What war-themed action game you can think? I mean the ones that
doesn't involve millions firearms. Probably you will think "Dynasty
Warriors" series or "Samurai Warriors" series. Those 2
Koei-Namco's masterpiece are famous even though most of the gameplay roughly
involve string of normal attacks or finish it with strong attack. But i have to
admit it that they are kind of fun to play. The first Koei-Namco's war game
that i play is "Warriors Orochi 2" in PSP. But before it, i already
experience making mess out of squadrons in Capcom's "Warriors of
Fate" (1992).
Or in Japan version: Tenchi Wo Kurau 2. Thus suggesting there is
the prequel game. My suggestion is: avoid it at all cost as it's not as fun as
the 2nd and coin-feeding difficult. Also there is games with same name in Nes
platform (which is made by Capcom too), albeit they are RPGs. Other thing worth
to mention is: these games are based on historical manga with the same name,
made by Hiroshi Motomiya (see his name the title!), which tells about
Three-Kingdom shenanigans. Can you guess what this game's plot?
Basically, an evil lord named Akkila-Orkhan invade his neighboring
countries and a good lord named Kuan-Ti intends to stop him, with the aid of 5
heroes. That's World/USA version's story. Originally, the evil lord lord is Cao
Cao and the good ones is Liu Bei. I bet you can guess the original plot with
100% accuracy. As more often than not, Cao Cao is portrayed as evil invader
while Liu Bei is righteous protector (of his own land) like in the novel. Yes,
i know that. As you can see, Akkila-Orkhan, i mean Cao Cao here doesn't grow
any facial hair also gutless unlike the ones in Dynasty Warrior which is calm
yet has intimidating presence. You shall see why i accuse him sissy later.
Let's begin with prologue.
The game open with Kuan-Ti/Liu Bei has audience with the 5 heroes.
Most of you can guess that the chancellor over there certainly Zhuge Liang. I
mean who else: Liu Bei's most trustworthy advisor than Zhuge-Liang? Anyway, he
asks the player Kuan-Ti/Liu Bei who will he send to wreak havoc toward
Akkila-Orkhan/Cao Cao's armies.
It's time to choose the character! There are 3 type character: the
archer (only 1 obviously), the bare-handed chaps, and the swordsmen. The
all-knowing wikipedia informs me that the Chinese name for these heroes (from
left to right) are: Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, and Wei Yan.
Huang Zhong is portrayed as elderly archer in both Warrior of Fate and Dynasty
Warrior which is fine. But then Zhang Fei is looks like Chinese Hercules here!
Well nice imagination there, Hiroshi-sensei or Capcom. *sweat drop*. By the way,
my favorite character is Guan Yu because when i control him he is the
character that lives longer than the other ones. That's means i masters his warfare well. From now i pick the middle ones because i like median.
For everyone's convenience, i keep refer the characters with their
Chinese version name. First stage begins with Zhao Yun mounts a horse and slays
some foot soldiers. Do mind that even though they are in lowest tier of Cao
Cao's army, they are not negligible. In fact, they can be serious threat thanks
to their quantity and their spear which provide them with some-distance
stabbing. Unlike this bloke.
 |
| Knight of The Round (Arcade) |
In Capcom's Knight of the Round (1991), this poor fool is only
armed with a shortsword and he is alone. Yes, shortsword is easy to handle even for the
noob-est conscripts. But when you are faced with gallant heroes such as King
Arthur and Co, that shortsword not gonna help you much as it inflict relatively
small damage within short reach. The only way the lowest soldiers to become
useful is they have to equip spear, pike, etc. That's the reason way Chinese
warfare are much much better than European ones, reader.
I'll be frank, combat while riding horse in this game is
cumbersome even though you look like proper war heroes by doing so. While on
horse you will hard to turn around thus makes you vulnerable to backstab for
one thing. The other will be: not much improvement in damaging enemies except
for slightly longer reach compare when you're on foot. But i tell you some cool
trick. Press forward and jump will make the horse charge forward then you can
follow it up with: 1) Press attack button for solid thrusting blow or 2) Press
jump twice rapidly for spinning blade attack like what i do here. Option #2 is
useful for rushing and mowing enemy grunts but if they don't get at least
3 hits out of it, they don't knock away thus making you vulnerable for their
retaliation. While option #1 is the safest yet the less damaging ones compare
to #2. Also when you manage to kill an enemy, heck even a boss with spinning
attack, he will be split into 2 fine pieces like this corporal here. Also to
slash n turn around quickly, press jump and the opposite direction of your
horse facing.
Soon after that bridge section there is a boss which is a Wei
officer obviously. Zhuge Liang says that i have to fall back first so we can
ignite enemy. Well, as i'm Pyro in deep within my soul, i will do your order,
sir.
Pyro_laughevil02.wav. I walk back through the entire bridge and
pick torch that make random fire burst. Thanks, Mr. Liang!
Fatality! There is 1 Wei officer got split nicely and that's the
end of stage 1.
Next stage takes place on the continuity of the previous stage
where you will be on your feet. You know the gist of Beat-em-up games, right?
There is one button to attack and one button to jump. Pressing attack button
consecutively toward enemy will make your character do combo. Pressing both
attack and jump button will make your character do life-cost move that
knockback enemies around him. Yeah, that kind of thing. But there is more to
that! Holding up or down during combo will make the hero finish their combo
with throwing enemy either in front of him or his back. As you can see there is
a longsword that i keep lying in ground because many weapon here only to
provide you with slightly damage and range compare to no-extra-weapon-equipped
state. So, they aren't worthy to use.
Then, there is this anomaly/enigma! Huang Zhong doesn't give a scrap
about combo attack like other younger heroes. Pressing attack button will makes
him shoot an arrow with slightly declined angle than horizon line. But, give
him a break! He is old man afterall.
"This place is engulfed in flames. Why don't we get out of
here peacefully?! No? Youngster this day." I said that most of
extra-weapon in this game are useless. Actually, if you're playing as Huang
Zhong, any extra-weapons are bliss. Because he has no normal melee attack.
I easily got overwhelmed as Huang Zhong. It's Zhang Fei's turn. By
the way, besides overly obsessed with riding his horse, Wei officer here are
keen on throwing bombs also jumping so high then land on his butt hoping to
crush your head with his sheer weight and his durable buttock *Uggh!*. By the
way, his horse already escape to less fiery place. Horse is more sensible than
human at battlefield, Ladies & Gentlemen.
After that hot night,
we have banquet. Hoorah!
Actually it's bonus stage time. To make you hero eat faster you
have to spin the directional button and press the attack button rapidly. That's
very difficult unless you use joystick or controller. By the way, i replay a
bit.
This is civilized feast not eating contest, Zhang Fei. Stop being so
smug!
Next stage opens with Zhuge Liang's briefing about burning
strategy. Is your strategy only involve incinerating, Zhuge Liang? Not that i
mind though.
Zhou Yun here are adept at charging and uppercut slash, activated
by pressing directional button from back to up (270o motion) and
press attack button. You can press down then up and press attack button for
uppercut slash at his standing spot. Either way, it will make you vulnerable at
the end of the move but can inflict big damage.
Inside a rolling barrel is this gong that will summon the horse if
you pick it. Whether you have supreme horsemanship or not. That's not the
horse's concern.
Pyro_laughlong01.wav. The flames doesn't discriminate between low
ranks and high ranks. That's true equality justice of fires, reader.
Even with the boss burnt for awhile this fight still challenging
thanks to endless troop reinforcement that he keep summons. While he himself
isn't so difficult to deal with. Sure, he can do rolling attack a la Blanka,
smashing his giant hammer, and flying body press. The key to deal with him (and
basically all enemies): don't engage him frontally, you have to engage him from
sides whether you approach him or you lure him. I suggest the later method as
it's easier to outmaneuver any enemy this way. Your hero's melee attacks have
slightly area of effect on both side plane. Many good beat-em-up game implement
that, you know.
Cao Cao can't stand still with his army defeat thrice. So he
resort to assassination. He sends these 3 ladies to assassin Liu Bei.
"Stop!" said one of the assassin. Yeah, we stop for a
moment then everyone except Zhou Yun, continue strolling to right side. Way to
go, lasses! -_-
Maybe Cao Cao thinks the hero will pulls his punches when facing
female. The answer is no. I don't restrain my warfare to anyone that is
definitely hostile. Even with the assistance of lesser assassins, the killer
ladies fail to kill Liu Bei. In fact, they don't manage to pursue him at all as
they're beaten up badly by Zhou Yun alone. This could be the worst
assassination attempt in Chinese history.
You remember when i questions Zhuge Liang's strategy that only
involve fire? I take that back. This time is water, lots of them. I hope the
dam can be fixed relatively easy.
It seems there is a flaw with Zhuge Liang's flooding strategy. The
assassins can breathe underwater then pop up to ambush me. Though, they're
still susceptible to punches and slashes.
I switch back again to Zhang Fei. Forget about he is Chinese
Hercules! He is Chinese Zangief. He is master of various contact/grapple. One
of them is biting the enemy's head much like Zangief in old days (Street
fighter II). Also he can perform spinning piledriver too by inputting 360o
motion and attack button. But i can't pull that off somehow.
At some dry land, i encounter another Wei officer. He has strip
eye and no mouth. It seems he is the big brother of the katar-wielders and
archers. (See the previous screenshot! They don't have mouth too). His arsenal
are a very long sword and retractable mace. So he is adept at harming you from
long distance. Also he can block your attack. But he is definitely susceptible
combo with throwing finish. You can't block throw, buster!
Stage 5 opens with Cao Cao and Liu Bei stand out then both of them
exit this scene. Leaving me alone with bunch of foot soldiers. What kind of
stand out is this?
It seems now is a good time to reveal more of what our heroes can
do. Pressing jump + down button will execute a short-distance dashing attack
which inflict damage as much as jumping attack (which is just slightly bigger
than a jab) and will knockback any enemy that get hit. In Zhang Fei's case he do
forearm charge like in screenshot. The dash attack and jumping attack is the
simplest crowd-control move. Pressing down, up + attack button will make hero
do their hopping upward attack that will can inflict heavy damage but will make
him vulnerable at the end of move except Zhang Fei. He will do slow straight
punch that can inflict multi hit instead. It's the safest/less-risky
"down, up + attack button" move. As you can probably guess, there is
also auto-grab whenever you approach one of the enemy. Every heroes has
grabbing attack, regular throw, and jumping grapple. Even though you have quite
much combat option. The most reliable method of combat is combo. If there is
lump of enemies in front of you, use combo with attack finish to inflict
well-distributed damage among crowd! If the combo's "recipient" is
only single person, use combo with throw finish to inflict maximum damage. Also
it's useful to move enemy to one side so you won't get surrounded from both
side or to interrupt enemy that sneaks on your back.
TrollbatriderYes1.wav. Although by the time i arrive at the scene,
the civilians are already dead. I wish you order me earlier, Mr Liang. Like 20
minutes ago or so.
Every extra-weapon has certain property. For example: the
longsword will inflict only flinch to enemies, the mace will inflict knockback to
enemies (they're still standing though), and this curved sword will inflict
knockaway to enemies. And all of them inflict so-so damage. To release any
extra-weapon, just do life-cost move! By the way, i'm guessing that the crowds
on both bottom side and top side aren't Cao Cao army. They're quite different,
you see.
At the end of this stage/a village entrance, a bald and
mean-looking Wei officer stands. I guess he is Dian Wei. Who else in Wei high
ranks that is baldy brute other than him? But since i was high schooler, i call
him Butcher's old-Chinese cousin.
 |
| Cadillac and Dinosaurs (Arcade) |
Here is Butcher in Capcom's Cadillacs and Dinousaurs (1993) that i
talked about. Both Dian
Wei and Butcher are baldy guy who keen on charging at you with long sharp
weapon. The most significant different are Dian Wei slays lots of human
(*ordinary*) while Butcher likes to butchering lots of dinosaurs
(*preposterous! much contemptible!*). Anyway, both of them are quite easy to
defeat as long as you lure them from their side plane. The challenging part
come from their assistants, that's all.
I know everyone loves wrestling bout. But you guys keep watching
me Vs Cao Cao army within 2-stages periods! Stop slacking off, will you!
At nearby crossroad i found Cao Cao's Kagemusha/stunt-double. He
is really good at running away from your pummel's reach. When he is knocked
from his horse, suddenly fat man battalion spawn to prevent you from killing
this bloke. When he's dead, he will drop a longsword that quite better than
other. So it's quite worthy.
Just after i rendezvous with Liu Bei and other heroes. Cao Cao
shout "Halt!" at us. Quite bravado are you, heh?!
But when Zhang Fei challenge him, he leaves me with his 2 officer.
The coward git! By the way, is anyone in Wei know that you can't just shout
stop/halt/etc to make someone stand still except for awhile? -_-
As you can probably tell, fighting 2 Wei officers along with their
many grunts is really hard chore. Also you notice that one of Wei officer is
exactly same with the first boss. While the other one is like the 3rd boss with
the exception he wields spear and can shoots sonic-boom from its tip.
Zhang Fei didn't make it so i switch to Wei Yan. You know what they say about "All glitters isn't always gold".
Well, they're right. This twinkling sword that i got from killing black
Mongolian wrestler isn't worthy to wield as it only inflicts just little bigger
damage than a jab. Also makes you look like a kid that likes to wave his sword
toy. Which is foolishly embarrassing. I replay a bit and i know that the black
Mongolian wrestler will drops either this child toy or a meat. I would rather
have the meat, obviously.
After that, Zhuge Liang told me to practice destroying wooden
dummies. Is the dummies normal? Of course, not. After the dummy leaves unharmed
for awhile, it starts to run away. If ancient Chinese technology can make
wooden dummies alive then i suspect Terracotta army will soon come to life and
start a massive statue terror. Anyway, to success this bonus stage is to avoid
fallen dummies then quickly bash them.
No kidding, Sherlock. I mean who else can think burning strategy
other than Zhuge Liang. Apparently, none of you from Wei can be as pyromaniac
smart as him, can't you?!
So i search ship-to-ship hoping that i encounter Cao Cao and end
his live. At first ship, i pick a hammer that can stun enemies (look how cute
the chicks that spinning around his head!) and i can do so consecutively as long
as the hammer still in my grip. Demoman_taunts04.wav
Well, you spoke too soon, Wei Yan. A Wei officer block your way to
kill Cao Cao and it's another boss battle time! He don't do much except little
bit of melee, charging, throwing knife, and flying body press. Also summoning
either group of assassins or archers. Oh, joy!
Cao Cao manages to land. So i have to pursuit him at all cost. I
switched to my favorite: Guan Yu. According to my experiment, he is the
slickest one to control. He is not as sluggish as Zhang Fei. He can deal more
damage than Zhou Yun. He can fling enemies very easy (Zhang Fei can only throw
enemy to his front while Wei Yan can only do it via combo). By the way, the fat
men can throw bomb that not only can harm you but also their comrade. What a
stupid moron.
Not only Cao Cao covers his escape with tons of his armies, but
also with boulder traps. To avoid the ones in this entrance: walk a bit in the
most bottom plane that it will triggers the most top boulder. Then you walk to
its position that will trigger the rest of them. Simple but not for simpleton.
Most of Beat em Up game always have throwing knife and "Warriors of
Fate" is not the exception. Here, Guan Yu is about to throw one toward a
Mongolian Wrestler. It's pretty handy to deal enemies from a distance.
Engineer_dominationsoldier04.wav. Yes, i found another hammer in
this underground cave. By the way, the killer ladies are back as non-boss
enemies now.
At the end of that
underground cavern is a hall where a Wei officer awaits. I will continue to
pursuit that son of beet once i break this man's bones enough time.
Here we are at the final stage. If you hit the area inside of red
circle that i draw, a chest will fall on top of your head that contain Kusanagi
Sword. Is it worthy? Without doubt it is!
Demoman_dominationsoldier04.wav. It can one-hit kill most enemy
and make the katar-wielders one hit away from their demise. But it will be gone
once it slips your hand. So be careful for enemy's attack and boulder traps.
Also, it will off from your hand at the beginning of "Cao Cao
blows wooden bridge behind him" event. Enjoy your last girly chit-chat,
Cao Cao! Soon you will perish by my deed.
The water's depth is at Huang Zhong's waist. But soon several
Mongolian wrestler assault him. As you probably guess, Huang Zhong is bad at
close distance. But he has quite handful of melee method including "down,
up + attack button" move where he waving his bow in 360o motion.
I implement that and this what we got: he looks like hitting 2 of Mongolian
Wrestler's armpit so hard that they get hurt pretty bad despite their high
muscular-prowess. Weird enough.
Across the river, i found Iten Sword that can inflict multiple hit
on each swing. It can one-hit kill these spearmen but still not as powerful as
Kusanagi Sword. But it's still great weapon.
When i interrupt Cao Cao's girly talk time, this big chap appear
thus allow Cao Cao to escape again. According to all-knowing Wikipedia's
information, this guy is Lu Bu. Yes, that Lu Bu who is a famous warlord
throughout Chinese History as nearly-unbeatable warrior due to his
incomparable might also who owns Red Hare the best horse among the best horses.
Never mind portrayed him as blonde caucasian brute, why he serves the puny
coward like Cao Cao who doesn't deserve to be called a man? I go with ultra-high
salary.
As you expect from the final boss/ruthless legend, Lu Bu is so far
the most difficult boss to beat thanks to his gigantic health, his nimble
movement and (again) Wei reinforcement. He can block attacks very often, so
combo with throwing finish is your best Coup De Grace against him.
With Wei armies completely annihilated, Cao Cao is on his own. All
he does is throwing bombs at you which is very lame. You're nowhere as
cool as bomber, stupid sissy. Even though his health is relatively small, you
must finish the sissy's life quickly as you have 15 seconds. Or else, he will
swear revenge on you and escape by throwing himself to the edge of this cliff
which somehow lead to bad ending where he will succeed conquering entire China.
How come? If we can cornered him once, we can do it twice, right?!
Anyway killing Cao Cao is quite easy. Then, Liu Bei congratulates
to player also evaluate your deed that is determined by time remaining when you
defeat every Wei officer and their score-weight. Who ever get the highest score
will be granted with this lady's Kiss-of-Pain. No, seriously. That's definitely
Zhou Yun's get-hurt pose. You should go out often, lad!
With Cao Cao perishes, Liu Bei can rebuild Shu Kingdom into era of
peaceful & prosperity and such and such. If you think that "Warrior of
Fate" is like crossover between "Final Fight" and "Dynasty
Warrior", i can't deny that because it is. Or you can say that it's the
traditional form of "Warrior" series as you have to survive wave of
enemies with directional buttons/joystick, attack button, and jump button. But
Capcom manages to formulate various move from that simple control. The
lesser-enemy's diversity is good enough to keep the game interesting. Every
enemy except spearmen, assassins and killer ladies have a chance to drop score
items, extra-weapon, and health-replenishing food so i suggest you wipe them
from existence before the won't-drop-anything kind of enemy. Unfortunately, the
bosses are the weakest aspect of this game. Most of them are same-y like: some
of them can do airborne drop, have projectile attack, can throw you away, and
can do charging attack. The worse is: all of them have endless reinforcement
that are more dangerous than themselves. The musics are nice for battle
atmosphere but do mind that they are not rock ones like in "Dynasty
Warrior". You need 1.5 to 2 hours to finish this game and in my opinion
for a sidescrolling Beat-em-up game that's bit-too long but it's still fun. There
is also bit violent sprinkles in visual. Like dead enemies that split into 2 if
they got killed by equestrian's spinning attack or sharp type extra-weapon. Or
dead enemies become gib if they got killed by blunt type extra-weapon. To
summarize it, if you're Beat-em-up hardcore fans (like me) or if you like
action game with Three Kingdom theme, this game is very good for you. Also don't
worry about split-screen or internet connection to play this game in
multiplayer mode (up to 3 players).
Other that i want to mention is: about missing parts in world/USA
version compare to original perhaps due to strict deadline. For example:
between stage 5 and 6 there is a scene where a lady entrust her baby to hero
then she jumps into a well, before dummies bonus stage there is a scene where
Liu Bei and heroes have audience with Sun Quan (from Wu Dynasty) and at the
very end of the game there is a screen showing the killer ladies says something
to player with smile/cheerful expression (they want revenge, perhaps?!). As per
usual, i will analysis the hero's stats along with their more-detailed gameplay
and their ending shot.
"Teacher! Tell us a story about how you break a Wei officer's
teeth, please!" "Fine. Listen well, son!". Guan Yu looks like
Nūbē but instead of having demon hand, he has mighty muscles and instead of
dealing with yōkai or ghost, he exterminates horde of Wei army. That's the
another reason why he is my favorite, reader. His "down, up + attack
button" move are flying upwardly then elbow drop. 50% similar to E.
Honda's move. Guan Yu is definitely "Strength" type character and
his combat technique kind of rough so i guess his Dexterity: 2/5. Also he is a
teacher, thus he has quite-high intelligence: 3/5. As i told you before, Guan Yu is the character who is the best at throwing enemies away and with pretty
good attack power.
Having a feast under starry sky and moonlight, just like what
Asterix and Co. do. Damn! I really envy him. But not that exactly eating pig's
meat. I'm moslem, eating ham is forbidden for me. With that kind of appetite,
no wonder Zhang Fei can eat really fast back then. The uncultured brute (he
deserve to be analyzed as the one with intelligence: 1/5). Without doubt Zhang Fei is "Strength" type character, furthermore his strength: 5/5. He is
also the slowest among the heroes, thus his agility: 1/5. But his grappling
technique is as good as Zangief's, so his dexterity: 3.5/5. Speaking of his
grappling, it's quite complex.1) At initial auto-grab, pressing forward and
attack button will make him hurls the grabbed enemy (he can only throw enemy
forward even via combo). 2) Pressing down and attack button multiple time will
make him bite grabbed enemy 1-4 times depends on random chance then enemy will flies
away. 3) Pressing attack will initiate lifted reverse bearhug then you can
press once-twice more or. 3a) Pressing left or right + attack button will make
him do back/german suplex to left/right. 4) Pressing jump with neither left nor
right will make him jump short (then you can move him to left/right a bit) and
then press attack will make him do powerbomb. 5) Pressing jump + left/right
then attack button will make him do superplex. Zhang Fei really has lot of
grappling technique, huh?!
Yeah, you got to train much to increase your pitiful attack power,
lad. Zhou Yun's movement speed is the fastest among the heroes (though not
significantly stand-out). Also his combo is the fastest too. So, his primary
stats is Agility at 4/5. His attack power are quite weak also has the lamest
jumping grapple move which is just swift jumpkick to enemy's cheek (which can
be blocked). But, his strong point lies at his uppercut-slash technique (down,
up + attack button or 270o motion from left or right) which can deal
considerable damage. So i can say that he has secondary stats: Dexterity at
3.5/5. Another thing worth to mention is: if you hold up button while combo, he
will throw enemy forward and if you hold down button while combo, he will throw
enemy backward. Which is the reverse from the 3 other-hero's combo. Zhou Yun is
the closest to speedster character in "Warrior of Fate".
"This mixed bath is different from what i have in my
mind". Huang Zhong is definitely the marksman of the heroes. So it's
reasonable that his primary stats is Dexterity at 4.5/5. He may store lots of
wisdom, knowledge, and experience through his long lifetime. Thus i declare
that his Intelligence: 3/5. Surely, Huang Zhong adept at engaging enemies from
afar. But he is weak in close range where he has to rely on "down, up +
attack button" move, forward jumping attack (which he draws his dagger in
airborne), or dashing attack (quick sliding kick). If he manages to grab an
enemy he can either "morrote" throw him (which is proof that he is
still strong enough thus his Strength is: 2.5/5) or rolling on his back then
throw him afar. Maybe, Huang Zhong is more suitable for multiplayer mode
instead for solo. Almost forget to tell you that he can shoot 3 arrow rapidly by
pressing attack button rapidly (similar to Honda's "thousand slaps")
where first arrow flies straight forward and the others at more-declined angle
than previous ones. So if you intend to play as him, you must have strong
finger-muscle.
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