Warriors Orochi 2 Review

by Mosez at Oct 8, 2008 5:39pm

Warriors Orochi 2 – Xbox 360 Review
Game: Warriors Orochi 2
Systems: Xbox 360 and Playstation 2
Publisher: KOEI, Omega Force
Developer: KOEI
Players: 1-2

KOEI is back again with it’s newest installment in their long-running Warriors series, with Warriors Orochi 2. The Warriors series has been around for eleven years now total, with eight years spent in it’s hack and slash format, and it has produced three main games with numerous sequels to all three. The first game is Dynasty Warriors, set in China around the Three Kingdoms , is based off of historical events and the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. The second game is Samurai Warriors, set in Japan during the Sengoku or “Warring States” period of Japanese history. The third is Warriors Orochi which is a crossover of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, taking characters and stages from Dynasty and Samurai Warriors.

*WARNING: Warriors Orochi 1 spoilers follow*

Warriors Orochi 1 saw every character from the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors universe thrown into the fight of their life against the mystical, evil Serpent King Orochi. Seeking a challenge, Orochi created a rift in time and space to forge a world with the mightiest of warriors from the Three Kingdoms era of China and the Sengoku era of Japan. Divided and lost, the Warriors must band together to defeat the Serpent King. Warriors Orochi 2 takes place after the death of Orochi, the Warriors through a series of battles find of a plot to bring revive Orochi and must try to restore peace to the land. It is an interesting story, but is the game worth playing? Let’s start with the graphics.

*End spoilers*

Graphics
The graphics in Warriors Orochi 2 are very average to say the most. The character models are done very well with each of the playable characters having a unique look. On the other hand, the peons and non-playable Generals vary from a few generic skins for each of them, so you will see the same looking person running around the battlefield a lot. The environments are very underwhelming, each level consisting of the dirt and grass battlefield with some castles and bases thrown in for good measure. There are nice special effects like flames, ice, and lightning, which are thrown into attacks, that look cool. The cut scenes look nice, but are still nothing special. For a game on a next-gen console, the graphics don’t compare to other games, but they still aren’t terrible and can be nice to look at, at times.

Sound
The sound in this game really delivers from one standpoint and falls short on another. The music is wonderful with a mix of the rock music from Dynasty Warriors and the techno music from Samurai Warriors along with some new tracks made for the game. The music changes over the course of a battle to reflect what’s going on. For example if you are losing, the music will change to something that has a hectic sound to it and vice versa if you are winning it’ll play something that is a little more upbeat. It really helps keep you in the game, by playing something that will pump you up when you need it.

Here’s where we come to the part of the sound that isn’t too great. The famous KOEI voice acting! Some of the voices for characters are very good, and some of them are well.. horrible. Listening to some of the characters talk will make your ears bleed. It can be annoying when you kill 5 officers standing around and you have to hear a badly voiced character say the same line 5 times in a row.

Gameplay
This is the portion of the game that gets slammed by critics, because over the eight years it really hasn’t changed much. The basic rundown is this: You mash buttons to kill the enemies on the screen. It’s a system, while probably outdated, is still a blast. The object of the game is that you pick three characters to work as a team, you control one of the characters at a time and switch between the three with a press of the left or right trigger. Using your characters you must hack through the hundreds of enemies to get to the main General and defeat him. You have many attacks at your disposal including basic attacks, charge attacks, special attacks, and your Musou attack.

There are five separate story modes consisting of eight levels each, a Dream Mode which puts three characters who have something in common in a level with each other, a Versus mode in which two players compete in challenges, and Survival mode which is like a fighting game. Each mode can be completed with one or two players.

The game has over 90 characters, with each of them having unique attacks and weapons. The weapons range from your standard sword and spear to goofy weapons such as a shamisen, a toy cup and ball thing, and an over sized lance.

The game incorporates RPG style elements with the ability to level the 90+ characters to level 99, and a weapon system which allows you to fuse weapons and upgrade them to make a really kickass unstoppable weapon. There are also treasures which you have to complete missions in levels to collect which you use to put even more upgrades on your weapons.

The game as a whole is easier than Warriors Orochi 1, which is a good thing for the people that thought WO1 was too hard and a bad thing for Warriors vets who enjoy the really hard challenge. Unlocking characters used to require you completing specific missions during levels to unlock and now they are just unlocked by playing the story mode. The new hard thing to unlock is Dream Mode stages, and unlocking them isn’t really hard as it is annoying. One of the requirements to unlocking a stage is have all character levels equal 3,640 or more which is more tedious than hard.

Closing comments

The Warriors series is hard to review. It hasn’t changed much over time and that will be a bad thing to people who like innovation in their games. But on the other hand, the game is still really fun. Nothing is better than getting together with a friend and hacking away at hordes of enemy soldiers, seeing who can kill more. So here’s my opinion, if you’ve played a Warriors game in the past and weren’t too into it than run from this like the plague. If you are a hardcore Warriors fan or even just someone who enjoyed the past games, go for it, you will have a blast with it. For new fans of the series, if you don’t mind about being lost in the story a bit this is a great starting point. It’s easier than the other Warriors games so you won’t be throwing your controller against your wall in anger. So, here’s what we learned: Are the Warriors games pretty much all the same gameplay wise? Yes. Are they still ridiculously fun and addicting? Hell yes.

Graphics: 7.0
Sound: 8.0
Design: 6.5
Replayability: 9.0
Enjoyment: 9.5
Overall: 8.5
Pros:
Really fun.
It’s easier than the other games.
There is a lot to do.
Cons:
Still the same old Warriors games.
It’s easier than the other games.