C- Warrior
Banned
I've had this game for a few days and I always figured somebody would step up and write about it here...but I guess not.
To start off--I don't know shit about mindless hack-n-slashes like Dynasty Warriors. So, keep in mind the whole one man army thing is new to me as I have never played every damn Dynasty Warriors to date. But I do know what the DW series are about etc. by reading various reviews/previews/impressions for those games.
--Premise and Combat/Character Mechanics--
Sengoku Basara IS basically a Dynasty Warriors except it's based on Japanese history not Chinese history. The game is NOT IMPORT FRIENDLY FOR THOSE THAT CAN'T READ JAPANESE. There are 15 characters and 1 NPC, each play very different and have unique movesets and animations. You can perform a stock combo with the square button and "on the fly" switch between two special attacks performed by pressing the Triangle button. And finally, there is a special move (the BASARA guage) that fills up by attacking a certain set of enemies. It's like any other guage (Limit Break, Devil Trigger etc.) that fills up by attacking and recieving damage. Each character has one unique special attack, and not all of them are "swing your sword/staff/blade like a fuckin mad man" so there does lie some distinct seperation amongts characters. Using the combat system outlined above, you select a character (which represents a province or region or whatever) and you proceed to ass-kick the rest of Japan, until you've unified it under your rule. Each character as their own set of cinematics (which are fan-fucking tastic CG and anime sequences).
--Gameplay Detail--
As said above, you pick a character and go about fuckin up other regions. This involves a one man army approach. It's you versus a 1,000 soldiers, around 25 generals and 1 or 2 bosses.
You start at the beginning, and go to "red"--enemy-- location spots. Hack n' slash via combat system to gain points. Or you could just go after the general and thus cause the squad (aka the red dot) to surrender. (I assume it's the same way in DW). Proceed through the stage and continue to ass rape the "red dots" until you finally reach the boss (which is one of the other 15 characters).
The game is pretty easy (on normal)--I expect most people to find the dedicated "hard" mode to be more in-tune on what they expect challenge wise. There is also an "extreme" and "random" difficulty that follow afterwards.
The biggest issue with the game's gameplay mechanics is mostly just the camera. While you have 100% complete control over it, the hectic action seems like too much when you first play. However, once you get the feel of it pressing R2/L2/R3 to reset the camera behind your character becomes 2nd nature. (any one of those buttons resets the camera behind your character). Although, it is an issue when you first start playing. DW has the same camera system, so fans of that game should feel right at home.
The biggest thing going for Basara is that the gameplay is clearly one-sided, what you do in the first stage is what you do for every damn one. Kill a bunch of military morons and fight a few bosses. But what keeps the game fun is leveling up the varied cast of characters.
By killing enemies, you obtain points and special items that level up your character and allow you to recieve new items and upgrades. Leveling up your character obviously makes them stronger, but at the same time unlocks more special attacks. For the most part, it seems each character has a total of 4 to 5 special attacks (you can equip two at once that can be swapped real-time by pressing L1).
--Graphics/Misc.--
The game has awesome artwork. LOVE THE character designs, love the humor, love the CG's and anime cutscenes. Great presentation, as the game also has a full audio soundtrack option (to hear all the game's cool music) and a cutscene (movie mode). They also have stage descriptions and some brief historical details for players to read. And again, it's all in Japanese. There is no English option.
The graphics are on par with Dynasty Warriors 5 (by comparing screenshots) But Sengoku Basara is absolutely awesome in motion. To see the characters run and attack. It's really smooth and is easily on par with the animation seen in the Devil May Cry games.
--If you couldn't understand the above trainwreck of a post, here is a summary--
Sengoku Basara plays like Dynastry Warriors with a clear Capcom flair to it. Just as the producer PR'ed the game as. The game has a diverse cast with each having unique moves and animations, cool/funny CG and anime cutscenes, level up/RPG characteristics and the few minor camera annoyances seen in the DW games. Am I enjoying the game? Yes, very much so. But again I stress that I've never played a DW game so this "one man army" thing seems new and cool to me. There are a lot of extra options like a artwork/cutscene/music viewer so that's a plus, and finally it should take a good 50 or so hours to finish the game with all the characters and obtain most of the items. No, Dante is not in Sengoku Basara--but his weapons are (Alastor, Ebony and Ivory). Fun game, great artwork, graphics that you'd expect, and lots of variety to keep the gameplay fresh. Sengoku Basara is an OBVIOUS rip-off, but it's a rip-off done right and then some...with the "then some" being what you'd expect from Capcom--the makers of RE, DMC, and SF.
**As I've said before, I've never spent a lot of time with any of the previous DW games so when writing this I didn't know what to talk about really. So I think the best thing is --for those interested-- is to simply ask a question about the game, and I (as well as any other person who imported) will answer them.**
To start off--I don't know shit about mindless hack-n-slashes like Dynasty Warriors. So, keep in mind the whole one man army thing is new to me as I have never played every damn Dynasty Warriors to date. But I do know what the DW series are about etc. by reading various reviews/previews/impressions for those games.
--Premise and Combat/Character Mechanics--
Sengoku Basara IS basically a Dynasty Warriors except it's based on Japanese history not Chinese history. The game is NOT IMPORT FRIENDLY FOR THOSE THAT CAN'T READ JAPANESE. There are 15 characters and 1 NPC, each play very different and have unique movesets and animations. You can perform a stock combo with the square button and "on the fly" switch between two special attacks performed by pressing the Triangle button. And finally, there is a special move (the BASARA guage) that fills up by attacking a certain set of enemies. It's like any other guage (Limit Break, Devil Trigger etc.) that fills up by attacking and recieving damage. Each character has one unique special attack, and not all of them are "swing your sword/staff/blade like a fuckin mad man" so there does lie some distinct seperation amongts characters. Using the combat system outlined above, you select a character (which represents a province or region or whatever) and you proceed to ass-kick the rest of Japan, until you've unified it under your rule. Each character as their own set of cinematics (which are fan-fucking tastic CG and anime sequences).
--Gameplay Detail--
As said above, you pick a character and go about fuckin up other regions. This involves a one man army approach. It's you versus a 1,000 soldiers, around 25 generals and 1 or 2 bosses.
You start at the beginning, and go to "red"--enemy-- location spots. Hack n' slash via combat system to gain points. Or you could just go after the general and thus cause the squad (aka the red dot) to surrender. (I assume it's the same way in DW). Proceed through the stage and continue to ass rape the "red dots" until you finally reach the boss (which is one of the other 15 characters).
The game is pretty easy (on normal)--I expect most people to find the dedicated "hard" mode to be more in-tune on what they expect challenge wise. There is also an "extreme" and "random" difficulty that follow afterwards.
The biggest issue with the game's gameplay mechanics is mostly just the camera. While you have 100% complete control over it, the hectic action seems like too much when you first play. However, once you get the feel of it pressing R2/L2/R3 to reset the camera behind your character becomes 2nd nature. (any one of those buttons resets the camera behind your character). Although, it is an issue when you first start playing. DW has the same camera system, so fans of that game should feel right at home.
The biggest thing going for Basara is that the gameplay is clearly one-sided, what you do in the first stage is what you do for every damn one. Kill a bunch of military morons and fight a few bosses. But what keeps the game fun is leveling up the varied cast of characters.
By killing enemies, you obtain points and special items that level up your character and allow you to recieve new items and upgrades. Leveling up your character obviously makes them stronger, but at the same time unlocks more special attacks. For the most part, it seems each character has a total of 4 to 5 special attacks (you can equip two at once that can be swapped real-time by pressing L1).
--Graphics/Misc.--
The game has awesome artwork. LOVE THE character designs, love the humor, love the CG's and anime cutscenes. Great presentation, as the game also has a full audio soundtrack option (to hear all the game's cool music) and a cutscene (movie mode). They also have stage descriptions and some brief historical details for players to read. And again, it's all in Japanese. There is no English option.
The graphics are on par with Dynasty Warriors 5 (by comparing screenshots) But Sengoku Basara is absolutely awesome in motion. To see the characters run and attack. It's really smooth and is easily on par with the animation seen in the Devil May Cry games.
--If you couldn't understand the above trainwreck of a post, here is a summary--
Sengoku Basara plays like Dynastry Warriors with a clear Capcom flair to it. Just as the producer PR'ed the game as. The game has a diverse cast with each having unique moves and animations, cool/funny CG and anime cutscenes, level up/RPG characteristics and the few minor camera annoyances seen in the DW games. Am I enjoying the game? Yes, very much so. But again I stress that I've never played a DW game so this "one man army" thing seems new and cool to me. There are a lot of extra options like a artwork/cutscene/music viewer so that's a plus, and finally it should take a good 50 or so hours to finish the game with all the characters and obtain most of the items. No, Dante is not in Sengoku Basara--but his weapons are (Alastor, Ebony and Ivory). Fun game, great artwork, graphics that you'd expect, and lots of variety to keep the gameplay fresh. Sengoku Basara is an OBVIOUS rip-off, but it's a rip-off done right and then some...with the "then some" being what you'd expect from Capcom--the makers of RE, DMC, and SF.
**As I've said before, I've never spent a lot of time with any of the previous DW games so when writing this I didn't know what to talk about really. So I think the best thing is --for those interested-- is to simply ask a question about the game, and I (as well as any other person who imported) will answer them.**
