Juan at SwitchWatchTV put some grueling hours into his review for Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, the major expansion to the already awesome Warriors Orochi 4. If you play hack-and-slash games, this may be the one for you! Since this is an expansion of sorts, it will not be like our normal 5-point reviews. Check out what Juan had to say about it in the video below, or continue downward for the script here on SwitchWatch.co.uk.
How you doing, ladies and gents? Juan here reviewing the Warriors Orochi 4 Expansion pack. We already reviewed the base game which came out a year ago, so if you want a review on that, please click here to check out Jordan’s detailed review.
This review will be slightly different to our usual style, because I want to first of all talk to you about your options. If you are watching this video/reading this article, then it’s likely you may already have the base game. But if not, that could be good for you, too. Let’s get into it!
First of all let me quickly go over the base game, because it’s important to note a few things. The base game will take you 15 hours to complete the main story at the very least, depending on the difficulty setting. There are 5 chapters, and when all is said and done, you will have completed 50 missions and 70 if you want to complete the side missions too. It’s already a pretty long game.
Included within that was 170 playable characters which I always found to be a lot. For those of you that love trying new things, then this will keep you occupied in just trying new characters and teams alone.
The reason I mention this is because the expansion continues the story after chapter 5 and into chapter 6 with 30 new stories and 100 new scenarios. There is also the ability to unlock 6 more characters.
Why is this important to you? Well, if you bought the game originally and thought you were going to finish, I bet many of you didn’t because maybe you found it a bit repetitive and it wasn’t as enjoyable as the musou games you remembered all those years ago, I bet you put in 5 or so hours and left in on the shelf. I know this to be true, as so many of my friends buy the next Dynasty Warriors or this and it’s always the same story. However, for those of you that like these games like me and Jordan, I don’t know for some reason we like doing things over and over. Similar in that regard, but I digress.
You have to really be into this type of game to see it through to completion, because you do end up doing the same thing over and over again. After the 50th mission, you may feel like you had enough, which is why I always recommend playing this game at a pace of a mission or two at a time befor coming back to it.
In any case, back to the expansion. The expansion itself feels very familiar. You will be doing the same sort of thing like you did in the previous 5 chapters. The new characters will shed light within the story on questions which were unanswered in the previous campaign, so if that’s of appeal to you, then you will no doubt be into this.
You will be setting off to kill hundreds or thousands of foes and taking down the multitude of bosses that scatter the map. For me, it’s great mindless fun where I don’t have to think too much after a long day at work and can just put some combos together to destroy a whole load of stuff on the map. I have always found these games to be addictive, and I keep playing as I enjoy leveling up the characters and getting better weapons and so forth.
What I have always loved is the magic powers given to you by your secret treasure.
I always wished you could swap them, so I could have different powers for my favorite characters. For example, I may play a character and like their magic power but not like the character and how it plays, but I wanted to use that magic with another character. Well, now you can in this update, which is awesome! I love that kind of customization, and I could end up wasting hours trying all sorts of combinations.
Another great addition is for you hardcore out there who felt limited at level 100. Well, not anymore. Now you can promote your character when they hit level 100 so they can continue to level up. You can promote a maximum of 9 times after hitting 100, which sets the potential level limit at 1000, which is insane seeing as my character is still only level 72 or so. Imagine having to get 10 of your best to level 1000. I am sure someone somewhere is going to do that, and why not? You can also upgrade your camp in the skill tree further than you could before.
Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate is still as playable as ever and feels nice and smooth on the Switch, so playing it on the move is great.
Further additions include improvements to the UI, but I honestly didn’t notice much. It is a lot more accessible, making menus a little clearer, but the best part is the character select menu which is now more orderly than before. You can choose them based on what game they were in, which is a cool addition.
New Characters
So let’s talk about the new characters that have been added, like 170 wasn’t enough. There are 6 new ones, which you will know about if you have seen the trailer, and a secret one which you will have to find out for yourself. Gaia will be a firm favorite, no doubt. The way she floats across the screen is nice, but I stuck with my little ensemble. I am a creature of habit, and I like what I like, so I will level them to the max first and take Gaia into the new infinity mode.
Well, how else are you supposed to get to level 1000 once you finish the story other than replaying the levels over and over again? Thankfully, a new mode has been added, which is pretty cool actually, and I can see myself getting stuck into that too. It offers unlimited gameplay where you take on the trials of Zeus. You have to attempt to clear the trials of the 12 towers with a bunch of dungeons representing the Zodiac. You can get some serious weapon upgrades, and they look lovely so I know where my time is going to waste away.
So how much is this going to cost you?
Well, there are a bunch of options, and if you don’t have the game you are probably going to be better off.
From Amazon in the UK, you can get everything on a cartridge for £49,99, so the base game and the expansion. Digital is more expensive at £54,99. You know which I would prefer.
If you have the base game, then the digital download will cost you £32,99, which is a pretty fair whack and I feel it should be cheaper There is also a deluxe version with a few extras.
For our friends in the USA, on Amazon it is $59.99 for the base game and the expansion, and it is the same price for digital on the eShop. For the expansion, expect to pay around $39.99. In Europe, this is going to cost around 80 euros if you buy digital, so do what I do and get the physical if you can, as it always works out cheaper. You can always sell it on if you get tired of it and fund your next purchase, something digital will never be able to compete with space savers. No offense.
OVERALL
Overall, I like the new features and the fact that the expansion feels very seamless, and I like how they have expanded the story, but, in all honesty, I don’t play these games for the story. The fact I have another campaign to play was all I needed to come back, and the fact I can now level up to level 1000 is something I certainly want to try. And while there is also the Infinity mode, new characters, and some other nice improvements, I feel the price needs to come down a bit for most people to consider if they own the game already.
For those of you that don’t have the game and were thinking about it then, this is now as the name states the Ultimate Edition. For those who have already played the game to death, you may have already had your fill. But if not, then this will give you exactly what you know your going to get, and that for me is just fine.
REVIEW SCORE: 7.5/10
The Good
- Still great action
- Continued story
- Infinity Mode
The Bad
- Very expensive
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