Samurai Warriors for Xbox golden

Xbox owners can start sharpening their swords, as the highly anticipated Samurai Warriors has gone gold, reported Japan-based publisher Koei. The tactical action game should ship to North American stores on July 13.

An extension of the Dynasty Warriors series, Samurai Warriors transplants the action from China to Japan during the Sengoku, or "warring states" period. Set against this historical background, players choose from a number of different characters to control, including the legendary ninja Hattori Hanzo, as they slice and slash their way through 90 stages on a variety of battlefields.

Samurai Warriors features a new Active Mission System and a random castle generator that promises to make each play-through of the game different. It also includes an RPG-style skill system as well as horses that take a more active role, jumping and attacking enemies.

Samurai Warriors was developed in-house at Koei by their Omega Force studio, and it was released on the PlayStation 2 in May. Check out GameSpot's review of the PS2 version here.