Samurai Warriors

"Insert flashy title here."

NOTE: I DON'T OWN KOEI, DYNASTY OR SAMURAI WARRIORS. THIS IS SIMPLY A REVIEW FROM A FAN.

Here is Koei's attempt at Japanese Dynasty Warriors, and I'll be the first one to tell you that it is far from it. I'm a fan of the Dynasty Warriors series, but I find Samurai Warriors to be a true disappointment, especially for all the hype it got before it was released. I couldn't open a gaming magazine without seeing Yukimura Sanada's face.

The story of the game is that of the Sengoku period of Ancient Japan. Several warlords are vying to become the shogun of the island in order to "put the chaos to the end". Some of these names are quite famous, too, Oda Nobunaga, who has had cameos and major roles in other games such as Onimusha 2, Takeda Shingen, the well-versed-in-combat leader of the Kai forces, Uesugi Kenshin, and more. Through the game you complete missions in your stages while simultaneously improving the aspects of your character to make them an effective Sengoku hero (or villain). You'll also pick up tidbits of history here and there

Seems like Koei couldn't go wrong with this one, right?

Gameplay; 6/10 Oh, there is A LOT in this game to be unlocked. Weapons, stages, characters, outfits and more. Surprisingly, it took this game a while to sit on my shelf and collect dust.

However, the same old routine of square square square triangle triangle triangle gets stale after the first time you clear a character's 5 stages. Speaking of, this was another thing I found somewhat disappointing; not all characters had the same amount of stages. While one character might have four, another one could have 8 or 7. Plus, some of the stages are completely uncalled for. You'll get so tired of Infiltration missions, especially with slow characters. Which, by the way, just about every character has one.

Gaining kills seems also to be extremely difficult this time around. There aren't nearly enough characters to get some desired kills in. If you're going to have a hack'n slash game, you need more enemies to.. well.. hack'n slash. Not to mention that the peons on this game are either weak and timid or insanely strong and down right vexing. Archers and musketeers make an appearance and break your combo every opputunity they get. Also, being knocked on the ground and getting up on either Chaos or Hard levels is like trying to shove a watermelon through a grape. It's that hard.

The create a character system is completely screwed up as well. I don't mind going through 12 trials to prove I'm worthy, but to get to the end and have all my work deleted because I didn't get 100 points? Also, apparently if you're *really* good at something, the difficulty of the trial moves up to impossible heights and hardships. I would have much rather preferred just dressing him up, giving him a fighting style and some weapons/weapon.

The last thing I'll complain about is unlocking some of the items/weapons. Some of these are insanely difficult. For instance, to get "Provisions", or a special item that will bring your dead character back to half life requires that you have 130 jump AND try comboing. After that you'll fight Hattori Hanzo, an infamous ninja. However, each trial only gives you about +1 or +2 on your jumping ability. Supposedly some characters may start out with a higher jump, speed or attack, so when you're not pulling out your hair over not getting 130 jump, you're yanking teeth trying to get a "head start".

Story; 3/10 This is the only real flaw I see with Koei's Warriors games. They never really tend to follow history. I've sat at the TV screen, thinking how Koei could follow the actual events better. Such as, apparently Lady Noh (who is the wife of Nobunaga) wasn't the true love interest of Nobunaga. He loved another woman, one of his concubines who bore him two sons and a princess. There was no connection between this and the story. Also, when a character dies in real life, they should die in the game. Just because they're the protagonist doesn't mean they're invincible.

Graphics: 8/10 Obviously this game was created between Dynasty Warriors 4 and 5, as you can see in the graphics. The in-battle fields an castle details are utterly amazing, but I found the cinema sequences a bit disappointing. It was pretty much the same as the in-field graphics. However, it's not like they were total let downs, either.

Replayability:7/10 Pretty decent, considering the amount of junk you can unlock and how long it will take you. However, once you do unlock everything, there is ultimately nothing to do. No fun mini-games, and if you reset the memory on your card, you can find your self looking forward to another year of sitting in front of your TV set.

Final. The game is a well-deserved 4, and maybe a five, but that's pretty stretching it. Koei psychotics would adore it, but if you're not all about the company, the story, or the concept then I'd just rent it. Or not even touch it.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/02/05