Developer: KOEI, Koei Tecmo, Omega Force
Publisher: KOEI, Koei Tecmo, KOEI TECMO AMERICA Corporation
Platform: PC, Xbox One, Switch, PS4
Tested on: PS4
Warriors Orochi 4 – Review
The Musou genre is one of the most peculiar genres in the gaming industry as it seems that gamers either love the genre or really have an aversion for it. There seems to be no in-between, safe for a few exceptions. The Dynasty Warriors series has been one of the foremost in the genre, and while the series always performed well, if you don’t consider the last installment which was mediocre, it’s sometimes fun to have something more than having to fight with the same characters over and over again. The developers of the series then worked on other projects with similar gameplay, such as Hyrule Warriors, the Attack on Titan games and quite recently even a game adaptation of the popular anime/manga Berserk. This time however, Koei Tecmo packs a wallop and brings the fourth installment of the Warriors Orochi series to the stores, which includes a massive cast of characters and even godly powers.
Story
The story of Warriors Orochi 4 might be a bit farfetched but it does have a charming premise. You’ll first see Zeus himself crafting bracelets which grant those who wear them godly powers. He is creating these bracelets to throw the world in a state of chaos, but it seems he doesn’t want to mess around with one universe, but with several at once. This throws all the characters from the Samurai Warriors, Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi franchise in one big universe, forcing them to fight one another or form otherwise impossible alliances. Perseus sees this, and he tries to make his escape with a few bracelets, hoping he can hide them and protect the world of man. Sadly, he fails in his intention and the world eventually enters the predicted state of chaos. You, and dozens of other warriors will have to claim the bracelets as your own, and make sure that the world is restored once again, and hopefully everyone will make it back to his/her own universe.
Overall the story doesn’t have a really thick plot, but there are dialogues before and after every mission, which create a fairly lengthy story. Other than that, there are some fancy cinematics thrown into the mix, which also make the game feel more relatable and alive.
Graphics
Warriors Orochi 4 might not stress the PlayStation 4’s capabilities when looking at the game’s environments and grunt NPCs, but it does certainly rock our world in terms of the many allied and enemy characters spawning on the map. Every time you come across dozens and sometimes even more than a hundred NPC characters on your screen at once, and things remain quite fluent from start to finish. We didn’t notice any real frame drops which is quite impressive for a game such as this. The playable characters and the important enemy characters all look spiffy, wear nice suits of armor, have detailed weapons and simply look great, which does create a certain contrast with the grunts. Said contrast isn’t bad actually, as it makes it easier to properly recognize your allies and enemy bosses in the midst of heated battles or simply in the many clusterfucks you’ll find yourself in.
Sound
The sound design of the game is superbly handled, as the game sports a massive Japanese cast, voicing many lines for many different characters, if not all of them in the story mode. While you’ll only hear a handful of lines every cutscene, it’s still a nice whole. As the game is quite action packed, it’s quite important that a soundtrack radiates the proper mood, and with the adrenaline inducing music Warriors Orochi 4 has, it’s easy to say that Koei Tecmo has done a great job on that end.
Gameplay
Warriors Orochi 4 is a hack and slash Musou game that’s all about killing as many enemies as possible, while completing objectives, conquering bases and of course trying out the massive cast of characters. The story mode will be the main mode of the game, outside of the online multiplayer mode. During the story you’ll slowly unlock all the playable characters in said mode, and you’ll be able to level them accordingly, gear them, upgrade your base and tinker with items to make sure you have something to do in-between missions.
The combat in Warriors Orochi 4 is extremely simple, as it’s often just you spamming a few buttons to kill the bulk of the enemies that spawn around you. This game does not only grant you normal moves and a special move, but you can also use magic attacks, which are triggered by using one of the shoulder buttons in combination with the normal attack buttons. Other than that you also have rage moves and you can call on your allies to perform an ultimate attack, which depends on which characters you chose as support characters. In WO4 you’ll be able to take on fights with a team of three characters and four support characters. The three main characters can be switched during your sortie whenever you desire so, creating a rather fluent way of playing the game, without having to stick with one character during the entirety of a mission.
If you don’t fancy playing alone, you can play locally with a friend, or result to online gaming. You can do this for the story mode, or the separate online mode called Battle Arena. The latter is pretty much a mode in which you’ll be playing in teams of three, trying to capture bases. Overall this mode feels like a fun addition, but the fun will wear off quickly as it’s a very basic mode.
Conclusion
Warriors Orochi 4 is a great installment in the warriors universe and even though the gameplay mechanics might be on the simplistic side, they work perfectly and make the experience very enjoyable for veterans and newcomers alike. The many characters to choose from, the different upgrade options and the weaponry you can collect make this game a proper time sink, which will keep you occupied for some time, be it alone or with other players. You’ll be treated to a proper Musou title that does deliver quality content.
Related Items
1 Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
[…] a new adventure featuring their favorite characters and we even reviewed the game ourselves here. In February of this year, the game was updated and re-released as Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, […]