Warriors Orochi

Warriors Orochi

Release Date(s): -
(JP) March 21, 2007
(US) September 18, 2007
(EU) September 21, 2007

Player(s): 1-2 Players

Musou Orochi is the crossover game between KOEI's Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors franchises. This entry in the Musou series combines several elements from both games, but keeps the core hack and slash gameplay the same.

Graphics: 8.5/10
The best that the musou series has seen to date. There's definite room for improvement, but let's leave that to the next gen systems. Overall, the graphics please me, as there is very little slowdown, although it does exist. Several levels have also been modified since the previous games to include altars, cracks in the ground, molten lava, fortresses, and even a maze.

Gameplay: 9.5/10
This is the main attraction of this game. Good old controls are back. Square to execute the normal attacks, triangle to use charge attacks. Use the left analog stick to move your character and the right to turn the camera. Pressing circle unleashes your musou attack, and by using musou with one character, then switching to a different character and activating the musou before the first character's musou finishes will activate the "Musou Burst". Depending on the character types of the characters, you will get added atributes to the musou attack such as fire, mastery, guard break, etc.

New to this game is the ability to use a team of three characters that you can switch between on command by pressing the L2 or R2 shoulder buttons. This allows you to bring one character of each of the three types, power, speed, and technique, into battle at once and switch characters to let another heal.

Musou attacks, unlike in Samurai Warriors, do not use the bullet-time slowdown system. Instead they more like Dynasty Warriors, allowing peons to be juggled as well. Horse stamina has been removed, meaning you can be knocked off the horse in one hit like in the Dynasty Warriors games. Horse Musou attacks depend on your character and whether he's from Samurai Warriors or Dynasty Warriors.

The three character types take what Samurai Warriors 2 did with moveset types and take it a step further, giving each character type unique abilities and R1 specials instead of unique movesets. Power types have a heightened resistence and are thus rarely knocked out of combos. Power type characters have one R1 special attack that drains the musou gauge, but deals great amounts of damage. Speed types have an ability that lets them double tap the jump button to perform an air dash move. Speed types have two R1 specials, which are usually either buffs or weak attacks. Speed type specials sometimes drain musou. Finally, technique types have the ability to counter any attack, ala Musashi and Keiji in Samurai Warriors 2, by sacrificing a chunk of the musou gauge and pressing R1. Technique type characters have one new unique R1 special that can be activated by pressing R1 at a certain interval during the character's square string. If R1 is pressed at any other part of that character's square combo it will activate a stronger and faster version of the same charge attack you would get if you had pressed triangle instead of R1.

Also, Nobunaga fans will be glad to hear that his full charge moveset from Samurai Warriors 1 has returned without the need to powerup his sword.

Lastly, the complaints. Weapon deadlocks are like in the Dynasty Warriors series, without the bar showing who's winning and that means that deadlock bonus attacks are gone. Also, the roll movement has been removed from the game, making attacks harder to dodge, and when anything interrupts you it takes a second or two before you're able to attack or move again, which could cost you the game. The enemy AI has also been dumbed down from what should have been a new standard that was used in Samurai Warriors 2: Empires. Now instead of smarter enemies they just dealt greater damage in the harder difficulties, making for some boring fights even against the tougher bosses as long as you know how to read the computer's AI.

Story: 7.5/10
An above average story. Each of the four story lines are unique, sharing only one stage among the four. Only a handful of the characters participate in the main storyline, however, leaving most of the other characters to appear in one Gaiden stage

Sound: 8/10
Most of the songs are taken from previous Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors titles. Other songs, like "Theme of Lu Bu ~DW SW Mix~" and "Samurai Scanners", have been remixed for this installment. Overall a good selection of songs, but I feel that several have been placed in the wrong levels or at the wrong time, changing the mood too drastically. For example, I've noticed that in a few levels the music changed from Dynasty Warriors rock to Japanese flutes

Replay Value: 8.5/10
79 characters to play as, including the two brand new characters, Orochi and Da Ji. Each character has 4 artworks that you can unlock in the gallery, including one that is unlocked only through special, character specific requirements. Also, there are 15 skills to max out, most going up to level 20, with requirements that must be fulfilled by certain characters. Each character has an entry in the gallery for weapons, meaning that to complete the gallery you may or may not want to collect all of the 4th weapons. The maximum level for every character is 99, which can take quite a while unless you use your stock experience to level your characters, although it is not advised to do so.

Rent or Buy?
Buy, if you are a fan of either franchise and put emphasis on gameplay and fun factor. Just keep in mind that the AI has been dumbed down, for those of you who purchased Samurai Warriors 2: Empires.

Overall: 8.4/10

*Please note that this review is based on the experience and thoughts on "Musou Orochi" (Warriors Orochi in Japanese version)...