Review by: Michael Barnes

In case you find yourself in need of a benchmarking tool to ensure that your new 3DS Y button is functioning properly, look no further than Tecmo Koei’s maiden release for the platform. Samurai Warriors: Chronicles. The new title is yet another musou brawler in which multiple characters in historical garb make a lot of very serious battlefield proclamations and cut down hordes of brainless opponents with repetitive combos across a map. But yes, of course, this time it’s all in 3D.

The most immediately striking thing about the game is that it actually looks quite good, and the 3D effect is in some places extremely well done. Over some of the cut scenes, there is a very cool film grain effect coupled with a vignette that looks as if you are viewing the game through an old, dirty pane of glass. Character models in the story sequences are fully 3D and are nicely detailed and animated. Stylized effects such as layering of still images and artwork may not make the game look quite like a million koku, but it goes a long way to creating a convincing atmosphere and a sense of quality. In play, the effect imparts perceptible depth and distance that serves this kind of third-person brawler well, although the character models are a little fuzzy and background elements are somewhat simplistic.

Per the Samurai Warriors brand, the action takes place in Japan during the Warring States period. The historicity is suspiciously rife with anime-styled weapons and attacks and most of the po-faced dialogue is vague in terms of narrative and sounds like it was cut from a cheapjack remake of The 47 Ronin. Most of it likely won’t make much sense to casual gamers or most westerners anyway. The gameplay is unaffected because the reality of it is that whether you’re in Ancient Greece, medieval China, fighting in Gundam mecha, or duking it out alongside Nobunaga Oda, a Koei musou is a Koei musou and story takes the back seat to the hacking and slashing. Odds are, if you’re into these things then you already know if you’re going to like this game or not as well as if your tolerance for Tecmo Koei’s stale formula will carry you through a quite long and involved single player-only campaign.

Just make sure that your button-mashing skills are sharpened. Admittedly, that assessment is a simplification but it does characterize the gameplay. There is some depth outside of the endless battles including item management, a crude crafting and weapon upgrading mechanic, mounts, character leveling, and nurturing relationships between characters mostly through binary choices made during interstitial conversations. New weapons and equipment along with new characters unlock new combos and there are character-specific skills and special Spirit Charge attacks, but ultimately this is a button-masher’s delight regardless of any illusory sense of tactics or strategy. The AI, even on the hardest level, is practically a no-show and it isn’t uncommon to see fleeing warriors comically running straight into your whirling blades of death. I didn’t even realize there was a block button until an hour or so into the game.

During a battle, multiple objectives crop up in different areas, but “go defend this area” and “go raid this stronghold” all amount to “run over there and kill some people” although sometimes stipulations such as time limits or required characters mix things up a bit. Named Generals and other leaders such as defense captains are natural targets, and their defeat will eventually spell victory for your guys. Some areas of the map might be sealed off until a local guard is dispatched, and taking over vital stronghold areas can generate extra do-nothing troops for your team while reducing enemy morale.

Also during the battle- and this is really the reason I think people like these games- you can switch between four unique characters out of 40 available as well as issue them basic commands on a mini-map. It looks and feels strategic, but it really isn’t. At its worst, it results in some unwanted babysitting. At its best, it makes the battles feel epic in scale and fluid as the changing objectives impart a sense of flow and momentum.