''Sengoku BASARA Samurai Heroes'', known in Japan as ''Sengoku BASARA 3'', is a
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
hack and slash
Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...
,
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person
* Action principles the heart of fundamental physics
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video gam ...
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed and published by
Capcom
is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
. It is the third major installment in the ''
Sengoku BASARA
is a series of video games developed and published by Capcom, and a bigger media franchise based on it, including three anime shows, an anime movie, a live action show, and numerous drama CDs, light novels, manga, and stage plays. Its story ...
'' game series and the second game in the series to be released worldwide. It was released for the
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
and
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
in July 2010 in Japan and worldwide in October.
Gameplay
''Samurai Heroes'' is a "hack and slash" combat style that emphasizes large battlefields and an element of strategy. The strength of the controlled character allows for superhuman feats of destruction against multiple foes, and the battles revolve around defeating large numbers of enemies. Additionally, missions are completed (in general) by defeating "gate captains" and eventually a
boss
Boss may refer to:
Occupations
* Supervisor, often referred to as boss
* Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier
* Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization
* Fire boss, ...
and/or mini-bosses. ''Samurai Heroes'' mixes up the gameplay by adding in other objectives, as well, such as guarding a castle or destroying an enemy's food reserves. The uniqueness of each character allows for different fighting styles, such as those which focus on hitting a large number of enemies versus those which focus on a few (excellent for killing boss characters). Combos can be easily performed, and characters have the ability to gain levels by completing stages, eventually unlocking skills and/or adding additional power to their existing ones. Weapon acquisition and customization is also an integral element of the game.
The difficulty levels were named differently in the Western versions of the game to make the game more difficult (with the Japanese Normal becoming Easy and Japanese Hard becoming Normal). However this doesn't affect the EXP and spoils of war received after finishing stages, unlike
Devil Kings
''Devil Kings'', known in Japan as , is a 2005 video game for the PlayStation 2, developed and published by Capcom. It is the first installment in the ''Sengoku Basara'' franchise. The game's theme song for the Japanese version is "Crosswise" by ...
.
Characters
''Characters marked with (*) are unplayable NPCs (except for Takeda Shingen, who was only in cutscenes) in the original game that have become playable in its expansion, Sengoku BASARA 3 Utage''
''Bold denotes starter characters in the main game and Samurai Heroes''
''Matsunaga Hisahide (**) did appear in Sengoku BASARA 2 Heroes as an NPC but he makes his first playable appearance in Sengoku BASARA 3 Utage''
Regional Warlords
NPC characters that serve as bosses and/or mini-bosses with no role in the story, and aren't playable in any of the games (have made their first appearance in ''Samurai Heroes''):
Nanbu Harumasa,
Satake Yoshishige,
Utsunomiya Hirotsuna,
Anegakōji Yoritsuna,
Amago Haruhisa
was a ''daimyō'' warlord in the Izumo Province, Chūgoku region of western Japan. He was the second son of Amago Masahisa. Initially named Akihisa (詮久), he changed his name to Haruhisa in 1541 after Ashikaga Yoshiharu offered to let him u ...
, and
Naoe Kanetsugu
was a Japanese samurai of the 16th–17th centuries. The eldest son of Higuchi Kanetoyo, Kanetsugu was famed for his service to two generations of the Uesugi ''daimyōs''. He was also known by his court title, Yamashiro no Kami (山城守) or ...
.
Soundtrack
The opening theme is "Naked arms" by
T.M.Revolution. The American version of the game uses the English version of "Naked Arms" as its opening. The ending theme is "Gyakkō" by
Chiaki Ishikawa
is a Japanese singer-songwriter. She is also the lead vocalist of Japanese musical duo See-Saw. Many of her songs, both solo and with See-Saw, have been used as theme songs in various anime series. Since 2003, her popularity abroad as part of S ...
. The American and European versions of the game uses an instrumental track called "The Last Brave" by Rei Kondoh, due to licensing restrictions.
Reception
In North America, the game received "mixed or average" reviews on both platforms according to the
review aggregation
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
.
[ In Japan, the game received "generally favorable" reviews. Japanese video game magazine, '']Famitsu
, formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'', gave the PS3 version a score of 9/9/8/8 for a total of 34/40 and the Wii version a score of 9/8/8/8 for a total of 33/40.[
Capcom announced later that the game had sold over 500,000 units in Japan by September 8, 2010, becoming the best-selling ''Sengoku BASARA'' game and bringing the total sold for the series to 2.1 million. The game was later re-released under the PlayStation 3 ''the Best'' label (which means it is a best-seller in Japan).][
]
References
External links
Official ''Sengoku BASARA 3'' websiteOfficial ''Sengoku BASARA 3 Utage'' website
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*
{{Sengoku Basara
2010 video games
3D beat 'em ups
Capcom beat 'em ups
Cooperative video games
Crowd-combat fighting games
Cultural depictions of Oda Nobunaga
Multiplayer and single-player video games
PlayStation 3 games
Sengoku Basara
Sengoku video games
Split-screen multiplayer games
Video game sequels
Video games about samurai
Video games developed in Japan
Video games scored by Kow Otani
Wii games
ja:戦国BASARA