Samurai Warriors: State of War
Hands-on with the final Japanese build of the PSP's second Dynasty.
Published: February 3, 2006
Everyone seems to start a review or preview of a Dynasty Warriors or Samuari Warriors game the same way: by making a sort of mild head-scratching observation of the complete mindless devotion that fans of the series have for the games. It's worse than Madden; at least those games change rosters.
But it doesn't matter if the games haven't really changed since they first became a fixture of hack-and-slashers near the launch of the PS2, the games still sell -- and sell well. The thing is, after spending plenty of time with the Japanese retail build of State of War, the PSP port of Samurai Warriors, we're ready to suggest this might just be the perfect system for the simplistic, repetitive gameplay that the series has become known for.
This is especially important because of the way KOEI originally tweaked things for the less-than-well-received Dynasty Warriors PSP port. Where DW used only three quarters of the screen and ran like crap in some parts, State of War is gloriously wide-screened, and runs like a dream, with nary a framerate hitch, solid draw distance, and tons of enemies on the screen at once. Nearly everything else about the game is identical to the last PSP outing, save for the change of scenery from Romance of the Three Kingdoms-era China to feudal Japan.
For those that steered clear of DW when it hit the PSP, we'll try to update you a little. KOEI, likely by mandate from Sony, chopped the experience up into so much button mashing kibble, turning what is normally a good hour-long uberbrawl into a slightly more strategic grid of squares navigable by way of pre-set pathways. These can comprise flat terrain, strongholds, and so on.
Occupy a oppositely-colored square when it's your time to move around the grid, and you'll drop into a very short match with a simple objective (usually it's to off a commander rather than the nameless sword fodder). About 30 seconds to a minute later, you'll pop back out, claim the square and move on.
Oh hooo, but what's this? It seems Samurai Warriors brings with it a new flavor of deliciousness in the form of charms that can be activated. These do anything from slowly poison or attack with lightning an enemy square to restore momentum, add speed or regain health for your characters. At certain points on nearly every map, you'll also gain a charm that will allow you to alter the map, opening doorways and restoring blocks of land washed away by floods.
Since you'll pick up the charms fairly regularly (usually after killing enemies in multiples of 50), you'll have to balance the four slots you have for action charms (the map-altering ones are rarer and don't take up any slots. You can combine like-colored charms for more potency, or drop others that you're not interested in.
Like previous games in the series, you'll slowly level your character up, inching up their attack, defense, intelligence and musou attacks. The latter is the familiar screen clearing superattack that can only be kicked off when the musou gauge fills (either by attacking, getting attacked or when you're critically low on health). You'll eventually also take on subofficers from those you've defeated on the field, and they in turn can give you bonuses to health or attacks or defense and so on, up to four at a time.
Perhaps most impressive about State of War, however, is just how much progress was made by the Omega Force development team in the 10 or so months between game releases. It's night and day how close the PS2 and PSP versions are, functionally, and even the graphics, which are fairly blah on the PS2, at least look suitable on the PSP. With the pared down stretched of fighting and the slightly strategy-tinged elements to the game, perhaps now you see why we're so ready to call the PSP the proper home of the series now. It just fits better, and now, it actually feels like a proper Warriors game made it to the PSP in proper form.
Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to go smack around a bunch of armored swordsmen with our pimped-out yo-yo-wielding supergirl. God, see, despite all our ripping on it, the game still has us hooked!
But it doesn't matter if the games haven't really changed since they first became a fixture of hack-and-slashers near the launch of the PS2, the games still sell -- and sell well. The thing is, after spending plenty of time with the Japanese retail build of State of War, the PSP port of Samurai Warriors, we're ready to suggest this might just be the perfect system for the simplistic, repetitive gameplay that the series has become known for.
This is especially important because of the way KOEI originally tweaked things for the less-than-well-received Dynasty Warriors PSP port. Where DW used only three quarters of the screen and ran like crap in some parts, State of War is gloriously wide-screened, and runs like a dream, with nary a framerate hitch, solid draw distance, and tons of enemies on the screen at once. Nearly everything else about the game is identical to the last PSP outing, save for the change of scenery from Romance of the Three Kingdoms-era China to feudal Japan.
For those that steered clear of DW when it hit the PSP, we'll try to update you a little. KOEI, likely by mandate from Sony, chopped the experience up into so much button mashing kibble, turning what is normally a good hour-long uberbrawl into a slightly more strategic grid of squares navigable by way of pre-set pathways. These can comprise flat terrain, strongholds, and so on.
Occupy a oppositely-colored square when it's your time to move around the grid, and you'll drop into a very short match with a simple objective (usually it's to off a commander rather than the nameless sword fodder). About 30 seconds to a minute later, you'll pop back out, claim the square and move on.
Oh hooo, but what's this? It seems Samurai Warriors brings with it a new flavor of deliciousness in the form of charms that can be activated. These do anything from slowly poison or attack with lightning an enemy square to restore momentum, add speed or regain health for your characters. At certain points on nearly every map, you'll also gain a charm that will allow you to alter the map, opening doorways and restoring blocks of land washed away by floods.
Since you'll pick up the charms fairly regularly (usually after killing enemies in multiples of 50), you'll have to balance the four slots you have for action charms (the map-altering ones are rarer and don't take up any slots. You can combine like-colored charms for more potency, or drop others that you're not interested in.
Like previous games in the series, you'll slowly level your character up, inching up their attack, defense, intelligence and musou attacks. The latter is the familiar screen clearing superattack that can only be kicked off when the musou gauge fills (either by attacking, getting attacked or when you're critically low on health). You'll eventually also take on subofficers from those you've defeated on the field, and they in turn can give you bonuses to health or attacks or defense and so on, up to four at a time.
Perhaps most impressive about State of War, however, is just how much progress was made by the Omega Force development team in the 10 or so months between game releases. It's night and day how close the PS2 and PSP versions are, functionally, and even the graphics, which are fairly blah on the PS2, at least look suitable on the PSP. With the pared down stretched of fighting and the slightly strategy-tinged elements to the game, perhaps now you see why we're so ready to call the PSP the proper home of the series now. It just fits better, and now, it actually feels like a proper Warriors game made it to the PSP in proper form.
Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to go smack around a bunch of armored swordsmen with our pimped-out yo-yo-wielding supergirl. God, see, despite all our ripping on it, the game still has us hooked!