Although literally a handheld only spin-off of Samurai Warriors 4. Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3 ends up simultanously being the best and worst version of Samurai Warriors 4 at the same time.
This game is unusual in that it ends up being very inferior to Samurai Warriors Chronicles 2 but better than Samurai Warriors 4. In SW4, you were able to choose between two warriors in battle. InAlthough literally a handheld only spin-off of Samurai Warriors 4. Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3 ends up simultanously being the best and worst version of Samurai Warriors 4 at the same time.
This game is unusual in that it ends up being very inferior to Samurai Warriors Chronicles 2 but better than Samurai Warriors 4. In SW4, you were able to choose between two warriors in battle. In this version you are able to choose 4. If you enjoyed SW4 then you will almost certainly love this game because after you've cleared a stage once, you can go back to it with any four characters of your choosing, all accessible via the touch screen. You can switch between any of them, almost at any time, on top of that you can issue orders just like in the original SW4. The difference being is now there are four characters to control, you place characters strategically all over the map if you need or group them together to follow you around. As if you were playing an Empires game. Four characters provides a lot of variety and flexibility for who you want to bring into character, EXP is split between all four characters, so levelling up weak and new characters together? No problem! Grinding a character you hate with three characters you love and letting the CPU control the weak character for the whole battle? Sure! You can do that with his game.
The biggest issue with the game though is the way the weapons are levelled up. It's very similiar to Dynasty Warriors 4 in that simply playing as the character, the levels upgrade with various weapons. Which can seem a little tedious. Finding random loot drops like in SW4, that is gone from this game.
Each time you play a stage you must use your CAW warrior character along with the other three characters, but means that even one character levels up constantly, balancing issues are a bit of a problem later in the game. As you CAW is with you at every level, CAW character will be quite levelled up and you'll be put in a new battle near the end of the game with three characters you haven't played yet, all starting at level 1. Resulting in having to use your CAW in more areas of the map than you'd probably like.
It's a bit of annoyance, but if you're into grinding and enjoy these types of games. It's an problem that can be overcome later, it's just the games balance is a bit awry at the start. Levelling up weak characters using the game's shop is highly recommended.
There's a lot of stuff to do and upgrading weapons and elements is all fully customisable. I've had a lot of fun with this game. There's a lot of content on offer, perhaps more than even Samurai Warriors 4 itself, but it can be grindy, and almost half the levels you've practically seen before unchanged from the original version. For handheld owners of Vita and also 3DS, this is the best version to buy, especially since it's exclusive to handhelds only.
I've had a surprising amount of fun with this. Although I can imagine it's not for everybody. The framerate is absolutely stable 30fps at all times, which sadly can't be said for Dynasty Warriors 8 : Complete Edition on Vita...… Expand