Since the dawn of time, there have been a few things that have always been awesome. Samurais, Ninjas, and Chuck Norris are included in those “things.” Fortunately, Samurai Warriors: State of War has two of those three things. In what is a tale of warlords trying to conquer the land of Japan, Samurai Warriors is almost identical to Dynasty Warrior games. The only real difference being that the Chinese story lines have been replaced with a Japanese story line.

After Dynasty Warriors released along side the PSP, it was amazing to see how close the game looked to its PS2 counter parts. Problems arose out of the fact that having to make an expansive game “digestible” for the portable crowd was a daunting task. While Dynasty Warriors may have been rushed so that it could be one of the first action titles for the PSP, Samurai Warriors: State of War made some improvements over the first portable try.

Story
In a mix of history and fiction, Samurai Warriors: SoW tells the tale of three different factions fighting for control of Japan. Of course, the factions will periodically team up and break up as they find common enemies, which leads to a overall confusing and forgettable story. Samurai Warriors: SoW never takes itself too seriously because there are bits of funny dialog between the generals. While having a plot is normally something to praise, the way the game is meant to be played makes it difficult for the average gamer to get into because of the “on the go”gameplay style.

Sound
One thing that return fans of the Warriors series will appreciate is that there are no voices for the characters. While that may sound like a bad thing, the Warriors series of games has been notorious for its bad voice acting. This seemingly technical limitation eliminated the bad voice acting problem all together. Everything else is pretty standard and nothing truly sticks out in terms of audio.


All those guys behind him were just in the way

Control
Mowing down hundreds of ninjas, peasants, and samurai alike has never been handled with more ease. The straight forward control setup lends it self nicely to the PSP's limited button interface. Pulling off combos is seamless and the results are a nice treat of fluid animations, with destruction in your wake. The camera, however, is a bear to deal with because it is assigned to the L button. During an intense fight, with swords flashing all over the place, it is hard to get the camera exactly where you want it, seeing that it “snaps” into place behind your character. There is no way of easing the camera around so you can survey what is going on around you. To add another camera problem, some charge moves make the camera spazz out and leave you wondering what way you are pointed.

All of those previous comments are when you are in the mini-maps to the game. There is another level the game is played on. To make the game more digestible, Samurai Warriors: SoW split is huge “over world map” into sectors where your general can advance. When you select a square, you go to the “mini map” where you fight the opposing forces. However, the “over world” is an engaging mini-game to be played seeing that it makes the game like chess. You have to protect your squares while gaining more land and increasing morale. So control of the map is more important than ever.