Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate is the definitive with everything from the original game and its Ultimate Upgrade Pack. Find out if the title’s worth playing in our Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate review!
The story starts off with Tadakatsu Honda, Naotora Ii, and Naomasa Ii. As they’re heading to fight Hashiba’s forces, they suddenly get enveloped in a strange mist. As they get out of it, they find themselves in a world they don’t know, and end up being attacked by Lu Bu, a warrior from the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Soon after, they’ll meet other people that were also trapped in that mist and ended up in this world. They will encounter enemies that are beyond what they can handle at first and will end up gathering forces on a quest that will unfold to something much bigger than they would’ve expected.
After a quick intro, you are placed in a few battles that will serve as the tutorials for the game. Musou-style games pit you against hundreds of enemies, and this one makes no exception to the genre. Basic controls are rather simple, as you can jump with Cross, do regular attacks with Square and Triangle will perform a more powerful attack (a charge attack for Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi characters, and a Hyper Attack for Samurai Warriors characters). The Circle button is used to do a Musou strike, a powerful attack that can be done once its gauge is filled.
You can control three characters during battles, and you can easily switch between them by pressing the L2 or R2 buttons. Switching after an attack with Triangle can result in Switch combos that can create powerful attacks. While they are not actively fighting, other characters will gradually recover some health. You’ll also quickly gain access to support characters that will not actively fight but will provide boosts for your characters, especially if they have bonds with your Officers.
Outside of battles, there’ll be as much, if not more, things to do. When you’re about to start a battle, you have a menu that will allow you to see the victory and defeat conditions, as well as the battle objectives you’ll be able to achieve. You’ll also be able to choose who your three Officers will be, as well as the support characters you’ll bring with you. Customization options for your weapons and characters will also be available, which opens a whole lot of possibilities for what you can do. Add to that the Bond System that allows you to develop a relationship between characters and you’re in for a lot of time spent between battles preparing yourself.
Visually, the game offers a nice presentation, and I never experienced any type of lag or slowdown, no matter how many enemies were on screen. There are a few things that were a bit annoying, though, such as the small map displayed in battles that’s so small it’s actually difficult to see where you are and in what direction you’re going. There are also some nice Japanese voiceovers during the battles that are subtitled in English, but the problem with this is that when you’re in the midst of the battle, you don’t have the time to look at the text and end up missing on a lot of the lines that unfold during battles.
I’m not a big fan of Musou games, but I do have to say it feels great to be able to just destroy hundreds of enemies at a time with a few sword slashes. On that part, this game totally delivers. There’s a lot of content, both from the story and from the modes that were added as part of the Ultimate edition, that can provide you more hours than you could handle to grind it out for all your characters. Speaking of characters, this game has close to 200 characters to choose from, making for one of the most amazing rosters out there!
I also liked all the customization you can do when you’re not in battles. Playing around with weapon dismantling or fusion, upgrading your characters, there’s a lot to get lost in for yours in there. On the other hand, though, and that might be because I haven’t been following this series, the story really didn’t get me. Nothing in it made me want to read through all the dialogues, so I just went through skipping them all.
As for the trophies, if you’re not afraid to spend a lot of time playing the game, it’s nothing that should prove to be a big challenge. A lot of your time will be spent getting an S rating for all missions, as well as completing them all on Chaotic difficulty. Other than that, most of the trophies will come naturally while playing the game, especially if you pay a little attention to them before starting the game.
Final Thoughts
The Ultimate edition of the game definitely has a lot more to offer than only the original game. The price for only the Upgrade pack is a bit too steep, in my opinion, if you already own the original game and should be put on hold until a major sale happens. But whether you’re getting only the DLC or purchasing the Ultimate edition, the one thing that’s for sure is that you’ll be pleased with what the game has to offer if you’re a fan of Musou style games.
Price: $59.99 USD
PSN Game Size: 21GB
Disclaimer
This Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by KOEI TECMO.
