E3 06: Samurai Warriors 2 Hands-On Impressions

LOS ANGELES--Koei's Warriors franchise continues to roll on in Samurai Warriors 2, the sequel to Koei's first dabbling into the realm of ancient Japan, as opposed to ancient China, where each and every one of the company's storied Dynasty Warriors games takes place. Samurai Warriors didn't change much beyond the setting, mind you. Still very much a beat-'em-up featuring anime-infused versions of real-life warriors from the past, Samurai Warriors was a game about going out onto a battlefield and beating/stabbing the living crap out of scads of enemies. The PlayStation 2 version of Samurai Warriors 2 was on display at E3 2006 (sadly, the Xbox 360 version was nowhere to be found), and if our hands-on time with the game is any indication, very little has changed in this sequel.

Ten new warriors will be included in Samurai Warriors 2, including legendary types such as Musashi Miyamoto, Ieyasu Tokugawa, and Kotaro Fuuma. Twenty-six characters in all will be playable. A few new fighting techniques will purportedly be included, such as the ability to summon ninja decoys, and you'll be able to use up to three different musou gauges for special attacks, as well. Also, there will be a new board-game mode of sorts included, to go along with all the previously existing modes. Unfortunately, this mode wasn't playable at the show.

For all these new inclusions, it's safe to say that Samurai Warriors 2 will still retain the exact same gameplay sensibilities of its many, many predecessors. You still run around environments, killing grunt enemies and the occasional comparable warrior, as well as capturing bases and castles. We played a good bit through the first couple of available scenarios and found ourselves in a perpetual sense of déjà vu. Take that for what it's worth, but it seems like those who like their Warriors games untainted with anything but the same brand of action the series has done over and over again will find precisely that in this sequel.

Samurai Warriors 2 is already out in Japan but doesn't have a specific North American release date yet beyond the rather imprecise date of "2006." We'll bring you more on the game as it becomes available.