All I ever wanted is a unified Japan
Stories intertwined by fate, war, and death feels fully realized in Samurai Warriors 2. This game has to have one of the better and more detailed story modes in any musou I've played so far with how detailed and personal each story seem to be. The color palette matches up more to the traditional Warriors standard along with much more refined gameplay, progression system, and content that really puts it up there with its sister series and then some.
Probably the first time where I really felt invested in the story mode of a musou game. The CGI cutscenes are amazing and each character has a lot to say for any and each situation. Given a bit more insight during this period, it definitely is not pretty compared to Dynasty Warriors which kinda shy away from death involving the player itself at this point. Some of the endings are pretty depressing in their own part and it just all compasses into how this period was actually like. Some character deliver some nice brevity like doing Magoichi Saika's story where he was almost making fun of it all for a bit.
I think I had way more fun mowing down mobs here more than Dynasty Warriors 5 of all things here. I feel like Samurai Warriors actually kept constantly trying to improve and provide variety on the traditional formula instead of resting on its laurels for a bit but not completely changing the wheel that might ruin what's already good here. There's three main move sets: Charge that makes use of a shorter normal combo but provides more charge depth into each charge finisher, Normal which provides the standard formula but a total of twelve normal inputs with only one charge finisher in each branch and Special is kinda of a mix of both which provides more reliant on the special abilities used with the bumper buttons. A cool important addition I really like is the special abilities and skills that each character has using the bumper button. I really like this addition since it provides more tools to use and makes each character more unique in gameplay. Character level progression is something I actually like that I failed to mention in the previous game but here it feels a little more streamlined and fleshed out. It beats going for stat drops and trying to find health and musou upgrades in specific spots and lets you get stronger from just playing the game itself.
The soundtrack is great but that's kind of to be expected at this point with the use of japanese instruments taking complete focus with a guitar and tiny specks of electronic sound still remaining. A stand out track would have to be Tedorigawa due to how energetic and ridiculous this track is in a good way. The survival mode makes a return along with the standard free mode but the most surprising addition is Sugoroku which kind acts like a monopoly clone which kinda feels like the most random addition but it's actually pretty fun and you actually unlock a character for winning once which is a cool touch.
A very huge improvement over the original in general. More characters, more stages, much more detailed stories and better action in general. Samurai Warriors 2 is a by the book sequel that improves on almost everything. If you enjoy mowing down mobs of soldiers as a cool samurai with a katana, gun or even some random abomination of a spear and cannon then Samurai Warriors 2 can fill that niche perfectly.
Stories intertwined by fate, war, and death feels fully realized in Samurai Warriors 2. This game has to have one of the better and more detailed story modes in any musou I've played so far with how detailed and personal each story seem to be. The color palette matches up more to the traditional Warriors standard along with much more refined gameplay, progression system, and content that really puts it up there with its sister series and then some.
Probably the first time where I really felt invested in the story mode of a musou game. The CGI cutscenes are amazing and each character has a lot to say for any and each situation. Given a bit more insight during this period, it definitely is not pretty compared to Dynasty Warriors which kinda shy away from death involving the player itself at this point. Some of the endings are pretty depressing in their own part and it just all compasses into how this period was actually like. Some character deliver some nice brevity like doing Magoichi Saika's story where he was almost making fun of it all for a bit.
I think I had way more fun mowing down mobs here more than Dynasty Warriors 5 of all things here. I feel like Samurai Warriors actually kept constantly trying to improve and provide variety on the traditional formula instead of resting on its laurels for a bit but not completely changing the wheel that might ruin what's already good here. There's three main move sets: Charge that makes use of a shorter normal combo but provides more charge depth into each charge finisher, Normal which provides the standard formula but a total of twelve normal inputs with only one charge finisher in each branch and Special is kinda of a mix of both which provides more reliant on the special abilities used with the bumper buttons. A cool important addition I really like is the special abilities and skills that each character has using the bumper button. I really like this addition since it provides more tools to use and makes each character more unique in gameplay. Character level progression is something I actually like that I failed to mention in the previous game but here it feels a little more streamlined and fleshed out. It beats going for stat drops and trying to find health and musou upgrades in specific spots and lets you get stronger from just playing the game itself.
The soundtrack is great but that's kind of to be expected at this point with the use of japanese instruments taking complete focus with a guitar and tiny specks of electronic sound still remaining. A stand out track would have to be Tedorigawa due to how energetic and ridiculous this track is in a good way. The survival mode makes a return along with the standard free mode but the most surprising addition is Sugoroku which kind acts like a monopoly clone which kinda feels like the most random addition but it's actually pretty fun and you actually unlock a character for winning once which is a cool touch.
A very huge improvement over the original in general. More characters, more stages, much more detailed stories and better action in general. Samurai Warriors 2 is a by the book sequel that improves on almost everything. If you enjoy mowing down mobs of soldiers as a cool samurai with a katana, gun or even some random abomination of a spear and cannon then Samurai Warriors 2 can fill that niche perfectly.