Uninspired, cheesy, irritating, repetitive and lots of fun! (In-depth review)
STORY
Well on the paranormal take on history we have the predictable case of the "MAGIC SHIELD! MAGIC SHIELD!" defence. What I mean is it doesn't make sense but it has "magic" tied into the plot so you can't complain… oh but we can still! In short this snake demon known as Orochi (sometimes pronounced as "Orchi" by others) has merged the two eras from two parts of the world, The Three Kingdoms or China and The Warring States of Japan together. If you know your history then that's not only miles apart geographical but also roughly nearly 2000 years apart! Why? It's never explained, I'm guessing for sh*ts and giggles… Of course some might say he wanted to test his strength against these two 'great powers" but if he wanted to do that then he might as well of done is taken the Ancient Rome and modern British Empire since those two have gone down in history as great powers of their time. But of course the real reason behind it is Koei's poor excuse (IE their "MAGIC SHIELD!") to merge their 2 franchises together. In any case, you play through four stories, the three Chinese Dynasties of Wu, Wei and Shu and the one of the Samurai Warriors. Each follows roughly the same format, you work for Orochi who has assumed power over all (we know this is a 30 second cinematic which is the same for each and not very helpful) but then make a U-turn and rebel, finally ending up with a victory, not to mention a "la-de-da" happy ending. But despite each battle carrying the banner of each 'faction", you'll spend most of the time playing with a little bit of Wu, Wei, Shu and/or SW… and what I do know about both series is no one gets along yet in this case everyone is quick to give a hug to the next person. Granted there are some who still have their own rivalries in tact but most of the time, we're all on the same boat even if we weren't in let's say Dynasty Warriors 3. I know its non-canon but you would've hoped there were more references to the previous games? Throughout each story, the plot will be explained via before and after and in-between dialogue sessions played over the top of pictures and subtitles, not a cinematic. I barely grasped much of the plot, mainly due to the oh so terrible voice acting which I will get on to later. Each has their own set of characters that all follow some sort of cliché path of love or hate or love hate. I'll give you two examples to highlight my point, without spoilers. First off, in the Wu story, the family is divided greatly with some in the rebellion while others siding with Orochi. This is an old formula that wears thin and you'll even predict what happens in the end… heck, you might have already done so by reading that last line. Another is in the Wei story with a one called Xu Huang (sounding like Zow-young) and Ishida Mitsunari (Itshiba-Sheema) who have a bad case of the "odd couple syndrome" at first but make up towards the end and due to the depiction of Ishida and certain dialogue, I ended up making the stretch that it had homoerotic undertones… Regardless the plot is just plain terrible but of course does it affect the game much? For me, no… and most likely for you, no either and that's of course down to the obvious fact this game is all about gameplay and stress relief.
SOUND
Oh this should be good! I rubbed my hands together before typing that! And with good cause! In short its cr*p but in longer terms its good and here's why. In regards to the voice acting I can't stress this enough, no matter what you think of it there's the common opinion that is "sucks". No seriously, there's a reason I found the plot so thin and confusing… I only heard 1/3 of it! Voice acting ranges from posh man sighing in relief after a huge dump, a hyper teenage girl who just took a bucket load of crack, racist impersonation of the Chinese, a gay Nazi and the most used one; Stephan Hawking meets Braveheart. The majority of the time to avoid the embarrassment of acting out the above is just reading the script, just that and no acting for better or worse, or better yet to quote the most frequent catch phrase in the game – "there's nothing else for it!" But there is a beauty part to it; the voices are so bad you'll want to listen to them for comic relief. Think of the reason why English dubbed Godzilla movies; Monkey and the Water Margin were popular in the West in the first place? They're heavy in camp value and this game has got enough for 20 seasons of Monkey! The music on the other hand is, to sum up plainly "meh". Sometimes its good with the fast paced techno Chinese rhythm that fits with the over the top moves being performed, and sometimes it doesn't make sense, almost like coming from a German Sadomasochistic nightclub but for a kid's pop disco… how do I know or can explain that is just a guess, so no need to pray for my soul! Most of the time however you won't notice but you will when its gone so its good to leave it going and going in a continues loop just to liven up the moments when you're not in the thick of it, slugging it out with the minions. As for the voices, you could turn them off if you find it that annoying (which you'll most likely do if someone is watching) but you would rather hear the next phase of battle than read it when you're going head to head with the general and his horde.
GRAPHICS
While not as a treat to talk about like the Story and Sound, the graphics in their own way aren't 360 material. If you've played the likes of Gears of War or BioShock, you'd know what the console is capable of. However that isn't to say there are bad. I mean this being also a PS2 title, others which have came out on the current generation like Dynasty Warriors: Gundam have rather bland environments or just rock, sand and/or metal. At least here you get the odd tree and house and of course the fact you've got so many characters on screen at once goes to show that you can't really complain. The massive roster of 70+ is a great feat, considering that all of them are diverse and unique in their own way… I wish I could say the same about our foe. Every battle you'll end up fighting the same 5-10 different foes and none of them move particular well. The 70 on the other hand are a giant mix of plates, fabrics and silks, no seriously; they are dressed ever so extravagantly. Their dress might be the usual samurai armour or monk's outfit but even then they are well beyond the realms of ACTUAL history. It's like if one will have a cloak then in Warriors Orochi they'll have an even bigger cloak that lights up in combat… You'll even think to yourself that many aren't really dressed appropriately for warfare but then again these are the people who live by the notion of "The Art of War", and thin this case its to the extreme. With your own cast, each moves rather nicely with twists and turns and overall flow in their movement and combat. It's no Assassin's Creed but it still looks nice. The horse animation is not well done either however and it's all the more comical if you get a particularly large/heavy built character riding it. It's like a donkey carrying a sumo wrestler yet somehow the donkey is "super" enough to move casually. There's no blood and the bodies soon disappear after their death (or more liberal put KO) so what are its redeeming qualities?
GAMEPLAY
This, that's what! It does seem to look and play like every other game but then again does it have all those characters to mix and match? Each story has 8 missions and another 8 extra levels, so that's 64 all together and each of them give you the opportunity to unlock more characters. The bonus levels require a certain objective to be complete like do so and so in this much time or save this character before whatever. They're doable but in some cases they can be a real challenge. All in all, that's a lot of gaming ahead of you. For a boost however you could always upgrade. Since you can choose 3 characters and switch between them at anytime (a neat little feature might I add) you can level them up and upgrade their weapons and abilities. Despite what some reviewers might tell you, this feature does really turn the tide of battle, especially when you face Orochi himself while preventing another character from being killed by him or his minions. It's in depth and amounts to all of the many characters you can choose from and gives you a chance to sculpt you style better with 3 classes; strength, speed and technique. But regardless of which fighting style you'll choose, it doesn't require much, if any thought what so ever. Every, and I mean EVERY game follows the same strategy, press X countless times until you get the victory sign on screen. Ok, maybe there's a little more to it… sometimes you'll need to kill or save a certain someone or ride to a gate or bridge in a time limit or just try and quell the amount of enemy held bases to make less of their overall troop mass. But again, it all comes down to the X button, and occasionally the odd Y or RB to pull off something sweet if you've got a "full bar" of the usual mana, power, spirity do-da or something along those lines. Sounds dull right? Well it can get that way sometimes, and the only thing stalling the coming repetition is the change in landscape, and when I say landscape I mean colour, which is not varied enough for you to not notice the rather bland layout. But that being said, can you really complain when there are that many characters on screen? That's the whole point of the game, the franchise and the genre. More of the same but lots of it. Lots more foes to fall by your blade and many more generals to slug it out with. Granted they're piss easy when you encounter them, but at least there's more emphasis on combat like… erm… y-you might have to tap any button to win when your weapons are locked with your foe's… er, yeah that! Alright, it does still sound boring but this form is a clear-cut example of "love it or hate it" kind of game. Its mostly directed at fans of Dynasty Warriors and/or Samurai Warriors BUT I never fell into either of those so it might be a good start for those who want to. The plot in non-canon but you still get all those characters to admire or laugh at (mostly laugh). Basically, if you know anything about the "hack and slash" genre, you know whether his is appeal to you or not, simple as that.
…Oh and there's co-op… but if you read what was mentioned in the SOUND paragraph then you'll most likely not want to play this when someone is in the room, let alone with you. If they can stomach it then by all means give it a shot, but do remember it's a long one regardless…
OVERALL
Overall? Well its not the best thing you'll play but then again it doesn't try to be… nor anything else for that matter. If you're a Koei fan then by all means go nuts. For everyone else it's also rather simple, do you like that genre of games? Do you want something to have a bash at when pissed off or drunk? Or like me a change of pace from the more "artistic" form of video/computer games? Seriously, I know that people read reviews to know whether a game is good or not, but in this case it really is all on you. Most likely you'll find it somewhat fun but then quickly get bored, in that case don't bother with a purchase. Otherwise take on board what I've said still, games don't have to be good to be fun if that makes any sense (no for most). If liking Warriors Orochi is wrong then I don't want to be right… or less conventionally: SCREW YOU! I'M STILL PLAYING IT!
Pros:
- Lots of characters to choose from
- Upgrade system does work
- Long and over the top fights
- Cheesy fun
Cons:
- Sometimes to cheesy
- WILL get repetitive
- Erg… that story…
- AND THAT VOICE ACTING!