It seems KOEI are the cleverest company in the whole of the video games industry. Six Dynasty Warriors titles, a Bladestorm game, Warriors Orochi and now two Samurai Warriors releases have graced shop shelves. Why exactly does that make them clever? Well, the answer can be deciphered by simply looking at the games. Take one glance and you’ll find it difficult to tell which title you’re looking at. It’s a bit unfair to call them clones, but we’re certainly justified calling them subtle reskins. The concept hasn’t changed since the game’s announcement. Take a melodramatic Asian chap (or woman) into battle, hacking though the hordes that oppose you. It doesn’t come as a surprise that Samurai Warriors 2 is no different.



You pick a character and get chopping. Despite this distinct lack of imagination, they sell ridiculously well. They literally print money for the developers. The unusual question is why? The old phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” comes to mind. Luckily, we’re not easily fooled. Samurai Warriors is stale from the moment you boot up the game. Originally released back in 2006 (yes, that isn’t a typo) on the PS2 and Xbox 360, it’s taken two years to port the game to PC. We’d wished it had stayed there and we won’t hold back as to why.

Alarm bells ring as soon as you load the game. You’re welcomed by a console menu. Navigation is done via the arrow keys. The fact that the developers kept the original menu forewarns us that nothing else is going to be different. If they haven’t bothered to implement mouse control for the game’s interface, then why would they translate the gameplay or graphics engine? You’ll begin at Story Mode, but there’s also Survival (which is self explanatory; last as long as possible), Free Mode, Sugoroku (a Japanese version of Monopoly), Vault (which allows you to revel in the spoils of war) and Options for all your tweaking needs. Unless you’re a hardcore fan of the series, you’ll be satisfied with the story. Even so, there are those that lap up the genre so the inclusion of multiple gameplay options is a plus.

Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows XP/Vista
Processor: Pentium 4 @ 2.6 GHz or Equivalent
Memory: 512 MB
Hard Drive: 6 GB Free
Video Memory: 128 MB
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 9.0