This turns out to be an incredibly faulty assumption. Since Samurai Warriors is mostly just Dynasty Warriors with "Japan" pasted over "China," it seemed reasonable to assume that this would also be the case with Samurai Warriors 2 and its Empires edition. So it's usually foolish to purchase the initial release of any given Dynasty Warriors title, when the Empires version that comes out a year later is completely better in every way. The two most important, traditionally, are the addition of a long strategic campaign mode that lets you start with any faction and use your resources to eventually conquer China (or Japan, in Samurai Warriors's case) and gather ranks of elite officers and generals to serve beneath you, and a create-an-officer mode that lets you take a customized character sporting either original attack animations or the attacks of another major character through the campaign mode.
For the Dynasty Warriors titles, the Empires edition usually includes every feature of the original release, along with numerous gameplay enhancements. because by then, Samurai Warriors 2: Empires had already been announced. Heck, even if you got tired of playing the main game, you could get together with up to three friends and play the insane strategy game, Sugoroku, that was included on the disc.ĭespite all of these wonderful features, it was a little difficult to recommend Samurai Warriors 2 when it came out five months ago.
It made you remember how the Dynasty Warriors series got to be such a huge hit, while the focus on Japanese history (and more than a few completely non-historical characters) considerably freshened the feel of the gameplay. It essentially fixed every single complaint a reviewer could have had with Koei and Omega Force's last effort, Dynasty Warriors 5, and even added in some online multiplayer options through Xbox Live.
While graphically unimpressive on the PS2 and downright ugly on the Xbox 360's flawed port, it featured an incredibly wide array of game modes, character-specific stories with some real meat to them, and a tremendous variety of characters with unique attack animations and move sets. The original Samurai Warriors 2 was easily one of the best things Koei has published in ages.