| Samurai Warriors | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Omega Force |
| Publisher(s) | Koei |
| Distributor(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| Release date(s) | PlayStation 2[1] Xbox[2] |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | DVD-DL |
Samurai Warriors (戦国無双 Sengoku Musō, Sengoku Musou in Japan, lit. Unrivaled Warring States) is the first title in the series of video games created by Koei's Omega Force team based loosely around the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history and it is a spinoff of the Dynasty Warriors series. A port of this game called Samurai Warriors: State of War has been released for the PlayStation Portable, which includes additional multiplayer features.
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In the basic gameplay of Samurai Warriors, the player takes the role of a single officer in battle and must fend off hordes of enemy soldiers and defeat the enemy commander. The player has at their disposal a range of combo attacks and crowd-clearing special moves known as Musou attacks. The variety of attacks available increase as the character increases in level and gains new weapons.
Musou attacks can only be performed when the character's Musou gauge has filled up, which does so gradually when the player inflicts or receives damage. Additionally, if the player is low on health or possess a special skill, they can use their special True Musou attack which causes elemental damage in addition to normal damage as well as adds on a trio of attacks that cleans up the final few enemies in the vicinity. One difference between Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors is the ability to perform free-style combo attacks during Musou attack mode, during which the game enters bullet-time; common soldiers move very slowly, however officers are unaffected. Other abilities that Samurai characters have over the Dynasty series include the ability to perform a roll to dodge attacks, and deflect incoming arrows with their weapon.
The other significant change is the way in which characters grow stronger. There is a new ranking system after battles which depends on five categories:
Each of these categories is given a rank (from lowest to highest: E, D, C, B, A, S) depending on the player's performance, and then the player is given an overall rank. The higher the rank and the harder the difficulty setting of the game, the more the player's character attributes will increase. In addition to the growth of the character's stats, Skill Points are also awarded. With these Skill Points the player can buy skills that enhance their character's abilities.
One of the two most significant changes over Dynasty Warriors is the introduction of the mission system in battles. Each stage has a number of different missions which become available depending on which character the player is controlling and the success or failure of previous missions. Such tasks include eliminating specific enemy officers, launching sneak attacks on enemy bases or thwarting the plans of the enemy. Success in these missions can be crucial to the outcome of many battles as failure often results in a massive loss of morale to the player's forces. It will also determine the path that will be carved out for the next stage if there is a split route. However one can choose the path to take if both routes had been opened.
Each character can equip up to five items before each battle, which will affect their attributes or give them additional abilities. Players can find items which affect their attributes through normal battle by defeating enemy officers or breaking open crates. The items which give characters special abilities are harder to come by. Players must fight a specific battle and complete or fail specific missions to cause an enemy supply team to appear. Defeating this supply team will cause the item to appear.
Like items, weapons can also be found in battle. Each character has four different types of weapons they can find. In addition to these base attributes, weapons will also randomly have other attributes attached to them. The value of these bonuses depends on three things: the difficulty level, the stage the player is on and the ranks the character has in the 'Discern' skill.
In addition to the random weapon drops there are other special fifth weapons to find. Unlike the other weapons, the fifth weapons have set bonuses and attributes. Like the rare items, the player has to play a specific stage and complete a specific task to get a supply team to appear. However, unlike the rare items, in order to get the weapon the game must be on either the Hard or Chaos difficulty level.
Samurai Warriors gives players the opportunity to create new characters via the officer training mode. In this mode players must study under a mentor and complete twelve training sessions and a final exam. The first thing the player must do is choose the look of their character, from an initial selection of eight different models, there are also 4 different models that can be obtained if a certain event is accomplished within the mode. The initial stats of the character are dependent on the model chosen. The player must then choose to partake in a test and one of three weapons they will use for the test.
Each of the different tests affects different attributes of the character. After the completion of the test the player will be ranked out of a score of 100 points, by getting more points the character's attributes will increase by a greater amount. If the character is defeated during the course of a test, they will automatically fail the test and will have to spend one training session resting.
After twelve test sessions have passed, the character must take a final exam. This exam consists of two training sessions back to back. The player has to score a total of 100 points between these two tests in order to pass the exam. If the player completes the final exam successfully then they will be able to use their gun to rank up.
Unlike the Traditional-Chinese music & rock collaborations in the Dynasty Warriors series, Samurai Warriors combines traditional Japanese instrumentals with techno. The sounds of both Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors are combined in their crossover game, Warriors Orochi.
| Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Omega Force | ||
| Publisher(s) | Koei | ||
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 | ||
| Release date(s) | |||
| Genre(s) | Action | ||
| Rating(s) | |||
Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends is a PS2 expansion disc for Samurai Warriors . While Xtreme Legends can be played alone, it is not possible to use any of the features of the original.
This offers four new characters (Imagawa Yoshimoto, Hashiba Hideyoshi, Honda Tadakatsu and Inahime) and a brand new mission and map. This also offers new weapons, a new survival mode, and fixes several problems.
Even after they reached rank 20 characters could still gain skill points and increase their attributes without having to the reset the character to default. Samurai Warriors Xtreme Legends extended this further, by adding even more powerful sixth weapons to earn. These can only be discovered by playing on Chaos mode (or Hard mode, if the correct bonus is purchased).
Exclusive to Samurai Warriors Xtreme Legends, through the completion of special tasks, the player can earn Bonus Points in order to purchase special features. These features include additional costumes for characters, voice sound tests, lowering the difficulty required to unlock the fifth and sixth weapons and the ability to break the default limits for character's stats. Methods of earning bonus points include the following: earning all of a character's endings, unlocking rare items and weapons and successfully creating new characters.
This is a slot machine based game featuring Yukimura Sanada, Hanzo Hattori and Keiji Maeda as playable characters with their own stories using character models from Samurai Warriors. Nōhime, Masamune Date and Hideyoshi Toyotomi are included as normal bosses, while Oda Nobunaga is a special boss. Other characters who make non-playable appearances are Kunoichi, Shingen Takeda, Okuni and Goemon Ishikawa.
The PS2 release of Samurai Warriors sold a million copies within a month in Japan[4] and reached the Japanese platinum chart with a total of 1.06 million.[5] It was awarded an award of excellence in CESA's 2004 Game Awards[6] and received a 34 out of 40 rating from Famitsu.[7]
The game is met with mixed reviews from Western critics, most reviewers criticize the game's visual and technical similarities to the Dynasty Warriors series as the cause. What earned the most praise was the RPG element added into the game as it deviates from its spiritual predecessor by adding a higher replay value for gamers.[8] The Create a Character mode was received with mixed results. Phantom from Game Planet commented that it is, "well implemented", allowing players to accurately play a character made for them[9] while Alex Navarro from Gamespot regarded the option as "a nice touch" but "rather tiresome" in the end.[10] The innovations made were still met with criticism for the genre as a whole, Patrick Garratt from EuroGamer stating, "we’re seriously on the verge of being all warriored out."[11]
The PS2 port holds an average 71% rating at Game Rankings.[12]
A port to the PlayStation Portable, called Samurai Warriors: State of War, was released in Japan on December 8, 2005 and March 7, 2006 in North America. It has a number of additional multiplayer features.[13][14]
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