Warriors Orochi

This article is about the first game. For information on the direct sequel, see Warriors Orochi 2.
Warriors Orochi
Developer(s) Koei
Omega Force
Publisher(s) Koei
Director(s) Minoru Honda
Designer(s) Atsushi Ichiyanagi
Series Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)

PlayStation 2

  • JP: March 21, 2007
    • KO: June 8, 2007
      • NA: September 18, 2007
      • EU: September 21, 2007
        • AUS: September 27, 2007
        • Xbox 360
          • JP: March 21, 2007
          • NA: September 18, 2007
          • EU: September 21, 2007
            • AUS: September 27, 2007
            • PSP
              • JP: February 21, 2008
              • NA: March 25, 2008
                • AUS: March 27, 2008
                  • EU: March 28, 2008
                  • Windows
                    • JP: March 20, 2008
                    • NA: March 25, 2008
                    • EU: March 28, 2008
                      • AS: April 9, 2008
Genre(s) Hack and slash
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Warriors Orochi (無双オロチ Musō Orochi) is a beat 'em up video game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360, developed by Koei and Omega Force. It is a crossover of two of Koei's popular video game series, Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors (specifically Dynasty Warriors 5 and Samurai Warriors 2) and the first title in the Warriors Orochi series.

The game was released on March 21, 2007 in Japan, September 18 in the United States, September 21 in Europe, September 27 in Australia and September 28 in New Zealand. The game came out for the Xbox 360 in Japan on September 13, and the UK version came out on the same date as the PlayStation 2 version in the United States. The game was ported to the PlayStation Portable, released in Japan on February 2008, March 25 in the US, and March 28 in the UK.[1] A PC version was released in the US on March 25, 2008.

Plot

The fictional events of the game begin when the Serpent King Orochi created a rift in time and space. By creating a twisted new world and bringing together warriors from the Three Kingdoms era of China and the Warring States period of Japan (more than 1,000 years apart in history), Orochi wished to test the might of the warriors of these two eras.

The story is told in four separate but related subplots. Each subplot starts the player with three characters. More characters are unlocked as the player progresses through the story or satisfies certain conditions in certain stages. Each subplot is named after one of the Three Kingdoms, and one from the perspective of the Samurai Warriors characters. Characters from different factions band together in each subplot to confront Orochi. Because of the storyline, most of the characters have split from their respective factions in the original games and have been forced into other scenarios. However, the character selection screen still places all the characters in their original positions.

Shu story

In the Kingdom of Shu story, the Shu forces were in shambles after their battle with Orochi. Many Shu officers were captured by Orochi, went missing, or joined other forces. Zhao Yun was captured by Orochi's forces and held prisoner in Ueda Castle. He is later rescued by Zuo Ci, Yoshihiro Shimazu and Xing Cai. Zuo Ci revealed startling news to Zhao Yun, which led him to embark upon a quest with help from unexpected allies.

Wei story

In the Kingdom of Wei story, Cao Cao had disappeared in his battle against Orochi's forces. His son, Cao Pi, took up leadership of the Wei clan and allied himself with Orochi, under the offer sent by his strategist, Da Ji. There were a few Wei officers who refused to surrender, or ended up joining other forces opposing Orochi. Under the new alliance, Orochi orders Cao Pi to suppress all those who oppose him. Though Cao Pi obediently obeys Orochi's every command, he has an ulterior motive that he is planning as the story progresses.

Wu story

In the Kingdom of Wu story, Orochi uses the captive Sun Jian and other Wu officers to blackmail the Sun family into servitude. Orochi demanded that rebel leaders and officers be turned over in exchange for the release of the captives. Sun Ce is the first to rebel against Orochi, under the guidance of Sakon Shima, and much to the disapproval of his siblings, Quan and Shang Xiang.

Samurai Warriors story

In this story, Nobunaga Oda, Shingen Takeda, and Kenshin Uesugi each maintained a resistance force against Orochi's army. Even in this most dire of circumstances, the three daimyos refuse to work together against Orochi. Each of them were focused on assimilating smaller resistance forces spread throughout the land into their own forces.

Orochi Army

The Orochi Army consists of pale-skinned troops that behave similarly to regular troops of the protagonist forces. Several major characters from both Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors either aligned themselves or were subverted by Orochi, fighting in his name. Orochi's main headquarters is at Koshi Castle, where the final confrontation takes place for all four stories in the game.

In the original Japanese version, the Orochi officers are named after various legendary monsters (youkai) in both Chinese and Japanese folklores, while the English version has them named after various species of snakes (using their common names) as a pun to Orochi being the Serpent King. The Orochi officers all share the same character model, and are unplayable enemy characters.

Characters

A total of 79 characters encompasses the roster of Warriors Orochi: 48 from Dynasty Warriors, 29 from Samurai Warriors (including Yoshimoto Imagawa, Kunoichi and Goemon Ishikawa from the first Samurai Warriors, left out in its sequel), and two new characters: the titular character and primary villain, Orochi (远吕智/八歧大蛇) the Serpent King and the mythological beast of Yamato; and Da Ji (妲己), the villainous concubine of King Zhou of Shang from Fengshen Yanyi. Orochi wields a very large scythe, named "Eternal Agony", while Da Ji fights with two floating orbs, called "the Orbs of Ruin".

There are many generic, non-playable officers who are also part of the game, all taken from the Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors games. There are also exclusive non-playable officers that are in Orochi's forces.

* Denotes new characters to the series

Bold denotes default characters

Shu Wei Wu Other Samurai 1 Samurai 2
Guan Ping Cao Cao Da Qiao Da Ji* Goemon Ishikawa Ginchiyo Tachibana
Guan Yu Cao Pi Gan Ning Diao Chan Hanzō Hattori Hideyoshi Toyotomi
Huang Zhong Cao Ren Huang Gai Dong Zhuo Kenshin Uesugi Ieyasu Tokugawa
Jiang Wei Dian Wei Ling Tong Lu Bu Keiji Maeda Ina
Liu Bei Pang De Lu Meng Meng Huo Kunoichi Kanetsugu Naoe
Ma Chao Sima Yi Lu Xun Orochi* Magoichi Saika Kotarō Fūma
Pang Tong Xiahou Dun Sun Ce Yuan Shao Mitsuhide Akechi Masamune Date
Wei Yan Xiahou Yuan Sun Jian Zhang Jiao Nobunaga Oda Mitsunari Ishida
Xing Cai Xu Huang Sun Quan Zhu Rong Musashi Miyamoto
Yue Ying Xu Zhu Sun Shang Xiang Zuo Ci Oichi Nagamasa Azai
Zhang Fei Zhang He Taishi Ci Okuni Nene
Zhao Yun Zhang Liao Xiao Qiao Ranmaru Mori Sakon Shima
Zhuge Liang Zhen Ji Zhou Tai Shingen Takeda Tadakatsu Honda
Zhou Yu Yukimura Sanada Yoshihiro Shimazu
Yoshimoto Imagawa

Gameplay

The following are some new game play mechanics added exclusively to Warriors Orochi:

The core game play combines elements from Dynasty Warriors 5 and Samurai Warriors 2. Many of these elements have been revised for Warriors Orochi:

The following elements were not incorporated into Warriors Orochi:

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
PCPS2PSPXbox 360
DestructoidN/AN/A8/10[2]N/A
EurogamerN/AN/AN/A6/10[3]
Game InformerN/A5.75/10[4]N/A5.75/10[4]
GameProN/A[5]N/AN/A
Game RevolutionN/AN/AN/AD−[6]
GameSpotN/A5/10[7]4/10[8]5/10[7]
GameSpyN/AN/A[9]N/A
GameTrailersN/A6.9/10[10]N/A6.9/10[10]
GameZoneN/AN/A7/10[11]5.8/10[12]
IGN5.7/10[13]6/10[14]6.5/10[15]6.3/10[16]
OXM (US)N/AN/AN/A6/10[17]
PC Gamer (US)41%[18]N/AN/AN/A
Aggregate scores
GameRankings52%[19]53.59%[20]64.50%[21]56.92%[22]
Metacritic51/100[23]55/100[24]62/100[25]53/100[26]

Warriors Orochi was met with average to very mixed reception. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 65% and 62 out of 100 for the PSP version;[21][25] 57% and 53 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version;[22][26] 54% and 55 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version;[20][24] and 52% and 51 out of 100 for the PC version.[19][23]

As of May 21, 2008, the game sold over 1.5 million units worldwide.[27]

See also

References

  1. Article Detail - PlayStation Portable News - PSP Updates
  2. Sterling, Jim (April 2, 2008). "Destructoid review: Warriors Orochi (PSP)". Destructoid. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  3. McCarthy, Dave (October 3, 2007). "Warriors Orochi (X360)". Eurogamer. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Reeves, Ben (October 2007). "Warriors Orochi (X360, PS2)". Game Informer (174): 113. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  5. Erickson, Tracy (September 19, 2007). "Review: Warriors Orochi (PS2)". GamePro. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  6. Hunt, Geoff (October 11, 2007). "Warriors Orochi Review (X360)". Game Revolution. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Navarro, Alex (September 27, 2007). "Warriors Orochi Review (X360, PS2)". GameSpot. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  8. Anderson, Lark (April 4, 2008). "Warriors Orochi Review (PSP)". GameSpot. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  9. Theobald, Phil (March 26, 2008). "GameSpy: Warriors Orochi (PSP)". GameSpy. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Warriors Orochi Review (PS2, X360)". GameTrailers. September 26, 2007. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  11. Romano, Natalie (March 30, 2008). "Warriors Orochi - PSP - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  12. Grabowski, Dakota (October 1, 2007). "Warriors Orochi Review - Xbox 360". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  13. Clements, Ryan (March 26, 2008). "Warriors Orochi Review (PC)". IGN. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  14. Clements, Ryan (September 18, 2007). "Warriors Orochi Review (PS2)". IGN. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  15. Clements, Ryan (March 24, 2008). "Warriors Orochi Review (PSP)". IGN. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  16. Clements, Ryan (September 19, 2007). "Warriors Orochi Review (X360)". IGN. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  17. "Warriors Orochi". Official Xbox Magazine: 99. November 2007.
  18. "Warriors Orochi". PC Gamer: 70. July 2008.
  19. 1 2 "Warriors Orochi for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  20. 1 2 "Warriors Orochi for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  21. 1 2 "Warriors Orochi for PSP". GameRankings. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  22. 1 2 "Warriors Orochi for Xbox 360". GameRankings. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  23. 1 2 "Warriors Orochi for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  24. 1 2 "Warriors Orochi for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  25. 1 2 "Warriors Orochi for PSP Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  26. 1 2 "Warriors Orochi for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  27. IGN staff (May 21, 2008). "KOEI Ships Over 1.5 Million Units Worldwide of Warriors Orochi". IGN. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
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