After thoroughly saturating us with Chinese history, the staff at Koei has decided to honour their own ancestors this time by bringing us Samurai Warriors. Not only does the name sound similar to their highly successful and much loved Dynasty Warriors series but it also works on the same foundations. You will be a one man (or woman) weapon of mass destruction. You will fight for your Lord and homeland just like always, and the main emphasis is still to cut a swathe through hordes of enemies.

This time Koei has expanded the 'create a warrior' features and placed a higher emphasis on completing missions along the way. Didn't know Hattori Hanzo was any more than a fictional Quentin Tarantino sake-drinking sword-maker? Well neither did we until we booted up Samurai Warriors! The guys at Koei are very passionate about their games and the way they portray warriors, many of which are revered as Gods in Asia and there's no better evidence of this than last years Xbox World interview with Yoshiki Sugiyama. So what other Japanese legends of the feudal era have been bought back to life? Ronins read on!

Before we get into it, here's a simple question: Played a Dynasty Warriors game before?

NO? Well where have you been?

YES? Welcome to the Japanese version!

This may seem like a superficial analysis, but basically it's true. In defence to Koei, they have made genuine effort to experiment their hacking and slashing philosophies but for the main it's the clich'd case of 'if it ain't broke'..' Well you know the rest, but it's possible Koei's conclusion to that sentence is '...then spawn a dozen sequels and add-ons!'. You will control a warrior who runs around a vast battlefield, thankfully accompanied by bodyguards and a map. On the map allies are blue dots and enemies are red dots. Go and kill the red dots! There are also larger white dots signifying unit leaders and to kill one of these sees their troops flee the field. You should attack the leaders and protect your own.

Whilst fighting there are 2 main attack buttons backed up by ranged fire and defensive abilities. The standard attack button is pressed a select amount of times and it's always handy to tag the special attack button on the end which differs depending on your initial number of standard attack presses, as well as your weapons type and abilities earned. You can also ride around fighting on horseback which allows you to get from A to B much faster as well, something to really bear in mind when trying to complete many missions.

Missions are the big change from the DW series as they are more complex and have far more serious ramifications upon battle. Indeed they can (but not always) dictate whether you win or lose the entire scenario. Missions will affect army morale as much, if not more, than the winning against and losing against enemy units will. If morale is low your army is easily defeated. If it is high your chances of victory are far greater. Some examples of missions include defeating a particular opponent or protecting a particular ally but there can be much more obscure things to do, such as getting atop a particular isolated hilltop and sniping the enemy leader to incite fear and panic to the rank and file troops, proving to their army that they are not untouchable. Success can also unlock further rewards such more hidden missions and battles. It is designed to make you feel as though you are an officer acting on orders, but also making decisions which can turn the tide of war for or against you.

Between battles you can upgrade weapons, special abilities and spend experience points earned to increase your battle skills in a wide range of areas. You will also notice your bodyguards become stronger and as such, more useful. On the topic of your bodyguards, these guys can actually be issued basic orders such as attack and defend, which allows you a little more freedom to play to your strengths.

Other game modes include the Free mode meaning you can build up experience anywhere you have unlocked anytime and then try the story mode mission you are stuck on with a stronger warrior. New Officer mode is interesting for a while and you need to complete a number of tasks to develop them for use in other modes. There isn't a great variety of warriors to create, though no doubt this will expand in future sequels. Survival mode is as it sounds and the aim is to set records. VS mode allows the screen to be split horizontally and you can fight against a human opponent or co-operate with them. Challenge mode is just setting records in the New Officer mode exercises.

The characters themselves are worthy of special mention. Most are based on real life heroes, warriors whose actions are respected and considered legendary. Koei have gone to great lengths to honour their legend, although some Westerners at least might be scratching their heads at the way some of these fearsome samurai have been recreated.

For example Mori Ranmaru appears to be sword wielding cross-dresser. Koei staff explained to us that in history Mori was described as 'a beautiful boy who won Nobunaga's patronage' and as such their depiction of him is as an effeminate character, trying to talk with a girl's voice! Still some of these warriors would be truly humbled by how they have been recreated. The real Hattori Hanzo could just be the best baddest Ninja that ever lived, at least in the videogame world. He oozes coolness on the battlefield and combines traditional stealth with nippy slashing and jumping moves.

There is a rifle wielding mercenary named Magoichi that seems a little out of place in feudal Japan...The fact he is using a big gun in the 16th century against bladed weapons makes him a formidable opponent, one that is also different from the rest and heaps of fun to use. Sanada Yukimura would have to be the major hero in the game. A true Samurai Warrior in every sense of the word and a man described historically as 'a warrior worth a thousand.' All up there are a dozen or so playable characters and if you don't like any of them, then just create your own.

The game can be as easy or hard as you like. It's a breeze on the easy levels but not very realistic or satisfying. Once you level up your warrior however and pit them in one of the tougher difficulties you really see this game start to shine. In this way the game is very much like Dynasty Warriors: Greater rewards and satisfaction exist in the hardest difficulties. You really need to work to protect your leaders and complete missions. Yet at the same time defeating enemy leaders becomes considerably tougher and their loyal subjects will put up a very strong defence.

The graphics are acceptable but nothing special for the Xbox, and there is no doubt this has a lot to do with the porting process between PS2 and Xbox. Battlefields can be a little bland and boring when compared with similar titles. There are some enhancements over the PS2 version however. There is more visibility in multiplayer mode and there are more enemies on the screen at once, a 30% increase to be precise.

Battle sounds in SW are standard fare, nothing of great note but not terrible either. The voice acting is disappointing for us all in the PAL regions. Not only are the Japanese voices in the NTSC versions authentic but also they also sound about 10 times better than the English speaking voices we are stuck with. The music is catchy, not too heavy and not too light with the various soft percussions and wind instruments giving it that Japanese sound, and seems to suit the mood of fast paced battle suitably.

The game has high replayability value for fans of the genre but for everyone else I'd predict that whilst you may have a blast with the game, once the next big thing comes along this might be tossed aside and neglected, perhaps permanently. The problem is that while Samurai Warriors is good, it fails to achieve the greatness necessary to set it apart not only from the pack, but also other previous Koei titles. It suffers the same A.I weaknesses present in some of the Dynasty Warrior games, ie, if you charge and take out all the enemy leaders you will avoid fighting hundreds of soldiers as once a leader is beaten his / her troops flee the field immediately. Another letdown are the repetitive Castle stages, they are a huge disappointment after the cleverly worked battlefields that contained challenging missions full of variety.