Samurai Warriors: Katana

Appreciation goes out to Koei for attempting a new direction for the series, but they could have left out the dull repetition. Struggling with the motion controls in the first few stages, being forced to traverse on rails (and when the rails do come off, dealing with awkward movement), and facing wave after wave of repeated enemies just isn't all that fun.

Koei's Sengoku-era-inspired Samurai Warriors franchise hits a new low with this on-rails first-person action game.

Even though Katana shares the same “slaughter everyone” overall goal, the on rails approach combined with the Wiimote/nunchuck control system may turn off previous fans and will do little to attract new ones.

There is something to be said for Koei going in a slightly different direction with Katana. It shows a willingness to evolve its core franchises beyond the dregs of monotony that they've been stuck in for the better part of the last decade. Now if that willingness to change could just translate into something enjoyable, and not something mind-numbingly tedious like Samurai Warriors: Katana, then we'd really be getting somewhere.

It's sort of enjoyable because swishing a sword and firing a gun and seeing off billions of stupid enemies without having to think about it too much can be fun. Not fun for long, though, and not the kind of fun it's worth spending 30 or 40 quid on.

Not a good game by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not especially terrible.

Throw in boring unskippable intros and interstitials in every stage, and congratulations: Katana completely lost my attention. [Feb 2008, p.79]

If you enjoy flailing your arms around aimlessly for hours, then this Wii game is for you.

I don’t want to play this game anymore, and I can unreservedly suggest you don’t play it either. Go swat flies instead – you use the same motions and will achieve more satisfactory results.