If you have heard of or played Dynasty Warrior, Samurai Warriors or the more recent Warriors Orochi for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin (Warriors Orochi 2) is the newest edition to the Dynasty Warriors cross Samurai Warriors series. Developed by Koei, you are again going to cut your way through literally hundreds of enemies that just seem to stand there like the previous series. The Japanese / Europe version has been released, but no words for American release yet but I’m sure it will get here sooner than you think.
Gameplay
One major difference for Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin though is the fact that you are now in control of a team of three, chosen from a wide selection of familiar characters like Cao Cao and Lu Bei as well as some characters from the Samurai Warriors series.
I found this particular team with Dong Zhuo, a sexy looking lady (not sure her English name) and what looks like Lu Bu but with a longer name which also has a Lu in it, I could be wrong though. Even if that’s not really him, let me tell ya this dude is just as powerful as Lu Bu! I switched Dong Zhuo out and replaced with some cool demon looking character (probably from Samurai Warriors? I didn’t play that series unfortunately) after I unlocked him from progress through the story.
I stopped playing the series until now so I am not sure if the options to forge weapons and combining them have been in the previous series or not. You can basically create a stronger weapon by combining multiple weapons (2 at a time) or create from scratch using items and ingredients. Each weapon can also have special attributes like water, fire, lightning elements and many other ones. The number of special attributes that a weapon can hold can be modified as well. Weapon manipulations are done with the use of special items, ingredients and exp that you will find and earn during battle. You can also equip up to 7 special equipments that will boost your attributes such as more exp or more powerful special attacks.
Leveling is a breeze, just hack and slash your way through countless number of enemies. You can gain levels while in battle as well as before or after each mission where you can distribute your exp earned from previous missions to different characters. I like this feature because this allows you to level grind one character and still be able to level up your other characters. You can also choose a different team before each mission so you are not always stuck with the same one until you finish the game. Different team also has different characters for substitutions, there are TONS of characters to choose from!
Gameplay is basically the same old hack’n slash and countless number of hours of level grinding, but I think the leveling part is much easier consider, as mentioned before, you can gain exp during battle as well as distributing exp points to your characters before/after each mission. You also have the option to pick from four difficulties for each mission – Easy, Normal, Hard and EXTREMELY Hard.
Aside from Story Mode, there is the familiar Free Mode where you pick a map that you have finished from Story Mode and play through it, nothing new there. Dramatic Mode where you choose a map, again need to unlock through Story Mode, play through it and instead of picking your own team, you will have to play using the preset team and without the option to save. There is also Survival Mode, basically you pick a team of three and fight other team, Soul Calibur style, not exactly the same but you get my idea. Each member on your team has a life bar, you will have to alternative among them because as soon as any one of their life bar runs out you lose, doesn’t matter if the other two members have full life bars. Overall its pretty easy to pass the earlier stages until you get knocked out of the arena and you lose immediately in the higher levels!
Graphics and Audio
Graphics are slightly better than the previous series, if not the same. You can’t really expect too much from a PSP game to be honest. Graphics alone don’t determine if the game is good or bad anyway. I love the drawings of each character when you are on the character selection screen though. The CG cut scenes are also amazing and once unlocked you can view them again in the Gallery.
I apologize again for not being able to provide more during-battle images. But you can find them on IGN.
And as for audio, nothing new really.
Final Verdict
So is it worth buying this game? Yes and no I would say. Hardcore fans should not and will probably not miss this one. People that haven’t played the series for a while, like me, should give this a try. For those not into level grinding this might not be for you because this game is pretty much about that as well as obtaining all the special items, ingredients for weapons and skills and unlocking characters. As for me, I can foresee that sooner or later, the hack’n slash will be boring, but I shall enjoy it while it lasts.
7.5/10
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