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    Samurai Warriors

    I love Koei. I love the fact that they can take a good game, and milk it for a whole gen. As a fan of said game (Dynasty Warriors) I adore the fact that they continue to pump out slightly modified versions, at rapid intervals, with just enough extras to keep me happy. After the last update (DW4 Xtreme Legends) I began to doubt this. Would this spin-off be finally the one game too far? I?m happy to say that it?s not.

    Samurai Warriors is basically A mixture of both DW3 and 4, taking the crunchy peon -slaughtering of DW3 and adding the mission based focus of DW4.The game is quite stripped down though, with a small roster of starting characters, and a few more unlocked as you progress. The new Create-a-warrior system is fun too, as now you have to train your new warrior up, before you can join a battle. This takes place in several sub-games where a simple objective is given and you are ranked, and levelled up appropriately. At the end you have to revisit two trials and get a good score to be able to save your newbie warrior, and use him/her in the story modes. This feature adds tension to the CAW process, as if you fail, the game deletes your character.

    The main story mode relies on small missions during a large scale battle, that are conveniently signposted for ease. Unlike in DW though, ignore or fail a mission and the tide of battle is very quickly turned against you. These missions offer a little less freedom than before, but it?s ultimately satisfying to achieve your given tasks. This feature, along with the reduced character roster makes SW perfect for newcomers to Koei's self-made genre.

    Another new feature is the games variation to the enemy character models, now you are attacked by a wide variety of samurai, ninja, monks and foot soldiers, the Sumo-esque strike ninja being the most deadliest/annoying here.

    Aurally SW is fantastic. The music is quite different to the invigorating rock of the Dynasty series. Here the soundtrack is more subtle allowing the game to utilise a lot more noise on the field. In the game you are bombarded with the absolute chaos of the battles you take part in. Generals announce their presence loudly, peons moan in pain, swords clash against armour and horns trumpet a call to arms. All this adds to the atmosphere greatly.

    In conclusion, all the changes to the Dynasty Warriors format make this a fun, hack and slash title that goes some way to refresh my ardour for the overall series. To sum up then:

    Good
    Delivers the Dynasty Warriors experience.
    Excellent cut scenes.
    Good voice acting (Hideoshi excluded)
    Novel CAW building experience.
    Great for newcomers.
    Sounds fantastic.
    Co-op mode.

    Bad
    If you hate Dynasty warriors, it won't convert you.
    No Japanese voice acting option.
    Graphically a step back from DW4.
    Missions can be restrictive.
    No mid-battle saving.
    No 60hz mode (no borders though)

    Anyone else pick this up? I?d be interested to hear if it has re-ignited your love for the DW games.

    #2
    I thought about it, but then decided against it. I don't like Koei releasing some really fantastic looking CG scenes for their promo vids for a game that is nowhere near it in terms of quality. I might get this with the recently announced expansion disc in the future, but Koei's milking skills may just tempt me to wait for the next DW game.

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      #3
      I will admit that the CG is way in advance of the graphics, whilst the in game graphics are not that bad, it seems Koei have got a similar problem that Square had in the PS1 era. Hopefully the next gen will provide a way to at least use a good in-game engine for all the cut-scenes.

      As for the next DW game, "Empires" is out (Pal version at least) in September. I'm still unsure if another DW4 will be fun, although the addition of a "Three Kingdoms"-lite style strategy does mean that like the hopeless fan I am, I'll get it on release.

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        #4
        I'm still on DW3, but I'm going to wait for a few more itinerations before I get another one. Hell, I have to unlock all the characters yet...

        Besides, any game where you can get a KO count of over 1000 has to be quality

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          #5
          ooh its back form the dead... i love these tyes games koei do, after months of Dw3 earlier this year and DW4:empires recently(still playing) i finally got around to getting this, so far i love the battles they seem for war like that the crush this, crush that of the dw games but that in itself and be constricting failing mission for not completeling a mission object in time.

          A thing i find happens lot with none power fighters outside Kenshin and Yanada, it takes to long to kill normal infantry somthing i could just breeze through in yester years game now become a bit of menace, i mainly blame this on the 'new' Launcher, Dizzy and Blowout set out of the combo's, while on paper this beats DW, in practice most of the moves are to slow or easy to be knocked out off, specially Blowout moves, and musu's don't seem to carry the kind of crowd killing pleasure they did before, even with the slowmoe effects. I still enjoying the game for the story modes are the moe and as normall whit koei, unlocking he hidden fighters, but at the moe DW4:empires is top spot, nothing like building a little girl and giving her the 'Bastard Sword'

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            #6
            It really has been a while since I spent any time with SW - but I believe that it is better than DW4: Empires. Samurai Warriors is probably one of the games I have spent the most time with this year (still haven't managed to get 100% on all missions. Yet. ) The system of the game differs to that of DW, as it is focused on speed and general fighting. Perhaps that's why normal peons are so hard to kill. This could be an aesthetic point though, military might being more advanced in the warring states era, as opposed to the sheer numerical approach of the three kingdoms time.

            However there is a way to get the game to the crowd killing status of DW. All you need to do is get a high level 3rd or 4th weapon, some high level attack and defence items, and simply reset your characters stats to zero. This will make sure that the foot soldiers start at the same level, allowing you to plow through them with DW-style ease All you need to do then is avoid any level up bonuses and the game becomes much 'fairer'

            Overall I think that the improvements do make it better than DW, but DW 5 (due later this year!) may redress this. Oh and Feb sees the release of SW: Xtreme legends too, which will solve a few problems that SW has, and also introduce a playable Tadakatsu Honda (and his daughter.) I'm glad you have enjoyed both DW:E and SW though Tobal, they get little credit these days.

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              #7
              Recently picked this up for a bargain price of ?9.99 at Game and have spent a few hours trying out the different characters, its a good solid game. After Killer 7 all I wanted was some simple hack/slash action and this fits the bill.

              If you've played DW you'll know what to expect, it does exactly what it says on the tin.

              So far it hasn't grabbed me like a DW game, maybe the Japanese setting. Unsure?

              Anyway I will spend some more time with it and see how it goes.

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