Samurai Warriors 2

"Musou Madness at it's best: From a Hack and Slash players view point."

Hello, I'm a Hack and Slash gaming fan, and own many title and played them all over the years. From hybrid games that have some hack and slash in them such as Kingdoms under Fire and Kessen 3, to pure hack and slash such as the Dynasty Warriors series of games, and the Samurai Warriors series, Ninety Nine Nights, and many others. I have played these games on both PS1, PS2, PC and now the Xbox 360.

This review is using the Xbox 360, on a standard TV. Note: To all players using standard TV, the Xbox is geared for HDTV and you may notice small print that is slightly fuzzy to read. On HDTV these text are very clear and easy to read. So, my review will not consider that point since all of the text while the game is being played has voice over. Text during saves and at the shop, buying skills and weapon upgrades can strain the eyes some, but can be read. Buyer be warned. Also this review does not consider Xbox live. I live in the countryside far from cable. The game does have Xbox live game play, either as a 2 player co-op, as a player to player battle on maps, or finally as a 4 player game of Sugoroku. A board game that plays much like Monopoly, but with some interesting twists. More on that later.. NOW, onto the review!

Graphics will never make or break a game, but is still is quite important to get players to want to play the game, and suspend disbelief. How does SW2 measure up? The graphics are the best to date for Koei. The colors are bright, the outfits on both the common troops and generals are detailed. The background is varied, from high grass, mountains, rivers and streams, to castles, keeps, villages, and even the weather as snow floats down or rain falls. That said, this game does not stretch the limits of the 360, it doesn't even make it get up a light sweat. No, the graphics are on par with the PS2, and not the next gen graphics, many including me were hoping for. That said they still are good for what they are. Draw distance I noticed has improved over previous titles, while not on par with N3, they still are much better than SW1. I noted also the units of troops seem to be much larger up to 10 or 12 per troop instead of 5 as in the last game. Koei added some nice touches, special effects are plentiful, cut scenes many, and the opening scenes both at the start of the game and before and after battles are excellent, and can be quite touching, serious, or even humorous! They set the scene and draw the player into the game. Cut scenes introduce the player to major foes and special conditions met in battle. Koei was smart enough with these scenes not breaking up a combo. Yep, you can continue where you left of in a combo or mosou attack. Mosou attacks are over the top and colorful. Each type of mosou attack has its own graphics, a nice touch. Some other additions I noted were the flash of muskets being fired and formations of troops kneeling and reloading while those behind them fire another volley. Also, when the enemy troops rout and run away, they have a special animation that clearly shows they are in fear for their lives. Really nice stuff. My only complaint is I wished Koei would have gave the player the eye candy the 360 can deliver instead of a PS2 port.

Sound is like graphics in my opinion to a lesser degree, but still important. The sound in this game is quite good. The music is a combo between pop rock and or techno and old world Japan. It sound great and really adds to the game. Music is up tempo and gives you the sense of urgency during battles. Music during other scenes fit the mood, and the sound during the board game Sugoroku is funny and light hearted. Sound effect during the game are also top notch. Little things like the rush of a river, the sound of falling rain, the clash of arms, the sound of muskets, the cries of soldiers, the roar of cannons, the horses hoof falling on different types of terrain make different sounds, even the cool echo effects of the troops muskets and voices when in empty water ditches and caverns. The script for the characters are quite good, with both straight and funny lines throughout the battle. As for the voices themselves, they are much like Anime voice over, with American sounding dialogue, some quite funny sounding. One character has a Elvis sound to his voice, and clearly many such voices are used as a form of humor. Some may like this, other might not. Really, this area is up to the individual. The only thing I can find fault with in this area is there is NO, Japanese voice over option. It would have been a nice touch. Hopefully Xbox Live will have a option for a download in the future.

How about game play? Anything new? Plenty, yet the game still plays out like the koei games before it. There are four modes of play. They are Story mode, Free mode, Survival mode, and Sugoroku. Story mode is the heart of the game, here the player has the cool opening scenes and storyline that draws them into the character and game. The story strings together a series of battles each with it's own victory conditions and they are full of interesting and fun missions to fulfill during battle. Some must be completed, while others do not have to but doing so will gain the player advantages in the fight. Here is where Koei excels. Giving the player a challenge to complete all the missions. Many times your allies will call for help, giving the player a hard choice of who to save and who to let to his own devices. Some might consider this a poor AI, but would be mistaken to do so. It is just part of the game design, for the purpose of making the player feel he or she is the one that is really making a difference. Saving allies also raises morale of the troops making them fight all the harder for your cause. Character will gain experience, new skills by defeating generals, and weapons. You also have your horses. Now you can go to a shop before or after a mission to buy upgrades for your weapons, horse to ride, and skills to beef you your character. There are 12 horses you can buy and or unlock. Each with it's own pros and cons. Horses have stats in 3 areas. Stamina, power and speed. Stamina is how much damage the horse can take, power the damage it can give trampling the enemy, and speed how quick it can move around the battlefield. Since the battles are quite varied, picking the right horse for the right fight can be quite helpful. Skills are many, and have some great uses in all types of areas such as Rage to give lengthen your musou gage. Others improve things like the ability to learn skills easier, increase stats, gain more gold, ect. Since the player can pick his or her skills, I found buying skills refreshing and fun. Weapon upgrades are a mixed bag. The weapons you find can have elements attached to them and different strengths. They also can have enemy boxes that you can buy upgrades for. The trouble is that you have no control over what is bought, you just pay the price and pray it is something useful for that character. The only real let down for me. I would have preferred a amount of gold payed for each point in the area of your choice. But, that could lead to abuse, look back at it. Still in it a minor quibble.

Unlockables are the key to all Koei hack and slash games, and this one is full of unlocks to find. Many are as simple as completing a storyline, other such as four weapons. These are the most powerful weapons for your character and most are found my performing tasks during a certain mission. If you do them all, and met the goals, you will be told a special item can be found, they are in black boxes somewhere on the map. See the 4th weapon guides on this site for more information, or do what I did and be surprised!

Another new and great idea in this game is the Castle levels during a battle. Now the castles are seamless and you can enter one and move around the floors in the middle of a fight without switching to a separate mode. Sometimes there are special things to do, such as breaking a lock to open a door in a different part of the keep. Castles are important and your enemies fight hard to keep or take the feature, which can win, lose, or turn a battle for you.

How about the AI in this game? Are they still as dumb as a box of rocks? Well the answer is they might not be rocket scientists, they have learned a few lessons over other versions. The basic troops still cower in front of your powerful warrior, but they have a few tricks. One is strength in numbers. There are more of them than before, and they have formation attacks. Formations are larger bodies of troops that can deal some damage if the player ignores them. The most deadly are the musket armed troops that fire in volleys and can delivery some pain if you allow your character to get in a cross fire. The minor troop leaders, sumo types, warrior priest and some ninja types are more aggressive than the previous titles, and the Generals and heroes of the enemy will block better and definitely more aggressive. Learn to use your roll and block and have your butt handed to you with these guys. Once you learn your move set well, you will know what type of move is best for what enemy you face, making the game easier to handle. The hard level will give you a good challenge even when your character is at higher levels.

Survival mode, adds some new twist to the game. Now there are many sub-missions. The player is in a castle and the object is to complete as many floors as you can. There are 100 floors and many challenges and rewards awaits the player as he or she gains each level of the castle tower. Sub missions are the heart of this game. The player chooses which mission to except, and pays a charge for some of them. Then, off you go battling your way through. If you complete the mission given your are rewarded with more gold plus any items you find, including weapons, leveling up, even more gold, or even a secret unlock such as a new character or special item, even a horse.

Free mode is allowing a character to play any mission you unlocked, even missions of other characters. The four and final mode is Sugoroku. Sugoroku is a clever little board game that plays like monopoly with many twist. Each player has its own starting square of his color. You can choose any character the game starts with including any characters you have unlocked. Different characters have different ratings and different starting locations. The object of the game is to collect a winning amount of gold first. To do so you move along the board buying property and challenging enemy property. Movement is by dice, and there are five types of squares. The home square which is your castle, normal squares which are worth a varied amount of gold to buy and gain income with, ports which move the character along different paths, and are the home for pirates and thieves who, once in awhile will steal some of your gold. Temples, that act in much the same way as community chest, taxes, jail, and free parking all rolled into one. the final type is wasteland that is free to buy but worth little. The board is not square but has many directions you can go, and you have the option of a small or large board with different levels of wealth to gain. When you land on a territory square you have the option to buy it or challenge another player if they own it. Challenges are mini games of strength and speed. Each character will have his own strength and weakness in these mini games, plus the defender will have a edge based on the price of the territory in dispute. The best part of the game for me is how territories under your control become your color. Instead of a square board with a set group of property in one color. The squares are neutral. So as you buy squares, you can link them together to form a chain which raise all the surround squares of your color. Very clever. The only fault I can find with Sugoroku is off line you can only play one player. This game begs to be a party game, and should have had a multi-player function off line. It could have been done simply by using items that the player collects, then uses as part of a challenge. Instead of performing a contest, the computer adds the items and a die roll of the players and gives the outcome. Many players may be turned off by the learning curve on this game, but believe me it is not rigged even though sometimes it feels so. I have not lost the last six games I have played on any size map.

Yes, like previous koei games, combos are still strung together using mainly the x and y buttons. Unlike earlier games there are a larger strings of combos and each character has his own special move-set. What has been added is the use of the special tactics by using the right button and combining it with the X or Y. Example is Yukimora. RBX will whistle for his horse, while his RBY gives him a special flaming weapon dash attack. Nice! Each character has his own special tactics, and this really adds to the game. Some are extremely useful, while others not so, mainly because the gaming style of the player controlling the character, so I find no fault with them. You also have as before attacks you can perform from the jump, and the special jump Y attack used to flush out hidden enemy ninja. Mosou attacks are special powerful attacks that can do some serious damage to the enemy. They come in three basic forms, normal, double, and true. The basic attack now have different levels you gain as you advance your character, a welcome addition, double is a very powerful version used when your near your bodyguard. True takes place, when you perform the attack with low heal or you have a skill that lets you use it. It is the most powerful version of a musou attack.As for the number of characters, Koei gives the player 8 starting choices with the ability to unlock more, up to 26 total. Most are unlock by completing other characters story-lines, while a few are unlocked by completing missions during the survival stages and 1 by winning a game of Sugoroku.

Now the question of value. Is it worth my hard earned money to buy, or is this game just another rental for a lost weekend? Samurai Warriors 2 delivers huge on value. Just to unlock all the characters will take 50+ hours. To max them out, complete all the missions on survival will take at least another 50. Then there is the game of Sugoroku. Your looking at well over 100 hours plus of great game play. Even leveling up your characters have improved with the ability to max out at 50 levels, for the previous 30. A rental will only give the player a good taste of what this game has to offer.

Final answer.... If your a fan of hack and slash, Samurai Warriors 2 delivers big. It may be in some ways more of the same, but it has improved in a large way. It is not the prettiest game, that goes to N3, but for sheer polished game play and value, it is the current KING of the hack and slash. The only reason I didn't give this game a higher rating was them reasons I mentioned above, mainly the last gen graphics, the lack of off line multi-player Sugoroku, and a few minor quibbles. Well, back to gaming, I want a new horse, and a 4th weapon for Hondo.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/02/06