The best Koei game made...

Reviewed by i_love_games11 on October 30, 2006  |  report this review

Gameplay-gameplay is skill basically the same, hack'n slash, but the missions really give you something to do then just kill in this game. if you dont sucessfully complete certain missions they'll have a big hit on your morale and have your leader surrounded by men and might die. There also is the skill system which is pretty good since its a decent replacement for items in this game. The weapon system is horrible though because you cannot pick your own stats like you can in DW5E which was much better than having it randomly generated. The three musou bars dont really make a difference since most of the time you won't find yourself only at level 1. AI is better in this game but still pathetic, but you may find yourself sometimes in a bad situation facing multiple opponents.
Graphics-horrible for a 360 game,it seems to be an upgrade from DW5E i guess but nothing much to say here except an almost below average looking game.
Sound-Voice acting is horrible in this, Voices dont portray anything of war or the characters true personality . Such as Keijis whos voice sounds like a boy who surfs who hasn't reached puberty yet, or maybe Ranmarus whos voice sounds more like a girls than Ginchiyos does,and the dumb thing is, Ranmaru is a guy. The other sound is average in this game but certainly are a upgrade from previous ones.
Value- you can find high replay value in this game if you just simply always play hard mode. There is also survival mode which may prove to be a challenge to you as you try and reach the top. Sugoroku mode the weird yet intrigueing monopoly style game. And you'll find yourself playing this forawhile if you decide to beat everyones story modes and get their 4th level weapons.
Tilt-story is basic its about the sengoku era, but the lack of story mode for Ranmaru Mori and Okuni really is bad because it pratically makes them useless to put in the game.

Not quite a 360 game...

Reviewed by Twizlex on January 03, 2007  |  report this review

Samurai Warriors 2 is in most ways an exact clone of the first game, which unfortunately includes the graphics. While not "bad", the game looks like it was made for the PS2 and not upgraded at all when they ported it to the 360. Gameplay is also lifted straight from the first game, which I guess you could consider a good thing if you really liked the original.

If you haven't played the first game, then this game could be best described as Dynasty Warriors with historical Japanese characters instead of Chinese. If you also haven't played Dynasty Warriors, then this game could be best described as a one-man army versus about a thousand guys, which you basically just button-mash your way through. It's a good time, but it does begin to wear thin after five or six games' worth of doing it.

This game does, however, offer two new additions: Sugoroku and an item shop. Sugoroku is essentially Monopoly with your Samurai Warriors, with the twist being that when you land on someone else's territory, you can fight them to take it over instead of paying the toll. The item shop is a place where you can spend the gold you earn in levels to upgrade your character, buying abilities or weapons or better guards. Both are good additions to the game and help give you a reason to play this game instead of just playing the first game again. That, and the fact that this is a 360 game, meaning you can earn yourself some achievements along the way.

As far as Xbox Live is concerned, there is a versus mode in which you try to defeat a rival general faster than your buddy can. I don't understand why you couldn't just go head-to-head, but I'm not a game developer either. There's also a co-op mode, but you can't play that online. Again... maybe I'm just not meant to understand these things?

All in all, this is a decent game. I expected a few more upgrades, but it's still a good time. If you like mindless hacking and slashing through thousands of enemies, this is definitely the game for you.