Review #68: Warriors Orochi 3

 This game is what fanservice is when done right.

 I've played a lot of 'Warriors' games this year, but this is, by far, the best one.Warriors Orochi is a celebration of the Warriors franchise, it brings together every character from Dynasty Warriors(Up to 7), Samurai Warriors(Up to 3) and a variety of guest characters from other Koei franchises and new original characters based in both Japanese and Chinese stories, for a total of over 120 different characters.
 The story picks up from where Warriors Orochi 2 left off, regardless, it's not a necessity to have played any 'Warriors' game before, you may not get the whole scope on character relationships, but you don't really need to. Regardless, this game is much more story-heavy than other Warriors game, instead of following real history, it features a completely original story. The story itself is nothing special, what makes the game, however, are the character interactions. You get to see your favorite characters interact with each other, Dynasty characters that have Samurai counterparts, or characters that share certain traits. You get to see characters from their own universes that wouldn't have possibly met(Due to death or what have you) interact. This is what fanservice is all about, and it's quite the treat for series veterans.

 There's three modes: Story, Free and Battlegrounds. Battleground is a series first, where you can create stages and then share them online. Free Mode is basically useless, as the story mode allows you to pick any stage, at any time, however, Free Mode removes any and every cut-scene. Lastly, Story Mode is the main mode and has Sima Zhao, Ma Chao and Takenaka as the sole survivors of the attack of the Hydra. When all seems lost, a Mystic comes to their aid and grants them the ability to go back in time to certain moments, thus, they set out to save as many comrades as they can in order to amass a force large enough to face the hydra. There are a lot of stages, and even unlockable stages if you raise the bonds between certain characters. Sadly, many of these stages are recycled from Dynasty Warriors 7, Dynasty Warriors 6 and Samurai Warriors 3, however, they have some visual makeovers due to the Hydra's attack, and the mission objectives are completely different from their original incarnations.
 Gameplay compromises both Samurai and Dynasty universes. While basic Square and Triangle strings and Musou Attacks behave like they did in SW3 for SW characters, and like DW7 for DW characters, some changes had to be made. Dynasty characters lose their second Musou attack and Samurai characters lose their unique skill, however, every character has access to a unique special move that consume a bit of the Musou Gauge. For Samurai characters it's a completely new move, for Dynasty characters, most of the time it's a weakened version of their second Musou Attack. As for characters not coming from either saga, they either play as DW or SW depending on the character itself.

 Before each battle, you can equip your characters with different weapons and items. Items are found on the stages, while weapons are either dropped from enemy officers or bought at the shop. There's a very simple, but fun, weapon fusion system that allows you to take skills from one weapon into another, better weapon. You also get to make a team of three characters to take to battle. While only one of them is on the field at a time, you can switch between all three at will. If one of them dies it's game over though, and unlike other Warriors games, you don't charge the Musou gauge by hitting or getting hit, rather, by being "benched", so switching often is encouraged.
 The game suffers from little slowdown, while having dozens upon dozens of characters on-screen at the same time. Generals look very detailed, random enemies, however, do not. Sadly, Samurai Warriors enemies and Orochi enemies look noticeably worse than Dynasty enemies, probably due to the fact that they were taken from Wii and PS2 games, with a coat of HD applied on top. At least the SW generals look as awesome as the ones from DW. Music contains familiar pieces and a couple of remixes, plus some new tunes. Definitely the best soundtrack out of any Warriors game. While there is no goofy english voice acting, the Japanese VAs are really good, so not a major loss.

 Rounding the whole package up, there's a plethora of things to unlock. Many characters get unlockable costumes, heck, you start with a mere 3 characters out of 120, and while you earn most during Story Mode, there are many that require unlocking secret stages. And stages? There's plenty of them, and you'll want to go through them just to watch all the characters interact with each other, via cut-scene or just banter during the battle.
 If you are a hardcore fan, you probably already own it. If you ever were interested, even a tiniest bit, in the Warriors series, this is the game you want. While the recycled stages are a bit of a letdown, everything else makes up for it. This is Fanservice done right.
 9 out of 10