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Some 100 years later, Bladestorm goes gold
Today, KOEI made the announcement that Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War has officially gone gold and will be on retail shelves November 6th. And just in case you've forgotten, there is a Bladestorm demo currently residing on the XBLM (available to all Xbox Live regions) if you're feeling the need to give the game a test drive before November comes. That's about all we've got for you as far as Bladestorm news goes, so now we think we're going to head off and try to perfect the ancient Chinese art of hacking and slashing. Stab, swing, duck, stab, stab, swing, duck. Repeat.
Romance of the Three Accessories
Happy News about Games Related to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Day! So far, it's been a solemn event that we've observed respectfully, thinking about how ugly DS games affect us all. But we've got marginally better news for you, so don't take down your traditional NGRRTK Day decorations. Hori have released some relatively nice DS accessories in a black-and-gold color scheme to tie into the release of Sega's new card-based arcade adaptation Sangokushi Taisen DS, including a stand, a DS card case, and a stylus. Sure, they're not totally new items-- the stand looks to be the same design as the one reviewed by CheapyD, but they're black, with goooooolden eeeeemblems on them.We like the blackness of this set, but we aren't sure about advertising any affiliation with Sangokushi Taisen DS or any other arcade-fad card games. Also, we like to keep our DS systems in our gentle, loving hands while we play, not relegated to a cold, unfeeling stand. It's a DS-fan thing; we have a very positive opinion on the concept of touching.[Update 1: fairly major; this set is NOT a tie-in to Shin Sangoku Musou DS, but to a VERY SIMILAR-LOOKING Sega card-battling game Sangokushi Taisen DS that also uses the classic Three Kingdoms story as its setting.]
Metareview - Samurai Warriors 2
After a two-year absence from consoles, you may have thought that Korean publisher Koei had forgotten about its fledgling Samurai Warriors series. Not a chance, tomodachi! It's just too easy for developer Omega Force to feast on the considerable assets of the Dynasty Warriors, Xtreme Legends, and Empires games, and swap out ancient China for feudal Japan. Staying true to form, this entry adds only minor, Madden-like increments to the series. And Koei isn't finished for 2006. Samurai Warriors 2 Empires is due in November for PS2, while Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 for PSP arrives next month. GameSpy (70/100) was the most generous, praising the dynamic battlefields and new modes: "The game could have benefited from one or two full-fledged alternative modes, but it does include a challenging tower mode. There's also a board game mode called Sugoroku, which is a variation on a Japanese board game that somewhat resembles Monopoly." GameSpot (60/100) is calling for a seppuku of the outdated graphics engine, but found one honorable feature: "To its credit, Samurai Warriors 2 does change up the skills and upgrades system a little bit, forcing you to purchase new skills in between levels with gold you collect. Unfortunately, the tangibility of these upgrades isn't always apparent, so it can sometimes feel as though you're plunging money into nothing." TeamXbox (55/100) was disappointed with the limited Xbox Live options: "Koei feels that rather than going up against a friend in any form of real time combat, people would enjoy fighting against a CPU-controlled general while your friend does the same in a time-based competition. Needless to say, they're mistaken. When people take their games onto Xbox Live they want to feel like they're online, not like they're playing the single player game all over again." See also: Metareview - Ninety-Nine Nights
