Omega Force Game Reviews
Mini Review Warriors: Abyss (PS5) - A Decent Descent into Hell for Roguelike and Warriors Fans
The Enemy of my Enma
Truthfully, Warriors: Abyss feels like Koei Tecmo tried to cook up its own budget Hades from the leftovers of last night's Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. That's not to say it fails to sate the appetite, though. Despite being a bit rough around the edges, Abyss is a solid and successfully addictive foray into the...
Review Dynasty Warriors: Origins (PS5) - Peak Dynasty Warriors Is Back with an Almighty Bang
Wei to go
What a difference seven years makes. In 2018, the dismal Dynasty Warriors 9 effectively put Koei Tecmo's storied hack and slash series on ice, but Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a completely different beast. For the first time in generations, the franchise feels fresh again — a genuine evolution of what's come before. To be clear, Origins...
Review Wild Hearts (PS5) - A Fast-Paced, Thrilling Alternative to Monster Hunter
Domo arigato Mr. Kemono
Let's get the boring paperwork out of the way quickly. Yes, Wild Hearts is a lot like Monster Hunter: World. The similarities are plain to see, both structurally and conceptually. However, far from being a Monster Hunter clone, thanks to mostly fantastic creature design and splendid, fast-paced combat with an emphasis on ad...
Fallen empires
After the disappointment of Dynasty Warriors 9 and its cardboard open world, we desperately wanted Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires to be good — to finally get Koei Tecmo's flaship franchise back on track. And while Empires is easily a better game than its predecessor, it still suffers from many of the issues that Dynasty Warriors 9...
Review Persona 5 Strikers (PS4) - A Must-Play for Fans of Persona 5
Honour among Phantom Thieves
Republished on Wednesday 29th December, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of January 2022's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Before we get started, let's make one thing clear: Persona 5 Strikers is a direct sequel to Persona 5. It is not the kind of action game...
Review Samurai Warriors 5 (PS4) - Rebooted Hack and Slasher Is Fantastic Fun, for the Most Part
Incident at Honnoji
It's been seven whole years since the last mainline instalment in the Samurai Warriors series, and as far as we're concerned, 2014's Samurai Warriors 4 is still one of the best Warriors games on the market. Samurai Warriors 5 has quite the legacy to live up to, then, but is a rebooted storyline, a fresh art style, and a slew of...
Review One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 - Carried By Fantastically Fun Characters
Sailing the 7/10 seas
We're big fans of the One Piece: Pirate Warriors games. We reckon One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is the best of the bunch, and we'd even go as far to say that it's one of the very best Warriors titles on PlayStation 4. Naturally then, we had high expectations for One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, and while it doesn't quite do enough...
Mini Review Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate - Hack and Slasher Finally Feels Like the Complete Package
Promoted
We weren't overly impressed with Warriors Orochi 4 when it launched in 2018, but Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate is definitely a cut above. Available as either a digital expansion or a re-release, Ultimate adds two new story chapters, a handful of new characters, and an endgame 'Infinity Mode'. It also brings a number of improvements to the...
Review Warriors Orochi 4 - Worse Than Warriors Orochi 3
Snake eater
Warriors Orochi 4 feels like it was developed on a shoestring budget. It cuts corners everywhere, from the removal of several game modes that were in previous titles, to the the fact that 95 per cent of the game's story is told through static character portraits and text boxes. However, after the dismal open world structure of Dynasty...
Review Attack on Titan 2 (PS4)
Colossal fun
For those who have been living under a rock, Attack on Titan is one of the biggest anime and manga properties of recent years, and tells the story of humanity's struggle against a group of man-eating Titans who are threatening to destroy their world. The first Attack on Titan game came out in 2016, and now Koei Tecmo is back with a...
Review Dynasty Warriors 9 (PS4)
Big trouble in big China
Dynasty Warriors as a series hasn't changed much over the years. Sure it's had its playable character roster expanded significantly, and it's had the odd combat system overhaul here and there, but the core concept has always remained the same: it's one super overpowered Chinese warrior (you) versus entire armies that flood...
Review Warriors All-Stars (PS4)
Seeing stars
A crazy crossover title that features characters from a bunch of different Koei Tecmo properties, Warriors All-Stars certainly feels like an attempt at celebrating the publisher's many years of success. Unfortunately, as a traditional hack and slash Warriors title, the game just isn't that great. The PlayStation 4 has been blessed with...
Review Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada (PS4)
Family values
To date, Samurai Warriors 4 has given way to three spin-off titles on PlayStation 4: Samurai Warriors 4-II, Samurai Warriors 4: Empires, and now, Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada. Of the three, this latest release is the most original - at least in terms of structure and design. Spirit of Sanada takes numerous role-playing game...
Review Dragon Quest Heroes II (PS4)
Royal rumble
It's time to dust off those slime-smacking weapons, because Dynasty Warriors developer Omega Force is back for another stab at Square Enix's beloved Dragon Quest franchise. Once again, the Japanese studio offers up a colourful action role-playing game stuffed with charm and content. And as is usually the case with an Omega Force sequel,...
Oni you can save mankind
Toukiden 2 begins with a huge battle in Yokohama. Monsters known as Oni have wreaked havoc across the world of man and are advancing down from the North. There is a plan to stop their advance in Yokohama by leading a force of Demon Slayers against them. However, things aren't looking good as the Oni are on the rampage and...
Review Berserk and the Band of the Hawk (PS4)
No Guts, no glory
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is easily the bloodiest action game that Omega Force has ever squeezed out. True to the often gruesome source material, the game doesn't skimp on the red stuff, soaking the screen as you forcefully cleave your way through hundreds of enemies. Indeed, if there's one thing that Band of the Hawk gets...
Review Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers (PS4)
The search continues
The Dynasty Warriors series is no stranger to spin-offs, what with its library of Empires titles and its catalogue of somewhat lacking offshoots like Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. The property has a spotty record when it comes to swapping out its tried and tested hack and slash formula for something different, so it's safe to...
Review Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom (PS4)
Maybe necks time
While it's a common story, Attack on Titan managed to pull this particular scribe into the anime world a couple years ago. How could it not? It has a striking art style with bold lining and subdued colour, a European setting with an intricate culture and inventions, and an irresistible world that draws you in with its mysteries and...
Review Samurai Warriors 4: Empires (PS4)
For clan and country
In recent years, Warriors games have been criticised for being a little too prolific. To those who don't care for musou titles, it must seem like there's a new Warriors release every other month, but fans have always stuck by Omega Force and its seemingly timeless hack and slash formula. However, even for the Omega Force...
Review Arslan: The Warriors of Legend (PS4)
Legends in the making
Hiromu Arakawa's re-imagining of Japanese novel series The Heroic Legend of Arslan is a great fit for a Warriors title: it's packed full of huge battles between warring nations and peppered with memorable characters. We've got a promising base for an Omega Force developed hack and slasher, then, but does Arslan: The Warriors of...
Review Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires (PS Vita)
A real strata-gem
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is the first Empires spin-off game to make it West on the Vita, and it's actually a bit of a revelation. The Empires formula fits so well on Sony's handheld that we'd go as far as to recommend this version over its home console counterpart – even if the graphics have been toned down considerably in...
Review Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below (PS4)
Prime slime
Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below is a name that we don't want to write more than once in this review. It's also the name of a very fun action role-playing game that sees the massively popular Japanese franchise step away from traditional turn-based battles and adopt a gameplay approach that's more akin to...
Review Samurai Warriors 4-II (PS4)
Blade running
Stuck in a strange realm somewhere between a sequel and an expansion, Samurai Warriors 4-II is, in many ways, a follow up to last year's superb Samurai Warriors 4 – but it's certainly not the inevitable Samurai Warriors 5. It borrows characters, stages, music, mechanics, voice acting, and even artwork from 2015's historical hack and...
Review One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 (PS Vita)
Size doesn't matter
You're almost spoiled for choice when it comes to Warriors games on the PlayStation Vita, since just about every slice of musou madness to release on home consoles over the last few years has ended up on Sony's diminutive device as well. Generally speaking, the handheld editions of these chaotic brawlers never quite live up to...
Review One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 (PS4)
Treasured company
We loved One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 on the PlayStation 3 like a captain loves his crew, so we've always had high hopes for its sequel, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3. Like most of Omega Force's other musou titles, the third game in this licensed series has made the jump to the new generation, meaning that you can expect more...
Review Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3 (PS Vita)
This time it's personal
You couldn't possibly be blamed for being unable to keep up with each new Warriors release at this point. The Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors franchises have enjoyed a steady stream of new titles for about as long as anyone can remember, but thankfully, both series have maintained a good, consistent quality over the...
Review Toukiden: Kiwami (PlayStation Vita)
Demonic addiction
Toukiden: The Age of Demons attempted to fill a Monster Hunter-shaped hole on the PlayStation Vita, and it succeeded to quite an impressive degree. Accessible combat and relatively simple crafting systems made it a decent alternative to Capcom's popular action role-playing game romp, but Toukiden: Kiwami's gone one better,...
Review Toukiden: Kiwami (PlayStation 4)
It oni gets better
Toukiden: The Age of Demons was and still is a great adventure on the PlayStation Vita, but it's been made a bit obsolete by its follow-up, Toukiden: Kiwami. Not quite a sequel, Kiwami includes the entirety of the original game, plus a slew of new chapters which continue the story after the events of The Age of Demons. As such,...
Review Bladestorm: Nightmare (PlayStation 4)
Over the hills and far away
Originally released during the PlayStation 3's earlier years, Bladestorm remains a bit of an outlier as far as Koei games are concerned. Unlike Dynasty Warriors, the series that the publisher is perhaps best known for, Bladestorm is about conquering historical battlefields with brains rather than brawn. Taking on the...
Review Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires (PlayStation 4)
Empires of the Sun
Trying to describe Dynasty Warriors' spin-off Empires series is a difficult proposition, even to someone who's familiar with the franchise's main instalments. At their core, the games are the same, in that gameplay still involves hacking and slashing your way through entire armies in a bid to conquer China, but it's everything...
