The arrival of Samurai Warriors 3 on the Wii marks the dawn of a new age for this venerable PlayStation 2 favourite – itself a spin-off from the successful Dynasty Warriors series.
Its one-versus-100 gameplay will be familiar to anyone who has played its predecessor titles, and this game makes no attempt to adapt to the Wii's motion sensor controls. And it's a good thing too, since the hack-'n'-slash antics would quickly lead to a dislocated shoulder if one had to mime the weapon swing to kill the many thousands of foes one faces.
The game is set in the Warring States period of feudal Japan, and builds impressively on the series' atmosphere of epic historical sensibility – if one ignores the inherent ludicrousness of, say, fighting as a scantily clad maiden who stomps her feet when she loses in battle. You can choose from a number of different characters in story mode, all of whom have impressively nuanced backstories and great hair, or select history mode and build yourself a custom character. I made a nice ninja called Geoff.
The aim of the game is the same, regardless of the mode – to enter the battlefield and achieve a series of objectives, such as establishing a foothold, killing a key enemy general, or helping out one of your talkative comrades. Much bashing of the A button is necessary, but with the Spirit Charge and devastating Musou attack there's a decent variety of moves, and the game's fairly unforgiving difficulty level means you have to be careful deciding when to use these limited, more powerful attacks.
There are irritants. Sometimes the battlefields are poorly designed, and as in previous games it often feels like you're the only competent fighter in your entire army, as you continuously rush back and forth across the map to help out your peers who seem ever on the verge of ignominious defeat. The dialogue never transcends the corny – one character will, for example, announce "This is easier than I thought!" after scything through hundreds of peasants, while another gravely announces: "I'm going to keep on winning until this chaos is ended." You'd hope so.
But really, incompetent allies and banal character interaction are almost part of this franchise's charm. The appeal of these games isn't to be found in historical realism or compelling narrative – it's the mindless fun of hitting hundreds of enemies with a sword and watching them fall over. Also, the multiplayer mode – either in split screen or online – is a lot of fun if you're able to find a friend with a similar desire for a session of historically inaccurate, bloodless, but strangely addictive ancient Japanese whack-a-mole.
