Warriors Orochi 3 Review

Poor Textures and Outdated Graphics

While a handful of areas manage to look vibrant and inviting, the majority of them look rough around the edges. For the most part, the environments look bland and the textures range from ugly to horrendous. The game doesn’t look terrible overall — it’s kind of what you’d expect from this series – it could still use some extra polish to meet today’s standards. No one’s expecting a Warriors game to release with the graphical superiority of Uncharted or Gears of War, but a real update to the engine would be welcome.

Repetitive Gameplay

This is a game that, for many, revolves around button-mashing. During the initial playthrough of the campaign, some may not see an issue as they continue to take control of newly unlocked characters. However, consecutive playthroughs may result in a feeling of repetition and tediousness. This issue is almost not worth mentioning at this point as anyone who has played any game in this extensive franchise is aware of this. Long-time fans that love the franchise rarely succumb to the boredom that the casual player will eventually reach. If you’re new to the series, well, consider this a heads-up. For Warriors fans, you won’t encounter this problem if you haven’t in the past.

Verdict

Warriors Orochi 3 is a solid entry and I’m sure many will be happy to see this particular series return to the US, with its last installment appearing on the PS2. While the game does contain some flaws in the graphical department and doesn’t include as much content as we would like, it doesn’t struggle with anything that other games in the franchise have already. So, chances are fans won’t take much notice of the same things newcomers would become frustrated with. The tried and true formula returns as entertaining as ever and the special guests are a welcome addition to the already staggering character roster. With the PS3 digital version coming in at ten dollars less than the physical Xbox 360 copy ($49.99 compared to $59.99), it’s definitely worth checking out for anyone who’s looking for a solid, yet simplistic, action game.

*Warriors Orochi 3 does not include English dub and contains only Japanese voice-overs accompanied by English subtitles. I did not find this to be a hindrance to the experience, but I’d like to inform those of you who are turned off by the lack of this feature.

[Editor’s Note: Warriors Orochi 3 was reviewed on the PlayStation 3 hardware. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]