Samurai Warriors 2 PC Review

Spears, swords, guns and a variety of other sharp objects? It must be Samurai Warriors 2 for the PC.

I, like many others am a huge sucker for Koei, every iteration of their games from Kessen to Dynasty Warriors; I lap up whatever they produce no matter how little they have added, no matter how similar the experience is to the last.

My name is Peter Barker, and I am a Koei-aholic.

Usually I defend the whole experience by justifying to myself, “Well, I wanted more of the same, and I guess that’s what I got? It’s not like this isn’t fun.” But slowly that excuse is starting to ware thin, particularly with nothing of worth being added to the series since way back at Dynasty Warriors 2.

My advice to you is, read the other review we have for Samurai Warriors 2 for the Xbox 360 on this site, if you like what your hear, go out and buy it post haste.

 

It’s the same story all over again, strategic hack and slash across a map, with similar characters, fighting similar battles, with the same tired cut scenes, and the same badly translated dialogue. Rinse and Repeat. Sure you’ll find a character that plays slightly differently, and rekindle your interest momentarily. Or you will experience a level that feels well paced, action packed and pretty damn epic. But overall if you’ve completed the game with one character, you’ve gotten pretty much everything out of the game you’re likely to get. There is on the other hand plenty for a completionist here, you can max every characters level, max every guards stats, obtain every passive ability, gain every legendary weapon, enough to tie you over until the next game comes out (1 every month).

Personally I would recommend buying a preowned PS2/Xbox, and any other version of Samurai or Dynasty Warriors to go with it, save yourself a few quid, or gain a new console for slightly more money. Because truth be told even as a hardened fan, the series hasn’t progressed far enough from the previous generation consoles, that anyone should feel like they’re missing out on anything from the recent games. In fact, I doubt if a first time player would even notice any difference between the two, apart from the obvious improved look.

 

There is literally no difference between the PC and the Xbox versions of the game, apart from the clunky keyboard controls, but feel free to buy a game pad or map the keys to places you find easier to use… all 17 of them!

The choice is situation specific, and so I leave the decision up to you. Although this game is pretty old now anyway, so your friends will laugh at you for buying it. Good day!

6 out of 10