Update: April 3, 2008
«©NCSX» In the original Musou Orochi game from March 2007, the Serpent King Orochi spirited warriors from Sengoku Musou and Sangoku Musou to a netherworld where he toyed with them for his own pleasure. Orochi didn't take their collective might into account and ended up paying with his life. Fast forward to the present time and the samurai Taira no Kiyomori is attempting to revive Orochi from the grave. Word gets around quickly and legendary warriors marshal once again to stop the resurrection attempt.
In our opinion, the early SSM games were hampered by the throngs of "dumb" enemy troops that hung back and stood around like scarecrows. They were armed but never attacked and served only as cannon fodder. The enemies in recent games such as Sengoku Basara have grown more aggressive and they're markedly smarter in the "Dramatic Mode" of the new Musou Orochi. The offense is brutal and a gamer can't just wade into the sea of humanity and nonchalantly swing away without a plan. You'll be cut down in seconds. New strategies must be adopted in order to endure the waves of soldiers that attack intelligently and fight in concert with each other to deal substantial damage.
Region Lock-out
Please note Japanese Playstation 2 games will not boot on USA or European PS2 consoles due to the inherent region-lockout on Playstation 2 game discs.
View the back cover and screenshots on the main NCSX website.
NCS Game Notes
» In the intro to the game, a moonlit night appears as clouds slowly waft across the heavens. Images of heroes atop the clouds perform various moves followed by their transposition onto a battlefield. The cinema features dynamic action as heroes face off against huge contingents of enemy soldiers who surround them. When the enemies fire their guns, a sword handler simply whirls his blades around to repel all of the bullets back at the firing squads. In the final scene, the heroes collaborate and fire off a blast of power at Orochi's base of power which explodes and lifts up the bodies of dying soldiers in the ensuing upheaval. The blast radius morphs into Orochi's lizard-like countenance and the heroes all rush forward to attack. It's all very dramatic and will whet appetites for the slashing action that awaits.
» The TITLE screen features the following selections
STORY MODE - Select a Kingdom/Theme from 5 possible (Shu, Wei, Wu, Sengoku, or Orochi) and go through eight theaters of war. Your characters are preset and there is no way to select the order of battle. A series of cinemas and background information accompany each storyline.
FREE MODE - Choose three characters from one kingdom (eight possible kingdoms) and battle against five other kingdoms that you may select as you see fit.
DRAMATIC MODE - Placeholders for 28 different episodes are shown but only 3 are playable at the outset of the game. Select one of the available episodes to play and the three preset heroes appear followed by a narration which paints the backdrop of the mission ahead. This mode features tough enemy forces who attack with fervor.
VS MODE - Select three champions and fight against a similarly equipped second player in a 3D fighting game that's like a poor man's Soul Calibur.
SURVIVAL MODE - Choose three heroes from a roster of characters from eight possible empires and go to war against another three characters in 3D tag-team fighting action. Maybe tag-team isn't the right phrase because you can switch between any of the three fighters on the fly at any time by pressing the L2 trigger. It's possible to dizzy characters and pull off chain-combos to knock an opponent out. To block, press the L1 trigger.
GALLERY - 5 sections as follows:
/ View images of the generals from the different empires. Most are locked but some are viewable at the outset.
/ Check out the weapons that the generals from the different empires use to slay their foes.
/ Watch cinemas from the game. In the beginning, only the opening movie is available but 26 others may be unlocked. On the second page of the selections, Koei trailers may be checked out for SSM5 on PS3 and Musou Orochi for PSP.
/ Data snippets on Musou Orochi
/ Mobile Joy
OPTION - Adjust volume levels, configure controller, view characters stats, save/load data. There's also a BGM player in the sound submenu where you an listen to all of the music in the game.
» The Orochi chapter allows you to play as the Serpent King himself where legions of his soldiers may be seen in the introductory cinema as the godling sits on a mobile throne and contemplates his next move. Orochi isn't much taller than his loyal underlings or the human warriors who oppose him. He carries a scythe which cuts across armies of men like wheat. To switch between him or the other two members of his party, press the L2 or R2 trigger on the Dual Shock 2. To mount the horse that appears early in the level, stand next to it until the horsehead icon appears and then press the "X" button. When riding on horseback and charging into battle, one hit from an enemy will send your rider flying backwards.
Pushing the "X" button to make Orochi jump followed by the "SQUARE" button will cause him to shoot a fireball from his hand that scorches anyone beneath his ascent. If Orochi is surrounded by a dozen enemies, setting off the fireball which send all of them up in the air with fire temporarily engulfing their bodies. Enemy grunts are low-level and non-aggressive.
» As mentioned in the main synopsis, the enemy troops are very aggressive in the "Dramatic Mode" of the game but in the other modes, the opposing forces for the most part aloof. Higher level enemy soldiers will press the attack but there are times when you can position your hero right in the middle of a crowd of enemies and they won't do anything for a full 30 seconds as they hold their weapons aloft without striking. On the other hand, the enemies are so aggressive in the "Dramatic Mode" that you'll find your hero being juggled by the enemy soldiers as they perform chain attacks in concert with each other to devastate your general while he's down. The Dramatic Mode is very challenging but the enemy soldiers in the STORY MODE tone it down and are back to being sedate.
* Before each stage, a view of the entire area that the battle takes place on is shown along with indications of where enemie forces are massed.
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