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Wield your first-person blade as Samurai Warriors: KATANA goes gold

By Stevie Smith Dec 20, 2007, 7:43 GMT

Koei’s long-serving Samurai Warriors series has largely failed to attract gamers outside of Japan, with its repetitive hack-and-slash gameplay never really finding a foothold amid masses of first-person shooters, racing games, and sports regurgitations. Wii exclusive Samurai Warriors: KATANA goes gold. Credit: Koei.

Wii exclusive Samurai Warriors: KATANA goes gold. Credit: Koei.However, what would happen if Koei was to rethink the delivery of Samurai Warriors to better suit current trends? Imagine, if you will, that Samurai Warriors shifted focus away from the third-person, button-mashing experience that it presently represents and instead moved to first person. Now, imagine that the time period depicted by Samurai Warriors meant that the in-game arsenal included swords and primitive ranged weapons, not assault rifles and rocket launchers. And now, place the resulting product exclusively on the Nintendo Wii and channel character movement through the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Okay, stop imagining, and meet Samurai Warriors: KATANA.Moreover, emergent interest in KATANA (we assume you have to shout KATANA while hacking someone’s limbs off in-game) has this week seen Koei proudly stating that the upcoming title has already gone gold ahead of its US release on January 15 of 2008. "Using an exhilarating first-person perspective, Samurai Warriors: KATANA is based on the hugely popular Samurai Warriors series and delivers total arcade-style action right into your own home," trumpeted Koei in its golden announcement. "By mastering different weapons using the motion-sensitive Wii Remote, veteran and first-time players alike will discover a whole new dimension of excitement to the Samurai Warriors series of games."KATANA will see players accompanied by legendary samurai and other allies as they battle to prevent pirates from raiding shipping fleets, clear eerie caverns of ninja enemies, carry out daring rescues, fight off assassination attempts, and more – and all with the aid of quick reflexes, fast thinking and precision marksmanship via the intuitive Wiimote.Offering three different game modes, Samurai Warriors: KATANA should provide around 30 hours of total playtime. Those modes include: Musou Mode, which takes players on "incredible journey through Feudal Japan; Trial Mode sees samurai-in-training faced with conquering a multitude of challenges; and Vs. Mode pits player against player as friends go head-to-head in eight exhilarating mini-games.Interested in grasping the hilt of a razor sharp (virtual) sword and ramming it through masses of onrushing (virtual) foes while screaming KATANA at the top of your lungs? Visit the official Samurai Warriors: KATANA mini Web site to learn more... or check out this trailer for a quick taste of what to expect...

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Wield your first-person blade as Samurai Warriors: KATANA goes gold

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