Thursday, April 09, 2009

Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes - New Import, In Stock

«©NCSX» Powerful and somewhat preternatural generals return to the battlefields of Warring States Japan once again in a new offshoot of the Sengoku Basara franchise from Capcom. Where earlier games in the Sengoku Basara series featured large battlefields brimming with seemingly endless enemy hordes, Battle Heroes is a more intimate affair. The battlefields are still expansive but the amount of enemy soldiers that appear at any one time have been pared down drastically to only a handful. For example, in the battles that we fought this morning, the most enemies that appeared at a time was four. The lower head count allows for more thoughtful sword slashing and use of technique rather than the wholesale butchering found in earlier Basara games. The end of each stage is also defended by one or two bosses who are not accompanied by any minions or henchmen which again makes for a more intimate slashing experience.

A total of 30 generals/warlords are featured in the game and players may choose the default Story Mode which follows the adventures of a chosen protagonist or the Mission Mode which features 150 stages where targeted objectives must be met. Every general is paired up with an AI-controlled partner who provides some offensive support during each round. We did notice that the partner tends to hang back so that you get a chance to hack and slash to your heart's content instead of him hogging all the action. The game also features a four-player wireless option (fifth selection on the main menu) for cooperative team bouts. The sixth option on the menu allows players to set the options such as computer AI (five levels between easy and hard), set sound volumes, and adjust the controller configuration.

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