Warriors Orochi (PS2)

To put it succinctly Warriors Orochi is a compilation of the levels from Dynasty Warriors 5 and Samurai Warriors 2, and all the characters from DW5 and Samurai Warriors 1XL and 2, with a silly story tacked on.

The main key difference from the Samurai Warriors series and Dynasty Warriors series games is the ability to swap between three warriors during a battle, whilst one fights the other two are healing.

The levels are more or less the same as there were in SW2 and DW5 except some (major) cosmetic differences. The only new level is the Koshi Castle level which is the place where you confront Orochi, the new boss character.

The DW characters are all present, it seems they were just lifted from DW5. All the SW characters are present including those that were dropped between SW1XL and SW2 (ie. Kunoichi, Yoshimoto Imagawa, Goemon Ishikawa). There are two new characters, Orochi, unfortunately not a eight headed serpent this time round, and Da Ji, a scantily clad female lackey for Orochi.

The graphics are much the same as before, ie. plenty of fogging, some pop-up, but never any slow-down.

If you can stand the repetition, this game can be both fun and challenging, but that goes for any of Koei's "Warriors" series games.

Every Dynasty Warrior and Samurai Warrior fan has dreamed of the day when both their games collide and that day has come...

If your not familiar with any of the games mention then I shall explain briefly: Dynasty Warriors is a hack n' slash game based in ancient China during the Three Kingdoms era, your aim is to cut down hordes of enemies so you can unify China under your rule. Samurai Warriors is basically the same but it's the Warring States of Japan instead.

This game sees both games merge into one which combines elements from both and every character from both as well as two new characters exclusive to the game. In this game a Demon King named Orochi decends from the heavens and messes up time and space which makes the two continents of Japan and China to collide and unify, after this he attacks all the armies to prove his might and your main aim is to destroy him. The game sees some new aspects mainly the tag team system (where you can use 3 officers rather than 1 by swapping around during play) and the weapon fusion system (where you can fuse two weapons together to make a better one). All the aspects of the game are really good and is a great improvement to the series but the lack of replay value really damages the game's score because there is no verus mode or edit mode so after you have finished the story modes and played the characters you'll get bored quick.

Graphic - 4
Sound - 3.5
Gameplay - 4
Replay Value - 1.5
Longitivity - 2.5

Overall - 3

I'm a fan of both games and obviously invested in this immediately - every fan of these games has dreamed of having the two worlds collide! Was I disappointed? Yes. Was I disappointed enough to never play it again? No.

The bad:
- The story is really, really stupid. I guess with it being fanservice it didn't merit any actual thought going into it, but it's still stupid. An all-powerful serpent king with out-of-this-world powers good enough to merge ancient China and feudal Japan somehow gets defeated by a couple of piddling little humans? Okay then!
- The fantasy element could have been played up a bit more with variations on troop types and stages. The game has one new stage, with the rest being reincarnated old maps with lava in - fair enough, but a bit more imagination wouldn't have gone amiss! The troops also have average AI and the same moves as every other generic spear/sword-wielding troop type from the old games. Yes, I was expecting at least one new unique troop type given that these creatures are from the underworld or something! Besides which, you get a skill for your weapons that works against "airborne enemies" which implies that there'd be something flying about right? Wrong!
- The PS2 and 360 suffer from the usual "fogging" (seriously, will this ever be fixed?) and enemies also, on occasion, just disappear and reappear out of nowhere, no matter how close they are to you.
- The PS2 game graphics are horrible, (inferior by FAR to Dynasty Warriors 5, and Samurai Warriors 2) and both the 360 and PS2 suffer from frame-lagging. My PS2 even froze several times whilst playing it.
- The horrible, horrible, horrible voice acting. Some are different to the recent games and some are just awful. As Koei fans, we're kinda used to this.
- "Tag team" style gameplay is great on your own, but add 2 player and prepare to be disappointed. Does 2P pick their own characters? Nope. 2P just plays palette swaps of 1P's selection!
- (only on the 360) The pan scenes before each battle (which introduce you to the terrain) also haven't been translated from German, which is a little weird.

The good:
- Unlockable artworks are always nice. The 360 version has 2 extra bits compared to the PS2.
- Unlocking the characters as you go through levels is far more interesting than "clear story 1 to get character x" although a few of them are really, really frustrating!
- Weapon customisation using acquired skill points is a lot of fun (for me, anyway!). Add skills, base attack and elements to any weapon with available slots until you run out of points (acquired by levelling your character during battle)
- It's nowhere near as easy to get through as Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors. Actually, it's quite difficult to survive.
- Equipping skills rather than acquiring all 30 and waltzing into battle with all 30 is also an improvement, adding to the challenge.
- Tag team is fun. Stupidly fun. Characters also heal and recharge their musou gauge whilst "resting" too.
- Unlockable cut scenes and conversations are a bonus whether or not you're a fan already. They're funny, and give insights into the characters... which is good when there are about 80 involved in the game!
- Character can level to 99. Yes, 99. Not 20, not 60... 99. There is a LOT of potential to replay this game over and over.

All in all, it's an OKAY game; not great, certainly not amazing, not particularly good, but okay.

If you spend a little money on it, you won't regret it as it is just as fun as any other game of this genre. It's also a very good time-waster when you just want something to do without thinking too much.

But you can't hide the fact that it simply is just fanservice. And lazy fanservice at that, so if you want something more in-depth or worthwhile, look for the separate games.