The Samurai Warriors series has never strayed far from its close cousin, Destiny Warrior’s design and ethic. For many this would be considered a terrible thing not to do, as the series had become nothing more than mindless hack ‘n’ slash action. Unfortunately, many of those words could be used to describe Samurai Warrior’s outing on the Wii. Although the series has taken a step up from it's last outing.
Samurai Warriors: Katana is set in the Sengoku era of Japan’s lengthy history, against the backdrop of warring Japanese aristocracy. By destroying the other aristocrats the player can attempt to reunite the nation. Playing as an unnamed and unseen character, expect to face battles with or against legends such as Nobunaga Oda, Yukimura Sanada, and Ieyasu Tokugawa. With a less than accurate account of the battles, the player will simply follow straight through the game on a pre-determined course maiming all who get in the way.
As a first person, mostly on-the-rails hack ‘n’ slash action game, Katana’s gameplay is very cut and dry. Whilst trying to dismember the enemies, a little rectangle will appear on the screen and this will act as the crosshair for where to attack. Of course, there is little to actually attacking -- it’s just plenty of waggling the Wii Remote in different directions and with different levels of severity. As there are multiple melee attacks, some of the Wii Remote waggling may just be a gentle movement whilst hitting A, whereas most of the time it’s a violent jerking action that is required. The ranged weaponry also faces the same issue, although there are more options to choose from.
While the battle system may be a little gratuitous, the use of the Wii Remote is stellar. The mapping has been done to a high standard and it’s rare to find a problem with the actual controls themselves. Although waving the Wii Remote around excessively can make the game appear to lack the correct functionality, if it’s taken slowly, it’s clear to see that it’s used the Wii Remote well.
Throughout the game the player will come across the same enemies time and time again, with no difference in features, characteristics or personality, so destroying them is fairly easy. As the AI doesn’t differ between any of the characters either, it just comes down to memorizing the varying attacks to destroy all of the foes as quickly as possible. Though enemy ninjas may be a little samey, the bosses of each mission are more varied. Although essentially the same method of attacks are used, throughout the boss battles the enemy will slow down and instead of the rectangle on the screen, it will become a red circle and you will have to attack their weak spot there.
Alternatively, you may have to defend yourself from some form of impossible attack and then attack in a standard way until the circle appears. The enemy will take the most damage from an attack to the circle than a standardized attack. This difference in gameplay is refreshing, but ultimately lacks polish, as it feels underused.
Samurai Warriors: Katana is not the most attractive game to play: the enemies are all identical and the bosses all follow the same basic sort of pattern. The textures and surroundings are of a fairly high quality but are ultimately pulled down, owing to the blasé design of the people that are to be destroyed. The menu screens also seem to follow this pattern as well -- the actual introduction to the game looks good, yet it’s the on screen presence of the game inside of the borders that bring the menu quality down.
Audibly, Katana has some memorable music, which mixes traditional Japanese music from the time with some sort of electronica. The music, although different will remind many of The Legend of the Mystical Ninja for the N64, particularly the second game on said console.
Aside from the stunning music, the battle music and sound effects are neither of a poor quality or a high quality. They’re just right for the style of the game. The voice acting however, is not good. With little enthusiasm in the voice acting, it makes the characters even harder to believe, though at no point does the game take itself seriously.
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