Samurai Warriors 4 - Review

Samurai Warriors 4 is the latest game from well known hack n slash developers Omega Force. As per previous versions of the game the story is set in the Sengoku period of Japan's history, a period steeped in political turmoil, warfare and conflict.

The game features 55 total playable characters that you can use to hack and slash your way through various historic battles. There are also various single player and multi-player modes to select from out of these I found the new chronicle mode to be the most interesting, this mode is more like an RPG and sees you travelling all over Japan meeting new characters, taking on quests, collecting weapons and levelling up your characters fighting skills.

Now that you know what the game is all about, how does it play?

I for one found the game to be one of the most boring repetitive games I have ever had the displeasure of playing in the past 5 years, I could not find many redeemable qualities in the game, it was a chore to play and the only reason I played it more than once was for the sake of this review.

Combat systems in hack and slash games and action RPG's are important even more so in games like Samurai Warriors 4 where for the main bulk of the game all you do is fight. Maybe I have been spoiled in regards to the quality of combat systems in games especially in the last month or so playing Shadow Of Mordor which quite simply has one of the greatest combat experiences I have had the pleasure of using, seriously I could go on for three pages about how that game gets combat right, the problem is with Samurai Warriors 4 that I could also go on for 3 pages in regards to all the ways this game gets combat wrong.  The whole combat system in this game consists of button mashing which surprised me greatly as I thought we had moved on from combat systems like that around 10 years ago. There are some spectacular moves that can be pulled off in the game especially later on once you advance your characters but the combat system just does not feel fluid at all, it feels clunky , unresponsive and just plain boring. Press Square 5 times then press Triangle Then press square 5 times again and then maybe, just maybe your character might perform a move other than just a simple light or heavy attack. What your character does is entirely unpredictable as the timing is very strict and the game seems to randomly select when it is going to register button presses. Full price games should just not feel this unpolished especially when it comes to the combat system which is the meat and bones of this game.

The graphics are very underwhelming and look last gen, in fact if I saw a friend (yes I do have them, they count as friends even if I have to pay them right?) playing this game my first impression would be that it was being played on an Xbox or PS2. The amount of enemies that appear on screen at one time is one of the only impressive things about this game that is until you realise that the majority of the enemies being rendered by the graphics engine are exactly the same save for a few captains and other higher ranked enemies that appear with the armies you have to plow through until you reach the next load of armies that you have to plow through which kind of look exactly like the last 5 armies you had to plow through...you kind of think to yourself "Is this a video game or am I stuck in the movie Groundhog Day?"

I really would have a hard time recommending this game to anybody out there and that includes the people that are fans of this series. I mean there must be fans right since this is the fourth game in this series? I haven’t had any experience with the first 3 games so I am going to take a guess that these games must have been shining examples of game design and it is only this 4

th

incarnation of the game that is very not good. Feel free to correct me or call me an idiot in the comments section below if I have it all wrong, I will most likely be a grumpy angry troll like person if you disagree with me but hey at least it means we get to have a conversation together , and I get to prove that if you enjoyed this game then you must not have played a video game since the Colecovision was a hot item.

Quite simply this is what I would buy my worst enemy as a Christmas present, I could then lock them in a room for the next 3 days and force them to play it. I am sure the moans and screams that would begin to emit from the room after the first couple of hours play time would satisfy my unhealthy craving of torturing people I do not like.

The Score

3.0

Review code provided by Koei Tecmo

The Pros

+Multiple and varied game modes

+You can turn the game off and walk away

The Cons

-Horrendously outdated and boring combat system

-Graphics have a last gen feel