GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
OK
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 05/19/2008
- Released on: 03/18/2008
- Originally published on GameSpot: Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends (PlayStation 2) Review
Koei's Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends is a standalone expansion for a game with very close ties to the company's Dynasty Warriors series. In fact, the two franchises are almost identical except for a change in scenery, with Koei abandoning ancient China in favor of bringing its outlandish characters and simplistic mechanics to feudal Japan. This expansion follows last year's release of Samurai Warriors 2: Empires, which added a welcome layer of strategy to the the series tired formula, but it lacks even Empire's depth. The real problem with the game is that it does almost nothing worthwhile that its predecessors haven't done before it.
Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends continues the fight in feudal Japan during the country's Sengoku ("warring states") era, casting you as one of six new characters with unique fighting styles. Consequently, you'll probably find at least one character you can tolerate, such as the talented but childish Toshiie or the inquisitive Gracia. As anyone familiar with the series might expect, there's little in the way of an overarching theme or objective to tie the characters together except for Koei's loose interpretation of Sengoku history, which serves as a vague backdrop for the game's action.
The majority of the 36 new scenarios are available in the typical story mode, which features five stages for each character. Just as in previous games, you slaughter hundreds if not thousands of enemies as you work your way through a mission, the goal of which is usually to kill the opposing commander. To keep things a little more lively, the game features musou special attacks that you charge up by mowing down opponents, as well as devastating (if simple) combos with plenty of graphical spark. You also get a loyal bodyguard who, in addition to following you everywhere, never hesitates to join in on your musou specials when in synch with your character. As usual, enemy officers drop stat-modifying bonuses that make your character a killing machine in a sea of color-coded bad guys. You're also awarded skills and combos any time you level up, but there's no innovation here, given that most of the combos involve hitting the same button additional times.
Though the story mode is functional, the bulk of the game's content is in its mercenary mode. There you'll spend time completing cliche mission objectives such as defeating bandits and rescuing princesses. Successful missions result in gems that can be exchanged for secret missions, mercenary levels, and levels for your officer-guards, who share their abilities with you when you have them join the fray. If you consistently assist the same commander, then you'll get invited to his clan, which will let you partake in invasion and siege missions for sorely needed variety. The mode is then completed by reuniting all of Japan under your banner or by collecting 10 precious swords, which triggers a final battle that'll test your button-mashing prowess against an onslaught of rival officers. Although mercenary mode is somewhat interesting, it feels very disjointed and cheaply thrown together; all sense of progression occurs via mission posting and reward storyboards in which you receive a graphic of a character either asking for your help or giving you gems. Additionally, you'll face off against the same foes in the same battlefields with only minor mission changes, which gets tiresome fast.
For those who'd rather engage in basic combat without restrictive rules, Koei included the usual free mode, in which you can select from characters spanning both this expansion and Samurai Warriors 2. Like story mode, free mode supports two-player sessions and lets you share character growth between all three modes.
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