Warriors Orochi 2 Review for PS2

Warriors Orochi 2 Review for PS2
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Warriors Orochi 2: Another Hack and Slash Title by Koei (3 out of 5)

Warriors Orochi 2 is another Dynasty Warriors-styled video game by Koei. It seems the publisher is obsessed with non-innovative hack-and-slash action games since its first DW 2 release in 2000 and so it keeps on adding the same formula in other games.

Gameplay (3 out of 5)

The second installment of Warriors Orochi continued the same trend by offering non-innovative and monotonous gameplay to PS2 owners just like Dynasty Warriors 6 did to its fans in 2008. With an unusual blend of Samurai Warriors and DW characters, the second game of the Warriors Orochi series presents a five-story mode. The first three focuses on each of the three Chinese kingdoms, the fourth story features the Japanese Samurais and the last one is about Orochi himself.

The five-story mode is completely similar to its predecessor. Historic Chinese and Japanese warriors team up to eliminate the evil forces threatening their land. You will have to battle countless allies of the serpent king as you choose three characters to fight them in large battlefields. The gameplay style is borrowed from the initial title and tends to be very boring and repetitive. You can select one character and switch to another in real time and also perform a powerful attack using all three warriors. The controls are very simple and remind you of any old Dynasty Warriors button-masher.

The other modes in the game try to be a bit different from the story mode to let gamers breathe in something new. The Survival Mode allows you to battle different warrior teams with your three-man army and earn more points while you defeat different teams. Other modes include VS Mode and Free mode, but a new game called Dream Mode is interesting. It features scenarios that play much like the Story Mode with the exception of character pairings. Fans of Dynasty and Samurai Warriors will quickly recognize the unusual pairings between characters, which may add some color to this boring game.

Graphics (2 out of 5)

Expect frequent pop-ins and pop-outs in Warriors Orochi 2. The enemy warriors and fences keep on vanishing and appearing once you move. These visual glitches have been experienced many a times in most games by Koei including the Dynasty Warriors series.

The textures aren’t the best, but the character models appear good, particularly in the cut-scenes. The background is featureless, lacks detail and contains faded, bland textures. Hope, the future of Warriors Orochi will bring something memorable.

Warriors Orochi 2 Screenshots

Sound (2 out of 5)

The second installment of the Warriors Orochi series also has some pathetic voice acting. The narrator’s voice is very poor and character voice acting is worst. The background music is good and has a strong Asian flavor mixed well with rock music. The hack and slash sounds have not changed and sounds similar to its predecessor.

Overall

Warriors Orochi 2 is only for those who are immune to graphic glitches, poor sound and boring gameplay. Well, only a die-hard Warriors fan will play this game and excuse such huge problems. For an average-action gamer, the game, particularly the story mode, has no replay-value, no strategic elements. If you are a casual hack-and-slash lover who just loves to press those buttons blindly, then this is a game for you.