Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper (Wii U) Review

Imagine being able to head back in time and change specific key events to improve the future. Quite the daunting task, right? Well, in Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper that is exactly what is required, since there is no way to beat the devastating Hydra that is on the rampage in the present time with the current depleted forces. Therefore, with a little wizardry, a team of three warriors hop back and forth through the timeline using their past knowledge to overcome threats and prevent the deaths of fellow officers of war in order to recruit them and eventually defeat the deadly eight-headed beast. It is totally off the wall in terms of premise, ditching the overly serious nature of both the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series from Tecmo Koei, but if anything, the removal of the former confines and over-the-top fantasy setting helps make for a much more approachable game on the whole.

The core revolves around the team of three, each with their own individual talents and the ability to switch between the three at will during mass battles that involve taking on hundreds and thousands of enemies in the hope of staving off the impending threat sufficiently to gain victory and proceed onwards. Across the many grandiose battlefields, all of which are easily navigable thanks to a handy on-screen map feature highlighting key points and normally the next objective location, mass brawls ensue. Using all manner of button combinations, strings of hits can be carried out, complete with the odd special move here and there, as well as use of magical fire power and team attacks that are truly devastating. Working their way around the maps, specific officers must be slain in order to break through certain gates, and missions must be undertook and successfully finished to get the greatest reward at the end. Upon completion, weapons can be forged, defence boosted, new recruits switched into the team of three, and skill points attributed to the current line-up in order to make them increasingly stronger for the next fight.

The unfortunate stumbling block comes in the visual stakes, with Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper suffering from some extremely low quality graphics and terrible pop-up issues. There are many cases where character portraits shown when talking on the TV are extremely rough around the edges, only looking smooth and detailed on the smaller screen of the GamePad. There is also the almost comical effect of enemy hordes appearing out of thin air whilst running around battlefields. If it were not for the very useful map feature that shows where enemy forces are assembled, then it would prove quite shocking to be faced with an onslaught that magically appears from nowhere. For such a powerful console, this is obviously unacceptable, yet thankfully it actually does not deter from the enjoyment factor overall, with everything else covering over the cracks well enough.

The major selling point has to be in the form of the two-on-two beat 'em-up section, which ends up making Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper almost two games in one. Taking a team of three into a smaller arena and facing off against a bunch of opponents is extremely satisfying, throwing in card battling elements as well to spice matters up somewhat. This alone could have been an extremely engaging title alone, albeit for a lower price, but as an additional bonus it bumps up the value factor of this considerably, making it far more than a mere port from other home consoles. Although the game on the whole does not make the most inventive use of the GamePad, being able to play Off-TV alone is extremely handy, especially since the graphics look better on the smaller screen! There is also the chance to have two players using different screens, one viewing the action in battles on the TV and the other having their own separate viewpoint on the GamePad, so whilst no incorporation of innovative new ideas are at play, it makes for a change from split-screen on the one TV set.