Warriors Orochi 2 is the sequel to Koei’s crossover fest. Orochi is being revived, so once again the warriors of the Three Kingdoms and the Warring States must join forces to stop him. The game’s cast involves 6 new characters, along with the characters added in Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends. There are new levels, new music, and a new prologue campaign in which you play as Orochi. There is a new ‘Dream Mode’ which features new unlockable imaginary stages. Even so, this game will feel more like an expansion pack rather than an all new game and if you’re not already a diehard fan of the franchise, you won’t be won over now. However, if you are a diehard fan of the series, you’ll eat it up just fine. You might even have its sequel by now.

Out of all the 3DS launch games, Samurai Warriors was, in my opinion, one of the best. Sure, it has more of the series’ signature hack and slash gameplay, but the game introduces several new features that aren’t seen in the console editions of the franchise. Instead of playing as one of the game’s many generals, you play as a male or female character whose skills you can customize. You’ll take him or her through a tale that spans the entire warring states saga. Each map will have several sub missions to complete, although most usually revolve around getting to a place and beating up someone. This time however, you can switch between different warriors that are on the battle field, and most battles will require you to do this in order to get the best result. After a stage is completed, it becomes unlocked in free mode, in which you can use any unlocked character. The game also includes freely downloadable mission and weapons. While it is one of the 3DS’ better launch titles, SWC will not will over anyone who isn’t already a fan. They’ll see the game’s hack and slash as being as repetitive as ever.

At the end of last August, this countdown went up, and the gaming scene went crazy. Sure it wasn’t exactly Marvel vs Capcom, and granted, these companies have worked together before, particularly on the Dynasty Warriors vs Gundam franchise (which just saw its third title released this past summer), but this could potentially be huge. What could this signify? Could Taki and Mitsurugi be joining Samurai Warriors’ Yukimura Sanada and Magoichi Saika on the battlefield, killing thousands of enemies? Could Soulcalibur 5 be seeing Ryu Huyabusa stepping onto the stage of history? Could Dynasty Warriors 8 see Lu Bu weild the dreaded Soul Edge against the three kingdoms? Could DOATEC be sponsoring the next King of Iron Fist Tournament, allowing Hayate and Kasumi to do battle with the Mishima Zaibatsu? Could the Fatal Frame 2 sisters be teaming up with Rick and the Terror Mask to discover the secret of Splatterhouse? Could the secret agent duo from Rolling Thunder be teaming up with Rygar and his mighty diskarmor? Could Paul Pheonix and Marshall Law be hitting the field in Tecmo Bowl with Nina and Anna as cheerleaders? Could we be getting a sequel to Winback featuring Gituaroo Man? Could that douche from Winback join with that guy from Time Crisis to thwart the mother of all terrorist attacks? Could the ladies of Tekken and SoulCalibur be joining the DOA girls on the beach? It would be a week before gamers would find out.

Then a week passed.

And boy, was it a letdown….
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