It’s been just over one year since the release of the first Warriors Orochi game, which blends two of Koei’s most popular series’, Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. For fans of the first game, there’s some good news: the game is relatively the same as you played last year with some minor enhancements. For everyone else: well, you’re likely not reading the review if you’re not a fan of the series already, and believe me, if you’re not a fan of the series, Warriors Orochi 2 isn’t going to win you over, at all.
Gameplay
The story behind Orochi 2 is set after the events of last years game. Both the "Three Kingdom" era China characters and the "Warring States" Japan characters have settled down and found a peaceful way of life. Of course, it doesn’t take long for the legions of Orochi’s followers to stir things up again. After the defeat of the serpent Lord in the last game, his faithful have divided themselves into separate armies and begin plans to resurrect their master. The premise is simple and predictable, though there are five different stories to be told; each from the perspective of a different faction. You can view the story from the Three Kingdom’s perspective (which has three stories covering each camps involvement in the current game), the Samurai side, or even see a sort of prequel to events of the previous game by playing Orochi’s story. There’s very little cutscenes involved in any of this and the presentation is definitely lacking throughout. It holds true to the series, but it’s not very entertaining to have everything play out with static character portraits that don’t move or emote at all.
After wincing your way through the static sequences and being introduced to the story, you’re given the options to customize your party, apply any experience you’ve received to characters and upgrade or change weapons. After selecting your party of three (a Technical, Power and Speed fighter), you’re given an objective. The goal is almost always the same. Defeat this general, and don’t let your general’s be defeated in battle. The challenge is being in the right place at the right time. You’re constantly given updates on what your other general’s are doing while you’re slogging your way through fields of identical mindless enemies. Unfortunately, while you may be able to blow through 500 enemies in just a few short minutes, the AI general’s have a hard time, and guess who has to bail them out? That’s right...you. This means that if you’re on one side of the map and they’re on the other side, you’re going to have to trudge your way back through more braindead enemies and save his butt. Fun, right? Not overly, especially when you’re so close to your goal and you’re getting updates that your general is about to fall in battle.
The combat in Orochi is extremely limited and as a result, quite boring. Tap the X button several times for light combos, Y button for more powerful sweeps that will knock enemies back, and the RB or B button for some special attacks. There were actually periods in the game that I literally did with my eyes closed and was still successful. The problem is that your characters seem to be overly powerful and as a result, just jamming on the buttons in any fashion will defeat hordes of them. Apparently, you can guard and strafe in the game, but I never actually found a need to do so except on the highest difficulty level. The swarms of Orochi’s army will almost seemingly wait patiently for you to annihilate them. The general’s will fight back, but anyone else on the field will just stand there and take the punishment you dish out to them. Well, at least there are lots of them, right? The only thing that breaks up the monotony a bit is the ability to switch up your character on the field by pressing the RT or LT. Tired of mowing down the masses with your power fighter? Bring the speed guy in and pull off some cool looking quick attacks. You’ll still mow through enemies like they’re training dummies, but it gives you a bit of variety, which is needed. Trust me.
Aside from the basic story mode, there’s a couple of other modes in which to punish yourself with. Free mode simply lets you replay unlocked levels with any character you fancy. Dream mode offers more of the same, although those who are well versed in the history of the franchise may get something out of this, as it pairs up some famed historical figures with each other to slug it out on the battlefield. Mostly it’s just another mow-fest, though, and there’s really nothing here to set it apart from the story mode. There’s also a co-op mode, which basically means that you can share your pain with a friend.
There are a couple of more multi-player modes (no online at all, though), most of which feel like they were tacked on in response to the lack of features from last years game, and none are really worth playing, at all. There’s Tag Team and Elimination modes, which play like most standard fighting games. They’re not bad, but when comparing it to the fighting games that have come out in recent years, they certainly aren’t worthy of more than a couple of play-throughs. There’s also a horse racing game. Yeah. I don’t know how that got in there, but it’s there. Essentially, you race on the only available track, picking up items that affect your speed and so on. It’s nice that Koei attempted some variety, but in context with the series, this was definitely a questionable addition to the game and isn’t developed well enough to really make it worth your time.
Graphics & Sound
Visually, Orochi offers little more than its gameplay. Environments are bland and lack any real identifying features. Every map in which you do battle is virtually void of any real identifying features. That’s not really much of a surprise being that the game is all about offering a ton of enemies to fight. This is where the game is really lacking. The enemies, much like the environments lack any real identifying features. You’re literally relegated to fighting off hordes of warriors that look exactly the same. Character models for the playable characters fair better. They’re varied and detailed enough, but for a 360 game, could certainly benefit from more time in the shop.
Animations are also a bit of an issue as characters quite simply fall down when hit. There’s no real sense of impact when you’re slamming your weapon of choice into an opponent, and when you knock them down, the effect looks more like someone blowing over a cardboard cut out. Okay, that’s exaggerated just a tad, but it’s seriously stiff. Fighting animations for your characters are executed well enough, but it matters little when the enemies you’re mowing down don’t seem to notice your blade passing through them, at all.
Just a note to anyone thinking on picking this up with an offline only console, though. Out of the box, the framerate during co-op mode was extremely choppy and hard to play. Having played the game pre and post-patch, all I can say is that you may just want to grab an ethernet cable and download the patch if you have any co-op aspirations for the game. Newer copies of the game may have addressed this issue, but the copy I received was definitely in need of the patch, so just a word of warning.
Soundwise, the game is just awful. The music is uptempo techno rock that you’d come to expect in most fighting games. It honestly doesn’t really suit the title at all. That, however, is a minor issue when compared to that of the voice acting. Seriously, I’ve never been so put off by a game before simply because of its voice acting. The characters voices range from stereotypically over the top dramatics to annoying high school cheerleader types. It’s odd that Koei didn’t include the original Japanese language tracks. I may not be able to understand what they’re saying, but anything has to be better than listening to Kunoichi scream "Breaking News!!".
Value
Warriors Orochi 2 does offer quite a bit of content. There are 92 playable characters here, which is impressive, but lacks any real weight being that there’s not a whole lot of variety to the way each one controls. The Story mode, Dream mode and multiplayer offer enough to keep players busy for a while, provided they’re prepared to play through the same premise over and over again without much variation. Worth a rental if you enjoyed the first one, but definitely not a must-buy for anyone but the most hardcore of fans.
Conclusion
Essentially, this game is simply Koei offering a great deal of fan service to it’s loyal followers, and for those people, this game will certainly deliver what they expect. For everyone else, however, there’s nothing here but a boring hack ’n’ slash with some horrible voice acting and a horse racing minigame.
+ Multiplayer modes (except co-op mode) are decent.
+ 92 characters is pretty impressive.
Cons
- Terrible voice acting. Seriously awful stuff.
- Boring, repetitive gameplay.
- Brain dead AI on both sides of the battlefield.
- Visuals are lacking that next-gen polish.
- Horse racing minigame. What’s up with that?
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
I’ve always been an advocate for cheap and easy...Er...when it comes to gaming, that is. Unfortunately, it’s because of this that I’ve missed out on some of the bigger titles over the past few years. (CoD4, anyone?). Buying used games, ordering online from sites like Amazon or Ebay, is a simple way to avoid high pricing, (at least until you factor in...
I’ve always been an advocate for cheap and easy...Er...when it comes to gaming, that is. Unfortunately, it’s because of this that I’ve missed out on some of the bigger titles over the past few years. (CoD4, anyone?). Buying used games, ordering online from sites like Amazon or Ebay, is a simple way to avoid high pricing, (at least until you factor in... 
finalkross
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