Sengoku Musou, better known overseas as Samurai Warriors, is a game made by Omega Force and published by KOEI, the same developer and publisher of the famous Shin Sangoku Musou (Dynasty Warriors) series. If Shin Sangoku Musou is based on the Chinese Three Kingdoms period, Sengoku Musou is based on the Japanese Sengoku period, which happened in the 16th century.

Sengoku Musou 1 was released in 2004, however despite having good review scores from magazine reviewers, many players have later found out that this game was far from good because there are too many issues, though most of them are fixed by its expansion, Sengoku Musou Moushouden (Samurai Warriors Xtreme Legends) which came out 6 month afterwards. KOEI had also released a PSP port of this game, Geki Sengoku Musou (US Version: Samurai Warriors State of War) at the beginning of this year. However, in Japan, Sengoku Musou was challenged by a game made by Capcom, Sengoku BASARA, which was released on July 2005 (The overseas version of it, Devil Kings, have been stripped off of any Sengoku Jidai relevances, though)

But now, KOEI strikes back. They are releasing the sequel of Sengoku Musou.. Sengoku Musou 2. Compared to the prequel, this game has more characters, more stages, more challenging, more replayability, more... everything.

There are ten new characters in total, and each of them have their own unique weapons and movesets. What makes this game is more unique, is that all characters, returning and brand new, are given specific techniques and movesets.

The R1 button, if pressed at the same time with either Square or Triangle button, will make a character do a special technique. The techniques range from doing special attacks, calling a horse, shooting, ninjutsu, and many others. Characters have also been assigned different types of movesets. Some characters' movesets are still similar to Sengoku Musou 1's moveset, but some others' are similar to the Shin Sangoku Musou movesets, but with improvements. If in Shin Sangoku Musou you can only do a charge attack up to C6, here, you can unleash a C8!

There are no equipped items here, as they are being replaced by the new skill system. It is in a good way though, since you could only equip a limited number of items in previous games. Now, you can equip all skills you want, which consists of stat increasing, combat ability, recovery and luck skills, among others. Skills are only available for the character who has them, so other characters will have to get the same skills by themselves, making this game more replayable.

What makes this game more fun to play is that the castles, which many players consider as a major issue in Sengoku Musou 1, are now part of the main map. So yes, no more loading between floors, allies can also enter the castles, and you can go outside of the castle after you're in.

AI has been improved. Graphics are much improved from the prequel, and the stages are more colorful now. Slowdowns are much less likely here. The music is still similar from the prequel, Techno with a bit of Japanese instruments. Movies are also well done, as well as character stories. Also, if you're bored of hacking and slashing, you can also play a monopoly-like minigame which is available here.

But nothing is perfect. Even with all those major improvements, Sengoku Musou 2 has a major gripe for me. In order to advance the game timeline, they have removed some characters and events from the prequel. If you still want to see Imagawa Yoshimoto, Ishikawa Goemon, Honganji Kennyo and the one night castle dance, you should keep your Sengoku Musou 1 discs.. cause they are not appearing in this sequel... (Oh, and the fictional Kunoichi too)

But with that many improvements, this game could be the most innovative of all Musou/Warriors game KOEI have ever released. You should at least try this game, and I'm 90% sure you'll like it.