Warriors Orochi 2 takes place shortly after the first game, The Serpent King Orochi has been banished and peace starts to return to the many lands from both Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, unfortunately though some of Orochi’s followers don’t like the relaxed new world and go about setting the king free, allowing him to pursue his quest to find and defeat his equal in battle.

The controls are as simple as ever, X and Y for attacks and combos, A to jump, B for using your Musou gauge and the triggers allow you to switch characters. As you switch characters from your choice of three the other two will use the time off-screen to recover their health and Musou, allowing you to play tactically and also unleash three huge attacks at once on some of the tougher baddies, who are as varied and well represented as usual. 

There are also some local co-op modes including a steeple chase where you jump onto horses and race around a track, Elimination and also a pretty good Survival Mode which is more like a Tekken game than a Warriors game in that it takes a more 3D beat-m up approach and allows you choose three characters and fight against other opponents until you lose. The Survival mode really is a great addition to the already bursting at the seams disc.

Whilst the graphics have had a good tweaking since the last outing there is one major flaw in this game. What makes these games so great is the ability to have so many people on screen at once, enemies and allies fighting together, giving you the impression of a on going war, in previous games this has always been Koei’s greatest achievement, however for some reason in Orochi 2 there is slowdown,. And not just a little, almost every time you come across a part with speech or a fight against a sub-boss the game slows to a crawl, at first I though it was an intentional effect but unfortunately no. The slowdown issue is a terrible shame as this game was turning out to be a really good release.