Koei Tecmo and Omega Force go to war once again in "Samurai Warriors 4," the fifth installment in the main series of "Samurai Warriors," also marking the tenth anniversary of the "Samurai Warriors" series. This game brings back that good ol' in-your-face hack-n-slash action in the latest rendition of the Sengoku period of Japanese history, featuring larger-than-life interpretations of historic warriors who once reigned over the battlefields and clashed over territory across the land of the rising sun. The last time a main series "Samurai Warriors" game came here to the States was in 2010, and then it was a Wii-exclusive. Now the Playstation consoles are getting their turn.
One of the biggest selling points of "Warriors 4" is the character cast, 55 warriors strong. Easily the most in any "Samurai Warriors" game that came before it, featuring 12 all-new fighters, as well as characters from previous games that either didn't make the cut with subsequent releases or were sent to spin-off games. Each fighter has his or her own dynamic design and a unique fighting style, so few players will love playing every warrior. There will always be someone who will just not cut it for you, and some who are so strong and easy to use, you can't leave them alone. There are a lot of fan favorites, like Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin , Date Masamune, Musashi Miyamoto, Oda Nobunaga and so many more your eyes will spin!
The gameplay is a slight departure from the classic "Samurai Warriors" model, moving instead toward the "Dynasty Warriors" model where the story mode is concerned. Instead of playing through an entire story with a single character, each level in more than 10 "legends" comes with a certain number of playable warriors for the player to choose from. This keeps the focus on historic clans and the warriors' allegiances, but it keeps things linear, which can be good or bad, depending on whether the player wants to stay true to the story or betray everyone and just kill, kill, kill. That, however, is remedied by the Free mode, in which you play already-completed levels from Story mode, and Chronicles mode, which uses custom, player-created characters (created in the Dojo) to journey across Japan in support of a player-chosen warlord, conquering territories, building relationships with other warriors and warlords, unlocking new portions of the country to roam, new allies and new equipment as well. This mode is very intriguing and can be challenging at times, but it does get a little stale after a while, so it would be a good idea to balance the Story, Free and Chronicles modes.
Each level also has a number of objectives for the player to accomplish during play; doing so will award experience points, items, weapons, etc., upon conclusion of the level. The levels are very big in scale, which is common in "Warriors" games. This is coupled, however, with a single movement speed, and if there's a lot of ground to cover, it will be difficult to get to where you need to be when there's an objective to be accomplished ... good thing the secondary character feature is there to help you out. You can choose an extra character to take with you onto the battlefield that you can switch with at the push of a button. You can also command them to stay put, defend a base, or attack an enemy in a certain place on the board.
The combat system is a larger departure from previous games: instead of starting with light attacks producing new moves with the integration of strong attacks, it flips the system on its head. You create powerful attacks by adding normal attacks on top of strong ones, allowing your character to advance quickly, then attack with a new move, and the resulting moves differ based on how many strong moves are used in a row. The strong moves are actually better for moving fast than running for some characters, as long as the player knows how to use them. The flop with them is that they have no effect on generals; in fact, if you try one on a general, you'll be pushed back and lose your current hit count - really sucks when you have 1,000 hits going - so be careful!
For those who haven't played the series, it will take a while to get used to some characters, while others will fit them like a glove. Their upgraded special attacks with huge climaxes after devastating combos - great for finishing off enemy commanders and generals (or any body with a name) - as well as unique techniques that vary in effects from warrior to warrior. The best part is that combo abilities and the unique moves is that character capabilities increase with leveling. The higher your character's level gets, the more versatile they will become, but the leveling process can be time consuming, and with the objectives constantly changing, it can get aggravating.
Is "Samurai Warriors 4" for everyone? No. Is it the best Sengoku period hack-and-slasher out there today? Also no, but it is definitely worth a try. It's not exactly an acquired taste, but it might not make someone addicted right away. Give it some time and it will grow on you.
"Samurai Warriors 4" scores an 8.25 out of 10 overall.
