is an

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

video game set in

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to Japanese Paleolithic, prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millenni ...

and is based upon the ''

Samurai Warriors is the first title in the series of hack and slash video games created by Koei's Omega Force team based closely around the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history and it is a sister series of the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series, rele ...

'' series by

Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...

and

Omega Force (stylised as ''ω-Force'') is a Japanese video game developer and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1996 by Akihiro Suzuki and Kenichi Ogasawara, and is best known for the ''Dynasty Warriors'' video games. History Omega Force was founded ...

, a spin-off of the ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now is Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...

'' series. The game was revealed for the

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 Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

's pre- E3 conference under the name "Sengoku Action".

Gameplay

The game is played with the

Wii Remote The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with ...

and Nunchuk attachment, and the action is seen from a first-person viewpoint. In battle, the player character is equipped with one melee weapon (such as a sword or spear) and one ranged weapon (such as a bow and arrow or cannon). The player can freely switch between melee and ranged weapons during combat. Attacks are performed through either pressing the attack button on the Wii Remote to attack single enemies, or motion-based attacks that can damage groups. The game also includes a competitive multiplayer mode for two players. Outside of combat, there are running sequences where players must swing their arms with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in hand to simulate the arms pumping in a running motion. Horseback riding is also included, with the Wii Remote performing the function of the reins while the Nunchuk is used as a whip.

Reception

''Samurai Warriors: Katana:'' was met with very mixed reception upon release;

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

gave it a score of 53.15%, while

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave it 53 out of 100. The game was given 2.5 stars out of five by

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

and was rated 4.5 out of 10 by ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

''. In the review by ''GameSpot'', Lark Anderson said "If you enjoy waggling your controller around randomly, this is the game for you." ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' gave it a 5.8 out of 10 rating, with the graphics and presentation being the lowest points.

References

External links

Official website of ''Samurai Warriors: KATANA''
(Europe)
''Sengoku Musou KATANA''
a
Gamecity
* {{Musou series 2007 video games Cultural depictions of Hattori Hanzō Cultural depictions of Oda Nobunaga Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Ieyasu Cultural depictions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi Koei games Samurai Warriors Single-player video games Video games about samurai Video games developed in Japan Video games set in feudal Japan Wii-only games Wii games