As the sole Koei fan here at TAGS I consider it my duty to bring you the news on all your latest repetitive slash em up war games. The big name franchises didn’t get quite the good news fans were expecting, a new Dynasty Warriors game for the DS and Samurai Warriors 3 is Wii exclusive? Yay? (I should also mention that Samurai Warriors came out last week in Australia even though its not scheduled to arrive in America till September)

Luckily there are two new games waiting in the wings that may excite fans beyond the hardcore crowd.

Yes, his kung fu is good

First some news on Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage, based on the Manga and Anime you probably watched on VHS about ten years ago. If you’re unfamiliar with the story think Mad Max, but instead of a V8 Interceptor he has kung fu powers that make peoples bodies explode. The English translation of the game will retain all the original Japanese names so your Hokuto attacks will be called just that instead of ‘attack that brings unfortunate and unhappy result to those who object you’. Good that it will keep the bad ass tone, but bad that you miss out on the unintentional hilarity. The game will also be bloody, crazy bloody, but saying Ken’s signature move in the manga was a strike that caused his enemies head to explode in a geyser of blood that’s not surprising.

The title has all ready released in Japan as Hokuto Muso to positive reviews. We’ll see if it’s as appealing to a western audience in a few months.

Secondly we finally have some details on Warriors: Legends of Troy from Koei Canada, the westernised interpretation of the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors games. In an odd move the developers have decided to borrow liberally from the Wolfgang Peterson film starring Brad Pitt in their design for the game. The Achilles character even has a move where he leaps and stabs his enemy in the jugular. Observe E3 trailer.

As you can see from the trailer and screenshots below the characters look a fair bit like Brad Pitt and Eric Bana did in the films. The game also looks bloody as hell and far less bright and colourful than the Dynasty Warriors series. Hands on reports are the game is very Dynasty Warriors in gameplay with a dark washed out look and plenty of violence and variety of moves to mix up a game where you basically dice guys up for the whole fifteen hours of gameplay. Sounds great to me!

That's gonna leave a mark... ha... okay crap caption, let me warm up

The slightly female looking warrior with the axe is Paris, played by Orlando Bloom in the film, hence the girlish figure

Achilles executing his signature if impractical, slam dunk stab

First you, then your mate with the afro and one leg behind you

Skewering people is Achilles thing, he can't sleep at night without one solid skewering a day

The walls of Troy, not famous for being secure

Actually the common theory is that the Greeks gained entry to Troy by impersonating the Trojan Cavalry, dressing up as the 'Trojan Horse', the whole silly giant wooden horse with room and board and adequate toilet facilities for a unit of Greek soldiers is kind of artistic license

Which of you Greek bastards wrote 'twat' on the back of my helmet?

Spoiler alert, when Achilles ankle is hit by an arrow your probably close to the end of the game

Hector of Troy, history's most famous guy who should have one but soooo didn't