Customer Reviews

Samurai Warriors

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Easily some of the most exciting action games in the past few years are the DYNASTY WARRIORS games from Koei. What the series lacked in storyline surely made up for it with the action packed and longtime playability that you would find in each game. Where else can you kill hundreds or even thousands of enemy soldiers for hours at a time? And of course, as we'ved already seen with the series so far, if a series works, companies will capitalize on its success. This is the case for Koei newest title, SAMURAI WARRIORS.
One of the most appealing things about the DYNASTY WARRIORS series, other than the constant action, is the historical background of ancient China. Sure, while there is no record of any one person killing 1000 people in a single battle, the game brings some historical references into the game to sprucen up the storyline. The only difference between DYNASTY WARRIORS and the newcomer SAMURAI WARRIORS is that the latter now takes place in feudal Japan. Taking place during the Sengoku period of Japanese history,
When the political power of the Ashikaga Shogunate collapsed in the succession dispute of 1467, the islands of Japan erupted in a series of major wars. This era in Japanese history became known as the Sengoku or "warring states" period. SAMURAI WARRIORS explores this dramatic era and combines it with the Tactical Action excitement KOEI has become known for. SAMURAI WARRIORS stars the brave Sanada Yukimura, who leads an elite band of samurai and ninja. Sanada's journey will take him to the hallowed Japanese battlefields of Okehazama and Kawanakajima and inside the embattled walls of Osaka Castle where he will come face-to-face with gun-toting troops, echelons of ninja, and deadly kunoichi (female ninja). Players can choose the role of Sanada Yukimura or other legendary samurai and ninja. The game will herald the rise of the indispensable ninja, Hattori Hanzo, from the shadows of history, as well as the reemergence of KOEI's powerful and mysterious Oda Nobunaga. Missions evolve depending on player performance and the tide of battle. Success or failure can affect scenarios in later stages. With 500 variations, the chain of missions is unique with each play, adding depth while heightening the urgency and excitement of combat. Samurai Warriors' AFS (auto-formation system) randomly generates castle levels and conquest routes offering a new experience with each play. [KOEI] SAMURAI WARRIORS obviously focuses on the warring nations that combat each other during this time period. But technically, for storyline, that is about as historically accurate as this one gets (other than a few real-life characters that you will find throughout the game).
SAMURAI WARRIORS allows you to select from 15 different characters, each with his or her own fighting style and storyline. True, they don'all differ too much from each other, but they are different enough to warrant playing through more than one of them. Basically, if you' played any of the DYNASTY WARRIORS games, you'll feel right at home with SAMURAI WARRIORS. The square button performs most of the attacks you use throughout the game, allowing you to string together combos. By adding in the occasional press of the triangle or circle buttons for your special attacks, you be able to take apart the enemy armies in no time. Of course, the coolest mode found in the game is when two players see who can kill 1000 enemies the quickest.
The newest upgrade to SAMURAI WARRIORS is the Officer Mode, which allows you to create your own samurai from several pre-rendered models. After creating your character, you go through a series of tests from your trainer until you are good enough to join a clan and become a full fledged samurai. There are also some new RPG effects added into the game that allow you to upgrade your character'attack, defense and weaponry.
One of the biggest downfalls of the game, just like the DYNASTY WARRIORS games, is the English voice acting. The voice acting was pretty bad before, but now it just seems downright intolerable. Luckily for us, a much better acted Japanese track is available for players. The music is also decidedly more Japanese, more subdued and traditional, than the previous rock tracks that we are used to in the DYNASTY WARRIORS series.
I also didn't like the endless castle maze (which all looked alike hence only 4 stars) plus the graphics are not as good as Samurai 2 (which has more color & depth) SAMURAI WARRIORS is still a perfectly good action game for people who enjoy playing games that don't require much thought. This is a game that any player can just jump into and have a great time.

I am a big fan of feudal Japan and was thrilled when Samurai Warriors finally came out. This is a version of the classic Dynasty Warriors set in Japan.

If you've played Dynasty Warriors before, then you know the basic layout. There are many characters to choose from, and each moves through his or her own timeline in feudal Japan (the 16th century) when there was great conflict and strife in Japanese history. You're dealing with Oda Nobunaga and other classic historical figures as they fight for control of Japan.

The graphics are really great, with nice sword moves, costumes, backgrounds, horses, and more. You really get the sense that you're battling your way through a feudal Castle or fighting across plains to achieve your objective.

You can build a character up from scratch, going through training and joining a clan. Or you can take a pre-designed character and start through historical missions, building your clan's honor and prestige.

There are the traditional Musou moves where you wipe out entire groups of forces with one series of blows. There are combo attacks, and loyal followers to assist you in your goals. There are the cut-scenes that make the history clear, and the 'over the shoulder' sad looks as your enemies retreat from the map.

While some might say this is just another release of Dynasty Warriors, I really love the Japanese world so much that I gladly bought this immediately on release and we have been playing it ever since. There are enough upgrades - from horse attacks to character development - to make it WELL worth playing. And for me, setting it in a Japanese history instead of a Chinese one is a huge bonus.

I highly recommend this for any fan of strategy. With all the unlockables and replaying you can do, plus the multi-player options, you can easily play this game for months!

I had read a number of reviews claiming that this game was exactly like Dynasty Warriors, except worse. Well, I must confess that because of these, I held out from purchasing this for a long time. However, when I found this title in the bargain bin of a certain large chain store (for ten bucks), I finally said, "What the hey?" and purchased it.

Oh, I was not disappointed...

Indeed, Samurai Warriors does have a great deal of similarity with its Dynasty Warrior counterpart. You take control of a character, and hack your way into Japanese history. The time period is the end of the so-called Sengoku, or Warring States, a long and bloody civil war between many participants which ended with the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The game starts with Nobunaga Oda's attack on the Imagawa, the "ruling" clan at the time. Historically, Nobunaga was far outnumbered by the Imagawa, but managed to gain a bit of luck due to a driving rainstorm.

The game concentrates on a few battles (some real, some fictitious) and a few participants (initially, only five are available, but ten more can be unlocked, including Nobunaga himself). The action moves forward by means of missions which the player may embark on. Succeeding (or failing) a mission will open new missions. Furthermore, each person has a scenario and (at least) two different endings to find. In general, this game is quite a bit harder than Dynasty Warriors, but I found this pretty fun (if at times frustrating - the "Betrayal at Honnuji" level is a killer even at "normal" difficulty).

Character growth is pretty fun, as they grow depending on how you decide to defeat each level (or, you can look online to learn how to max out all character stats). The graphics are a bit weak for an entry this late into the DW genre, but the gameplay makes up for it, in my opinion. Level 5 weapons are quite difficult to get as well.

All in all, I think the game is worth the incredibly cheap price I got it for, and is probably worth three times that. Oh, and one more thing, Nobunaga isn't really all that much like Cao Cao (Cao Cao was a very skilled diplomat, whereas Nobunaga's diplomacy came at the tip end of a sword, so to speak). But anyway, I found the game well worth the money.

challenging game to play and build up characters.it has many characters and different weapons. my grandsons would play it all day if i let them

Alright, anyone familiar with Dynasty Warriors already knows the deal. You're a warrior from history, pitted against hordes of enemies. For me, this was actually the first "Warriors" game I ever played when I had rented it a while back, and I was very quickly hooked.

Now, the premise is very simple, and the game itself is simple enough as well. However, after playing some of the other games, I realized how much harder Samurai Warriors is in comparison. The first few stages of any character's story mode are downright deadly if you're not careful. And the castle stages, where you must traverse five or six floors, avoiding traps and enemies along the way, are both frustrating and entertaining at the same time.

Once you get the hang of the game, it isn't quite as difficult, admittedly. But the missions and multiple endings for each character help to give you new goals as you go along. Not to mention, each character has a fifth weapon, that must be obtained through a specific stage on hard difficulty or higher. So there's plenty to do, and you can have a friend join in on the chaos.

This is one the things that I really enjoy about these games. The co-op mode if just plain fun, and often makes accomplishing missions in each stage easier as well. Another mode I rather enjoy is vs mode, where there are three different ways to go against a friend. First one to kill the enemy commander, first to one thousand kills, and... I'm afraid I can't remember the third at the moment, my apologies. Point is, it's a nice way to break up what can sometimes be a monotonous experience.

Overall, I adore the game, really. Normally I'm not fond of hack and slash games, but this one provides enough story and challenge to make it worth my while. Not bad for something I randomly picked up off the rental shelf, I must say. So much so, that I finally decided to purchase it as well. Not to mention, one or two of its sequels.

I have never played any of Koei's other games, so I have no idea how this one compares with Dynasty Warriors.

Personally, I like this game quite a bit. The controls aren't complicated, the hack-and-slash aspect is awesome for those of us who are of a "killing first, mission second" gaming mindset (like me), and gameplay is not impossible, but also not painfully easy. There's a wide variety of characters (once you unlock them), and the graphics are very lovely.

I think some of the character designs could use a little work (like Kuniochi in her sports bra and cargo shorts, or Oichi in her cutesy jailbait anime girl get-up), but all in all, I think the pros outweigh the cons.

samurai warriors is a hard game. i beat 2 of the stories, yukimura's and the samurai's tale. the highest rank is a twenty. you might want to have 2 people when you're doing story mode. if one of you is a 1 and the other is an 18 you might want have backup. 2 player mode is cool because you go into a mode and just kill everyone in sight. you can also create a charecter. you can have up to 5 people and use them in story mode. you want to be on nobunaga's because his excircises or easier than the other lords, like shingen. that guy dies for god sake. if you like dynasty warriors you'll like this.

I'm one of the biggest Dynasty Warriors nuts on the face of the Earth, so I tend to follow most of KOEI's games when EGM reports them (they REALLY need to make a Gitaroo Man sequel).

Samurai Warriors sounds like a great idea: Take the massive-scale action/strategy of Dynasty Warriors, and put it in Tokugawa Shogunate-era Japan. But not all is well.

The levels and (especially) characters in the game just flat out bore me to death. They feel bland and uninteresting compared to the DW cast, specifically Nobunaga, who is a total Cao Cao clone, and Keiji Maeda, a Lu Bu wannabe. Not to mention you can only play as 15 of them. What the hell? One of the main hooks of Dynasty Warriors is it's 40+ playable characters, so a huge chunk of the replay value is torn out.

Another annoying feature is your allies. Simply put: They are 100% useless. Every DW game seems to lower the fighting capabilities of your army a little more, but this time, they just went way too far.

This game really does feel like it was made to cash in on the popularity of the DW series. Of course, the classic hack n' slash gameplay is still present, but what good does it do when everything around it feels uninspired?

this game is very fun but can be diffcult. for one thing the castle levels i think are almost impossiable because fo the booby traps. but it is too easy when you fight on the fields because you can easily demolish everyone. i do have one suggestion that you do two player mode for the campaigns because you can do multiple objects at the same time

I love the Dynasty Warriors series, so when Koei came out with Samurai Warriors I was thrilled. I thought it would be very much like DW, but with Japanese history and characters. In many ways they are alike, and in some ways they are different and that's still good. The "musou" attack in SW is sort of a time freeze where you are still in control of your character unlike DW. I thought that was a nice change, although I still like the Musou attack in DW also.
In SW it feels like I am constantly trying to figure out where I need to be and I never seem to be close to the right place. The maps are more confusing than DW. It shows an X marking where I need to be, I begin heading that way and find a closed off gate. I am then forced to backtrack, losing mission time.
The game is pretty cool in some ways, but I find myself yelling at it more than enjoying it.
I would rather play Dynasty Warriors 4 Empires personally.