SengokuMussou
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Samurai Warriors: Katana cuts into Wii in January
Koei, the name behind such diverse titles as Dynasty Warriors, Warriors Orochi, and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, has confirmed plans to bring Samurai Warriors: Katana, a first-person Samurai Warriors spin-off title for the Wii, to North America on January 15, 2008. While we have to admit the name carries more appeal than the previous title, Samurai Slash, the announcement of yet another arcade-style title set in Feudal Japan does little to stir our interest, and given the frantic nature of these games our arms are tired just thinking of having to flail madly at never ending waves of on-screen bad guys. Call us lazy, but sometimes, just sometimes, we'd rather just press a button. Even so, with "nearly" 30 hours of gameplay promised on top of an included two player versus mode, Wii owners looking to tap into their inner samurai finally have something to look forward to playing. If you need us, we'll be taking a nap.
Another Wii sword fighter inbound
With the confirmation that Koei's Samurai Warriors spin-off is heading to the North American Wii, we have to wonder how many sword-fighting games we'll be able to handle in the long run before seppuku becomes an attractive alternative. Sengoku Musou Wave will be redubbed Samurai Slash in the West, a title that's impressively accurate in describing the actual gameplay. If slashing things from a first-person perspective sounds familiar, it's because Red Steel attempted the very same thing. The upcoming Dragon Quest: Swords boasts a similar concept as its primary gameplay mechanic and eventually, LucasArts will get around to making that Star Wars lightsaber game. The fun parallels between swinging the Wii controller and swinging a sword essentially demand that such games be made, but just like with any other console, we could eventually face a flood of me-too titles built around the same, unchanging concept. Even on a system that encourages innovation, game developers face the danger of lapsing into a lazy genre trap. Is the "guy with two guns" game any better than the "guy with a sword" game?(And where's the "guy with two sticks" game?)
