Developer: Omega Force

Publisher: Koei Tecmo

Platform: PlayStation 4*, PC (Steam), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

ESRB Rating: T

Release Date: October 16th, 2018

MRSP: $59.99

*The PS4 Pro Version was used to review this game

Thank you, Koei Tecmo for providing a review copy!

Of all the various crossovers, anime tie-ins, and original musou franchises Omega Force has developed over the years none have quite caught my attention the way that the “Warriors Orochi” series has. The concept of the coolest warriors from the Three Kingdoms period of China and the Warring States period of Japan coming together to fight mythical creatures, gods, and sometimes demons just sounded so ridiculously silly that I couldn’t resist trying them out. Little did I know that this series would bolster more characters, weapons, and over the top attacks than any other musou game. Two console generations, a few sequels and repackages later and Warriors Orochi 4 is hot on our doorstep. Does it stack up to its predecessors? Today we’re going to find out.

Story:
As previously mentioned, this series has been known for its rather ludicrously goofy and unrealistic storylines that always manage to top the previous one in terms of scale. The last game had both the heroes of the Three Kingdoms and Warring States periods respectively defeat the evil serpent king Orochi and save the mystic world, only to be transported back to their own worlds having their memories of the event wiped in the process as not to affect the flow of time. This time, the gods of olympus have plucked the heroes back into a mysterious world that merges bits and pieces of each world together. With the servants of Orochi appearing once again, the heroes set out to solve the mystery of why the gods have summoned them to this magical realm. In terms of quality, it’s a pretty average story. It was chock full of fanservice and enjoyable moments, which kept it from ever being a grind. It manages to give everyone a little bit of screen time and with a 100+ character roster that is quite the feat.

Graphics:
Warriors Orochi 4 is exactly equal to the recently reviewed “Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada” seeing as how it runs on the exact same engine with no visual upgrades whatsoever. The frame rate stays at about a 45-50 FPS average at up-scaled 4K resolution. It doesn’t have any of the frame rate issues found in the launch version of “Dynasty Warriors 9”. The character models are nice and all of the new levels are easy on the eyes and have very vibrant color schemes.

Audio/Music:
This iteration of the Orochi series has easily the widest variety of music. In addition to the remixes and songs from each of the “Dynasty Warriors” and “Samurai Warriors” series, the original songs created for Warriors Orochi 4 are spectacular. A lot of the orchestration uses the heavy hitting piano chords found in something like “Kingdom Hearts” and that’s an easy way to win me over. Most of the sound effects and noise queues are taken from other musou games. There’s nothing great but nothing to complain about either.

-Sample of the Soundtrack-

Gameplay:
As with most musou games, the combat is a fairly simple hack and slash with various combos and extenders being unlocked as you play through the story. Orochi 4 adds an interesting magic system. In addition to your musou (special attack) meter, the magic meter is a second bar you have to manage which allows you to combat new enemy types which can only be damaged by magic attacks. It makes the combat a little bit more dynamic as you have to manage what attacks are for what enemy. It also allows you to instantly summon your horse so you do not have to deal with awkward pathfinding AI as with the last games that made you call your horse and wait for it to find you. It’s actually quite a nice improvement and helps traversing around the map a lot smoother.

Content:
If every musou game had as much content as this game does, there wouldn’t be half as many complaints against these games by the fans. Warriors Orochi 4 has the largest roster in the entire history of any musou game, as well as a huge array of stages. One complaint is that 90 percent of the stages are combined stages from previous games and it reuses a good bit of content from previous games in the series. However, it’s not a huge issue. Between the story mode which takes roughly 20 hours with another 2 or 3 of side missions, there’s a lot of replay ability with bonus objectives and extra difficulties added in the post game. On top of this, there is a 3v3 PVP mode you can play online that reminds me a lot of the versus game mode from “Dynasty Warriors 3”. It had some netcode issues early on in my play through but on the second day I went back they were patched so it won’t be a problem for launch.

Overall:
As a fan of musou games, it would be impossible for me not to recommend this game to people who might be curious about the series or veterans looking for their next button mashing fix. While more than half of the stages are lifted from the games they were originally from, a fun story, great music, and enjoyable frantic combat makes Warriors Orochi 4 a must have for any fan of these characters or franchises.