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Koei adds strategy to a stagnant franchise

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: March 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

KOEI is back with yet another Dynasty/Samurai Warrior hackenslash game. This genre is now infamous for its simplistic run around aimlessly killing dumb soldiers until you reach a slightly more difficult to defeat general. The franchise hasn't changed much over the past few years. This is both good and bad. From year to year we are subjected to sequels which are more along the lines of touch up packages. A few added characters, a few added features, and just barely updated graphics. However, recently with there new "Empires" series they seem to be hoping to add an element of strategy to a franchise that as of late has been becoming quite stale.

The game has 2 modes of play. The usual "free" mode which is essentially the pickup and play mode where you select a section of the map then pick your generals and lieutenants (up to 3 of each) then go to battle. Then there's "empire" mode where you become a Japanese feudal lord. You are assigned a fief and from here it is your job to expand your territory. The fun part is that how you do it is up to you. You can use force, diplomacy or trickery as you build your army recruiting new generals, lieutenants, and boosting your number of troops.

During battle you can order your soldiers to protect a base, attack individual bases or generals, and defend another general or even yourself. The best part about this game is that your generals now level up with you and are no longer the sissy's whining for help that they were in the other games. On one occasion my round ended while I was off fighting a rival general my troops had already captured the main camp. Keep in mind that your opponents are no longer slouches either. You'll have to work a little to defeat them as the strength of the characters and AI has been revamped slightly. Formations are used in a rock paper scissors fashion. When they are employed they give you a stat boost however the army using the stronger formation is the only one to receive it.

The game does a good job making you feel like you are in charge of a powerful army. You can trade with China or Western nations; tax the people, train your generals and lieutenants, there are so many options as far as what you can do it would take forever to name them all.
So in summing up this game, SW2 Empires is still an upgrade package. Don't be fooled. It does however improve vastly with a strategy element and AI. So here's a comparison list so that you can make the decision

PROS:
- essentially still running off of the Dynasty warriors engine
- create a character feature
- added strategy element
- slightly tougher AI, your army now fights for themselves
CONS:
- essentially still running off of the Dynasty warriors engine
- not much variety in the battlefield maps
- slightly tougher AI, you may have a little difficulty fighting your opponents in the beginning

Good game but...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Empires is usually better... but this time it was not as good, the one thing I hated about the game was the edit mode. Three sets for women and 9 sets for men, the voices for the women were Young,Mature,Lively,and Active, the voices for men were Wise,Rough,Noble and one other. The Noble voice sounded like a little pansy voice. The weapons choice for men and women differed. Mitsunari Ishida and No had two different weapons but had the same charge attacks, they both could place mines, No's weapon was rather hard to use. The models for the men were all different but for women their outfits were Maiden,Warrior and Kunoichi, the Kunoichi model was thin in arms, the Warrior model looked thin when she moved, and the Maiden was the best of the three. The young voice was too childish and didnt fit any of the models. This game was rather easy and the artwork was simple to get and since the items are gone, you dont need to waste your time to gather the stuff you need. The policy cards were all copied over from other Empires games with the exception of a few new ones just for Samurai Warriors 2 Empires. The game is alot like other Empires games but at least it has a little challenge to it.

step forward, cough backward

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 8
Date: April 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Items are gone and replaced with general enhancement slots. other than that, you willn't be surprised by anything else here. welcome addition s include mutiple-vectored musuo gauges qnd special stance attacks, however it must be noted that i've always felt every iteration of samurai warriors but a prelude to the grander and (always) better and more comfortable Dynasty Warriors. People migh dissagree, but hey, screw them. I'll still be killing these Japanese until the next version of China come out, hopefully for the ps3, and i'llbe killing em with gusto so thats not a negative. It's just that, truth be told, slaughtering Chinese is more fun that slaughtering Japanese: there are just more of 'em!

Bringing Samurai Warriors to its best!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: April 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm a big fan of the Dynasty Warriors series ever since my cousins introduced me to Romance of the 3 Kingdoms on nintendo and Dynasty Warriors 2. I love strategy games as well as some basic hack and slash games myself. Samurai Warriors actually was the first of the series to actually add some strategy to its basic hack and slash (Dynasty Warriors had pretty much none). Then they came out with the Empires series. I love this game. I love the fact that battles have to be fought with battle bases rather than just defeat the leader. I also love the fact that I can play with any of the minor Generals as well as create my own. I like the History lesson involved in this game. The game itself is still a basic hack and slash but with better elements such as setting up ambushes, winning over other generals in battle, taking particular bases that have certain effects working for you, formations during battle that give you either a advantage or disadvantage depending on which formation you and your oppenent has, better computer allies, and tougher opponents. Those who get bored with hack and slash elements could miss some of the finer points in this game when it comes to strategy. I look forward to more of the series with new characters and even more strategy while keeping the graphics up to date.. The graphics portion of this game is slightly better than those before but overal it hasn't changed. The sound and voice overs have gotten better(I havent heard Okuni's yet, Her last voice over was horrible!!). This game is great! I think it just keeps getting better. I recomend buying this game to fans of the 3 kingdoms series and Dynasty series as well as someone who wants to try a new game where the every battle isn't predetermined because of its replayability. This is a great game for a time burner as well as trying to achieve total conquest.

This is the best game in the series so far. Lets see what they add next.

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