+ Many new items
+ 6th level weapons
+ More healing items in castles
+ Bonus Points
+ New survival mode
+ New VS modes

Cons
- One of the new characters is Imagawa Yoshimoto (the guy has nostrils on his forehead)
- The battles still seem to be 1 VS all sometimes
- Replaying the Gold Rush gets tedious
- 6th level weapons are HARD to get. (some may find this a pro)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/03/05