Company Koei Tecmo has long been engaged in the assembly line production of games in the series Warriors (Musou). Some new items turn out to be very interesting – these, for example, include Samurai warriors 4 and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, – while others are boring and monotonous. Developers often try to experiment with some details, but the basic concept has hardly evolved since Playstation 2… Even in Dynasty warriors 9where specialists from Omega force implemented an open world and “stealth elements”, the gameplay itself remained almost the same, which did not allow the idea to be fully revealed. After the announcement trailer Samurai warriors 5 it became clear that we were waiting for an updated style, but it was much more interesting for me to learn about the differences in the gameplay.
Initially, the concept of Warriors (or Musou in the Japanese version) was based on three elements: action, tactics and leveling. Here, positioning on the battlefield has always been much more important than the number of enemies killed. However, with each new part, the characters received more and more sweeping attacks, and the tactics boiled down to performing certain missions on the field. In Samurai Warriors 4, the developers managed to strike a certain balance between spectacular attacks with a wide range of destruction and a strategic approach to movement across the battlefield. In Samurai Warriors 5, everything seems simpler, the attacks have become even more sweeping, and the failure of certain tasks has practically no effect on the course of the battle, which significantly reduces the tactical component.
New special abilities (ultimate skills) have been added to the game, which can be selected before the battle and which open as the character is pumped, and also change depending on the chosen weapon. By the way, each fighter has a preferred weapon, but with due diligence, any character can become a master of any blade, club or bow from the arsenal. This is useful in cases where the hero is visually appealing, but his basic fighting style is not attractive. Also, this moment allows you to add some variety when you have to play for the same fighter.
New opponents with glowing weapons have appeared on the battlefield, trying not to let you pass by. It is assumed that the easiest way to defeat them is to use the very special skills (ultimate skill) mentioned above. Each skill has an emblem showing the type of troops against which a particular skill is best suited. Before the start of the battle, the authors recommend choosing techniques taking into account the opponents expected in battle. Their designation is shown on the map before the start of the mission. The idea itself seems interesting and was supposed to bring that very tactical component into the gameplay, but in reality it almost does not affect anything. A new type of enemy is not encountered so often, and enemies scatter in different directions after almost any special technique, which completely destroys the very idea of opposing one or another technique to some specific type of troops. The only thing that is affected by the correct use of such an attack is the bonus gold coins that are showered on the hero after a successful hit.
The rest of the gameplay remains the same. In the game there are different characters with their own skills and abilities, which are fighting on the spot the crowd of opponents. As before, strong and weak hits add up to combos, and fighters can also carry out special hyperattacks. They powerfully hit the area and mow down crowds of ordinary soldiers, but when faced with an enemy officer, the character can run into a parry, which not only stops the onslaught, but also leaves the hero defenseless in front of a counterattack. Therefore, hyperattacks must be used wisely and away from strong enemies.
Globally, the essence of each mission is reduced to the confrontation of two or three armies. The battles are fought in the vicinity of castles or in intricate locations with many passages and closed gates. Since the player needs to monitor not only his health level, but also the lives of one of the important plot characters, the choice of location plays an important role. By the way, ordinary soldiers are reluctant to fight each other, and more often than not they just stand opposite each other and wait for the player to appear. Although after Berserk and the Band of the Hawk we expected the developers to develop the idea of active battles between extras, as it looks very epic and has a positive effect on the atmosphere.
