A Decleration of War! (Samurai Warriors: State of War (PSP))

Member Name: Goldensummit

Product:	Samurai Warriors: State of War (PSP)
Date:	11/06/08 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: New strategy elements | Many, many things to do

Disadvantages: The looks and design | Boring repetetive gameplay | Dreadful soundtrack

Difficulty: Easy
Learning Curve: About 10 minutes

Along with the Dynasty Warriors PSP game to be released, KOEI also decided to breach off their Samurai Warriors series to the PSP as well, to sky rocket their sales on both consoles and handhelds. Samurai Warriors: State of War, a tactical based hack n slash game, riddled with many characters and several stories for you to play through, will keep the diehard fan pleased for many days to come.

Based on the Sengoku era of Japan, Samurai Warriors delves into the stories of several ambitious conquerors and warriors from the state, such as Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, and the legendary Oda Nobunaga, with several others. This game still bares the same characteristics and game play from the other versions on the console formats, however with a twist. Each battle will bring you a grid-like board, which will allow you to choose your destination, to add some strategy elements. You can also receive actions to perform at this part of the battles, from setting up fire attacks on certain areas, to striking an enemy officer with a lightning bolt. Most of these actions will lead to you lowering the enemy's morale, which allows them to be killed easier.

Still to the same, the main game play parts are exactly the same, not even worked upon, so it still bares all its original problems from the start. The stories on the other hand, are fairly unique and quirky, bringing more of lightness to the atmosphere of the battlefields, though it isn't really anything that special to warrant purchase of this game.

The game also offers you the chance to bring sub-officers, just like in Dynasty Warriors PSP, but slightly different. Instead of using a leadership stat, your character can only take so many officers into battle in general, until you level up more. You can end up with bringing in four legendary warriors by your side, and leaving a complete bombsite behind you as you tear through the battlefield.

Gameplay - 5/10
Same old, same old. Nothing different here from the same repetitive hack n slashing of generic nobodies, which just brings nothing new to the table.

Design - 4/10
Disappointing environments, and rather poor character designs, the looks and feel of this game just doesn't cut the cheese of what the PSP can harness.

Sound - 4/10
Pop-styled music instead of the rock from Dynasty Warriors, however it managed to get even worse. After a while, the music just gets repetitive and the generic grunts get really annoying.

Value - 7/10
This is where the game shines, you will have tons of things to do, with the numerous stories and many battles you will play through, that can keep any fan occupied for several days.

Overall - 5.5/10
With the added strategy element, it does bring some fun to the game, however if your bored of repetitive hack n slash games, then this is defiantly not worth going for, especially with the poor looks, but for fans of the series, this will keep you occupied for a very long time.

Summary: With the added strategy element, it does bring some fun to the hack n slashing of Samurai Warriors