However, she may just have had a point. Let me explain. Here we have Koei’s umpteenth instalment of the Warrior franchise. ‘Samurai Warriors 2: Empires’ is the follow up to the admittedly shallow Samurai Warriors 2, which stemmed from the slightly better received Dynasty Warriors titles. Fans of the series will know that for Samurai Warriors, Koei dropped the strategy element from the DW games to settle with a more battle orientated slash-em-up. This decision didn’t go as well as Koei had hoped - though it still turned out to be an average game. After Samurai Warriors, fans demanded the next instalment be blessed with the re-instatement of a deep strategic injection. This is where my mother would have stepped in to illustrate the point of being careful what you wish for.

Implementing the strategy back into the series doesn’t seem to be the best idea Koei have had. Not this level of strategy anyway. They may have listened to their audience but answered them in the wrong way. These games, personally, deserve either a little dabble in the tactics side of the process or to be free from it all together. That said though, Samurai Warriors 2: Empires still provides non-strategists with enough to give them a taste of the strategic slant to their involvement in feudal Japan.

The main options screen includes an option to create your own officer; a nice personal touch, and Archives which lets you view various media files covering the historical aspect of the title. There’s a "free mode" too, allowing you to just pick a specific battle, grab your army and go hell for leather - good for quick action hits. It’s in Empire Mode where the majority of the game lies. You’re taken on a journey that begins with early Japan and it’s many states at war with each other. Some set-piece battles are lifted straight from the history books, as are some of the Officers. The overall premise is to take your army and conquer each state until all are under your command, to "unite Japan under one sword".

Contrary to what players with only a brief knowledge of the series may think; Samurai Warriors 2: Empires is not just a case of taking on a swarm of enemies before finishing off their leader, although the battle segments do take a similar form to the previous incarnations. The game comprises of two main phases; the first being the Strategic Phase. Here, you can confer with different councils and consult your Officers to establish the best course of action. The option to call for a decree sees you acting out policies of varying nature; you can raise taxes, increase farming and form trade alliances, amongst others. There’s a nice mix of policies with some seeing you gain more gold with which you can hire more soldiers and increase your armoury. Each officer’s Level will increase incrementally as you use their policies or actions. This will eventually leads to a more powerful army. Messing around in the Strategy Phase gives you the options to organise certain tactics and formations. Playing through the game (successfully) will gain you extra formation/tactic ‘cards’; which are played on the battlefield. Natural to strategy games, you are limited to the number of pre-battle
‘moves’ or actions you can take during each turn (of which there are four; fall, winter, spring, summer). To begin with, you only have one action, however this will increase to five as you progress through the game. The more states you own, or fiefs as they are called, the more actions you can take. Occasionally, you will find one of your fiefs being invaded - this problem can be eased by stationing your officers evenly throughout your fiefs. The amount of time you spend in the Strategy Phase depends on you. Feel free to spend each turn organising your troops around your fiefs, implementing policies and training soldiers as long as you wish. This I found is a neat touch as I didn’t want to be troubled by too much politics and strategic twiddling. However for your Empire to grow you must indulge in this to some degree.

The Battle Phase is the second, much more stripped down allotment of actions at your disposal. In this section your actions are dependant on the selections made in the Strategy Phase. It’s worth noting here that should you wish not to engage in the enemy at this point you can skip the turn and continue strategising. Sounds strange in a war game but trust me it’s a nice addition. The main options in the Battle Phase comprise of Invade and Defend, both of which have respective options for Allies. The backbone of your progression lies in selecting Invade. This allows you to choose a neighbouring fief to attack, or if an allied fief are attacking elsewhere you can be at their aid. The eventual ownership of all fiefs is your primary goal. On occasion you will find your fief (or an allied one) under attack. In these instances you’re given the chance to Defend. Whatever your selection, the next step is to bring on the action. Now, here is where you actually get hands on with the warring armies. It’s
a typical third-person affair but does serve its purpose. Harking back to my point on this game being either all fight and no strategy or vice versa; this part of the game seems rushed. The environments are rather textureless and the limit of your vision is about 20 metres. The officer you’re in control of is detailed and animated to a merely acceptable level - a disappointment given that this is the Xbox 360 version. A flurry of bright swooshes and whirls as you fling your sword or spear about are typical of the series, but become sub standard and repetitive. That is a word this section of the game reeks of. Your aim, each time you invade, is to make your way around the similar-looking maps (viewed with Left Trigger) taking over all the enemy bases you come across. It’s all about bashing the ‘X’ (attack) and ‘Y’ (charge attack) as fast as you can. Throwing in the occasional ‘A’ (special Musou attack) for a bit of, if I may, "variety". Sounds simple. Is simple. And rather dull too, unfortunately.

The hordes of enemy warriors you have in your way are more like a band of simpletons controlled by really uninspiring AI. Once you’ve disposed of one group of enemy soldiers and their respective base captain, it’s on to another. More button bashing. Getting rid of the opposing officers within each map leads to victory. Even these ‘bosses’ are easily overpowered. However if you do die, and I like this, it’s not game over. It’s only a case of you failed to conquer that particular fief so chose to invade it later. If you’re successful, then not only do you acquire that fief and take a step closer to domination; you also chose the fate of the enemy officers that fell at your feet. You can either hire them to join your army, keep them prisoner (if you have the space) or let them go. This as you’ll imagine can happen if you’re unsuccessful - you may find one or more of your officers imprisoned by the enemy. This doesn’t seem to tip the tables much though and are often just let go during the earlier stages of the game.

Post battle, you reap the rewards of your thumb-numbing assault on your controller. Each success gains the officers used experience points, ultimately leading to a ‘level up’. This will increase the officers effectiveness in future battles as well as the number of his troops. The game then goes full circle and it’s back to the Strategy Phase for you to start the process over again. Unfortunately this is all this game comes across as; a repetitive process. There is just not enough variety; during the ‘turns’ in between Phases you may see the odd plague or other natural disaster hit one or more fiefs. This only affects you if you own said fief. When you do, it’s just a small set back rather than the major problem it’s namesake implies.

In summary, Samurai Warriors 2: Empires is a disappointment. We see nothing new to the series, unexpectedly poor visuals and the feeling that this would be more suited as an add-on rather than a full price release. Don’t get me wrong, it has it’s moments. Taking a friend on-board, albeit offline, gives a whole new aspect to the frantic over the top action and provides some much needed ‘fun’. If you haven’t played earlier games in the series; you’ll also find it’s lightweight approach to strategy appealing as you enjoy taking control of feudal Japan in the 1500s. The problem is, though, I feel only fans of the series will pick this off the shelf.