If you’re someone who actually enjoys the Hack N’ Slash style of gameplay, or the Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors series as a whole, then this post may be for you. To give a little background info:

Warriors Orochi 1 and 2

Warriors Orochi is a series of games created by KOEI and Omega Force that pays homage to two of KOEI’s most recognizable titles, Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. Its plot is the basic “Cross-over Franchise” style of the following:

• Characters from different worlds are brought together through some rip in space or time
• All characters join respective forces to fight each other over what they believe to be right
• One major enemy intervenes and causes characters to join forces and eliminate the source of the problem

Despite being as cliched as it sounds from a Cross-over title, to a Hack N’ Slash fan (or for that matter a Dynasty/Samurai Warriors fan), it can be pretty enjoyable. For one thing you have the choice of using up to three different characters for a team of fighters rather than just one. The iconic characters from both series have all of their original moves and special moves from their respective titles, so there is no need to stick to one specific style of fighting that many Crossovers suffer from. You also get to fight along different battlefields and locations from both series, to pull out some really unusual, yet fun match-ups every time.

With the original characters from both series, Warriors Orochi also introduces its own batch of characters not seen in the other series. These characters are usually based off of mythology from ancient Chinese and Japanese lore such as the Monkey King Sun Wukong and Fu Xi of the Three Sovereigns.

From Left to Right: Sun Wukong (The Monkey Kong), Fu Xi (of the Three Soverigns), Kiyomori Taira (Leader of the ruthless Heike clan), Taigong Wang (Famous Strategist who destroyed the Shang Dynasty)

With the inclusion of characters such as these, it makes for an enjoyable amount of hours to see how each guest character plays a specific role in the overall story, and how each playing style works in its own way (I personally recommend Sun Wukong in WO2, extremely fun to fight and use in every aspect).

Warriors Orochi 3 Boxart

Now that Warriors Orochi 3 has already being released to our friends in the East, Americans and Canadians can expect to see this game drop into the stores on March 20th (too bad that those in Europe get the game 10 days later, but I digress). Warriors Orochi 3 keeps the flare and passion that the other titles in Warriors Orochi have held on so far, taking the designs for the characters from Dynasty Warriors 7 Xtreme Legends and Samurai Warriors 3 (The latest games in both franchises). This time, KOEI and Omega Force decided to throw two new decisions into the third installment of the series, and i’m sure it’s something that EVERYONE (whether you’re a fan or not) will love undoubtedly.

First of all, is something that will draw many other fans of KOEI’s games into THIS game: Instead of just choosing from the traditional Dynasty and Samurai Warriors characters that you all know and love, you have the choice of a few other Guest characters, and these aren’t created solely for the game. Wanna see them?

From Left to Right: Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden), Joan of Arc (Bladestorm), Archilles (Warriors:Legends of Troy), Ayane (Dead or Alive), Nemea (Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll)

Surprised? If you don’t know that many of the characters on here, you should at least know who Ryu Hayabusa is (he’s pretty legendary after all). To a KOEI fan, this is a dream come true, and I got extremely excited after seeing the inclusion of these certain characters. Warriors Orochi 3 will also bring a few more of their created Guest characters based off of famous Chinese and Japanese mythology into the mix, but that is something for you to search up if you’re really interested in the matter.

Another aspect that KOEI and Omega Force have decided to go with is the ability to modify stages in the game after you have unlocked them. This is something that has never been seen before in this type of game or series in general, so it will be interesting to see what gamers come up with using this feature. It gives you these following options to change while in this mode:

‣  Change Lines – Change the voice lines spoken by each of the officers.
‣  Change Officers – Change the officers that appear in the stage.
‣  Change Music – Change the music played in the stage.
‣  Add Elements – Add additional Musou Battlefield elements that you have collected.
‣  Self-Evaluation – Give comments and a recommendation for your battlefield.
‣  Save – Save the changes to your battlefield.
‣  Test Play – Test play the battlefield you have edited.

Though these options may seem bare compared to other games with this feature, I have a feeling that KOEI and Omega Force are slowly going to build on this feature for the future, this is something that they just want to test out for the time being to see if it works or not.

All in all, i’m pretty optimistic for this game’s release, and I’ll make sure to pick up a copy of the game as soon as it comes out. Who knows, I may even do a review for you guys on if the game is worth your money or not, but we’ll see.

~ Carter Kee