What's the hardest and down-right coolest warrior in the world? No, it’s not the Samurai; it's the Ninja of course! Silent, mysterious, and deadly - the black-pyjama'd ones are capable of paralysing you with a single marshmallow. Of course, Japan's other famous combatant comes a close second.
Strong, noble, and brave - the Samurai rely more on their trusty katanas than confectionary - whether it's in honourable combat, or face-saving hara-kiri. But, with changing military strategies and technologies in the West, the Samurai tradition waned, and made way for artillery-trained, conscripted armies. It's not known with 100% certainty who the last samurai was, but we can safely say (with great relief) it wasn't Tom Cruise.
Those with PS2s and Xboxes will no doubt have heard of the seemingly never-ending Dynasty Warriors series, based around ancient, semi-mythical Chinese dynasties. Samurai Warriors is a spin-off series, but is instead based on Japan's infamously bloody Sengoku period. The game portrays the various shogunate leaders attempting to glue fragmented states into a peaceful, unified Japan, through (paradoxically) war. Getting testosterone-bulging warlords to discuss this goal was always unlikely.
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As you'd expect, the game offers you the standard Story, Free Play and Vs options. In Story you begin with a limited array of characters to choose from, each of which has a unique quest to complete. Achieving these opens up yet more scenarios, as well as unlocking new characters with their own quest.
So, you're expecting vast battle fields, with rank upon rank of archers and horsemen? Well, think again - after all, this is a portable game. Rather cleverly, the development team have divided the battles into bite-size segments, opening up a micro-strategy element to the proceedings. You'll be given Victory conditions for each mission, which will generally entail killing a certain General, or capturing a temple, for example.
After selecting your weapon and Officers, you're shown a grid, which is the map on which the battle is fought. Each square will either be blue (ally) or red (enemy), and you'll need to capture enemy squares by completing a mini-objective on each one. These mini-objectives are where the nuts & bolts of the game are revealed: a hack 'n slash 'em up.
The game will place you in battle with some troops, and you'll have a simple objective to secure the square - e.g. defeat as many enemies as possible in 70 seconds, kill all the enemy Officers etc. The only grounds for defeat are the death of your character - otherwise you'll be crowned victorious, and graded based on your productivity with the blade.
The grade you receive, however, is more important than just improving your score. The higher the grade, the more moves you'll be allocated next turn. So the quicker you become an expert swordsman, the better. As you negotiate the battle map, you'll find aids to help you put the enemy to the sword. Charms (spells, by any other name) can be used to either help your allies (e.g. heal, boost) or hinder your foes (e.g. fire, paralysis) and are handy aids in your attempt to dominate the map.
