The Warriors Orochi franchise has been (for me at least) about crosses. It’s been a cross between fantasy and history, between several franchises, between the RPG genre and the action genre. And Warriors Orochi 3 is also a cross- it’s the perfect cross between being a game that’s absolute fan service to series fans and being a perfect entry point for all newcomers to this franchise.

Everything about the game represents this perfectly. Right from the combat, that is both accessible and deep, to the story, which has a lot of throwbacks to not just previous games in the series, but also several other franchises that are linked to KOEI, the game will be both, inviting and familiar.

The combat is perhaps the best aspect of the game. It’s really addictive and enjoyable, typicaly action packed and bombasitc, and it’s also deep and varied. The upgrading systems adds a lot of depth to the gameplay, and all the customization makes the entire gameplay are very varied and keeps it from becoming repetitive.

The story of the game, while merely a backdrop for the excellent gameplay, is really well told too. It’s nothing special, and we’re used to such kinds of stories in video games by now, but it fits the game perfectly and sets the stage for the next few hours of enjoyment very well.

With so much customization and over 120 characters in the roster, the game never gets boring or repetitive, and things like how deeply you form relationships with other characters will not just keep you hooked and addicted, but also affect how the game is played. The game’s full to the brim of replay value, and youi won’t be getting bored anytime soon.

That said, the huge character cast does make the game a little unbalanced, with some characters being considerably weaker or stronger than the others or the AI, making the difficulty settings practucally useless. There are matchmaking issues too, however the customizability of the maps almost makes up for that.

If you’re a Warriors Orochi fan, you love this game. If you’re not, you’ll probably like it less, but you’ll enjoy it nonetheless. It’s the perfect game to play for one and all, initiated to the series or otherwise.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.