It has almost been a year to the day since Warriors Orochi launched its first wave of soldiers onto Microsoft’s Xbox 360. A year on, has Warriors Orochi changed its ways? From dull and unimpressive graphics to lack luster controls? In short, NO!
Right from the outset, you’ll see a combination of Dynasty and Samurai Warriors mixed over with its age old Techno Music and dull interface with a few options from Story Mode to Dream Mode. You will be able to pick from five storylines in Warrior Orochi 2. China, Samurai Warriors in Japan and a prequel from the original Warriors Orochi. After selecting a story mode you will then have the option to customize your growth, weapons, abilities and character selection. Once you are done, the game thrusts you in to an eight mini-page tutorial giving hardly any worthwhile information.
You will then take your brave warriors into battle, clashing with hordes of not so angry soldiers who would rather make love with their faces then engage you in combat. Which isn’t that much of a change from previous Dynasty Warriors Reincarnations, it seems that the developers have finally gotten as bored as we have playing this awfully dated series. You will obtain victory on the battlefield from wiping out hundreds of poorly trained men and seizing their camps over a large and oddly familiar map to which you will rinse and repeat the above actions for hours upon hours.
Not much has changed from Dynasty to Samurai to Orochi Warriors, arm your main character, set upon the battlefield, wipe out hundreds of unintelligent AI and after you kill a section of troops a Gate or Key commander will appear which will give you the ability to seize their camp and gain a battlefield advantage then Rinse and Repeat. [Can you see the formula? Rinse and Repeat]
The voice acting in Warriors Orochi 2 is insultingly bad, you will find more emotion in a marmite advert. Brave warriors sound like they have sat upon a hot spearhead as they screech chants and bark orders to their men from the safety of their saddles and repeat the same annoying lines over and over.
This time around KOEI have tried to add new modes that will hopefully add more replay value to their title such as;
Dream Mode will require you to complete missions from the story mode during which the game will make match up’s of characters and levels to which you could only dream about, until now.
Vs Mode which will give you a chance to pair up with a friend and go through four new game types;
- Tag Team – Tag in a teammate for a little extra help
- Elimination – A type of Last Man Standing
- Tower – Knock your enemy off a high rise tower
- Steeple Chase – Run like hell!
A feature that will keep you playing Warriors Oroch 2 a little more is the Survival Mode which adds a little replay value by battling it out with Computer AI (Artificial Intelligence) in a 3v3 Dead or Alive type setting. You will be able to switch between your characters by pressing the Right Trigger (RT) which can give you a tactical advantage over your opponents. So pick wisely. Sadly even these game modes do not stop Warriors Orochi 2 from becoming as dull and tedious as the story mode.
There are a large array of characters in Warriors Orochi 2 but once you have played one you’ve played them all, the B button will become the most annoying button on your controller and the first to break if you play more than 10minutes of this title. Old favourites do return from Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, including such legends as Liu Bu and Cao Cao on the Wei Clan, with a welcome 15 new characters.There is a total of 27 achievements to be gained by playing Warriors Orochi 2, which will be very hard to achieve not because of difficulty but because of sheer boredom. This likely stems from my belief that controls can make or break even the best of games, unfortunately Japanese Company KOEI have only mastered the B and A button, pressing it with rapid succession will indeed slaughter many clones soldiers.
It’s a real shame from going from a huge improvement with their previous titles – Dynasty Warriors 6 with its stunningly beautiful backdrops and multi-coloured sword-slashing moments to Warriors Orochi 2, where the backdrops are about as impressive as Donkey Kong on the Nintendo 64. Similarly I’ve always been impressed with the sound in KOEI games from swords clashing, men screaming out in pain to horses trampling across open fields and colliding with the masses, again, unfortunately you won’t be able to hear any of this as little no effort has gone in to the sound department which is a real shame, as so much could be done to save this title from the dusty realms of many gamers shelf’s.
Overall, as with many KOEI games since Dynasty Warriors launch in 2000, you’d have to be an avid fan to fork out £40 each time, but sadly for Warriors Orochi 2 it’s going to take much more than an avid fan to buy this title. Apparently Orochi is reborn, don’t count on it.
