Warriors All-Stars

While Warriors All-Stars isn’t the best crossover, it’s great for fans of Koei-Tecmo. With a lovely cast of characters and a whole lot of content to unlock, it’s a good way to pass the time until Dynasty Warriors 9. Just be prepared to go through the motions more than you’d like to.

While Warriors All-Stars won’t convert anyone who isn’t already into the Dynasty Warriors formula, it’s a wonderful love letter to fans. Whether it was the appearance of some of my most-beloved franchises or the smattering of familiar references, I found a lot to appreciate during my time in this world.

Warriors All-Stars won’t bring the Musou games to a new stage of prominence, but carving up swarms of enemies with a catalog of famous Koei Tecmo fighters has its fun moments. Controlling multiple fighters at once is particularly neat, as I can really cause some havoc when it’s not just one character on-screen. Unfortunately the story to earn this all-star cast isn’t enthralling enough, so any interest in plowing through it will have to come from the combat experiences alone.

Warriors All Stars is definitely a game for fans of Koei Tecmo and musou games, filled with many interesting character interactions. Sadly, even with a nice battle system, it just feels average.

Omega Force's Musou series meets Royal Rumble. The result is another chaotic, repetitive but entertaining experience with a lot of charismatics guest stars.

Warriors All-Stars is a dress rehearsal. It's a great party with many special guests, waiting for the upcoming Dynasty Warriors 9. It maintains the funny and the canonical gameplay of the series, and it also features good ideas that try to deep the experience, in a manner similar to RPG. Is it is now, the game is a very good example of fanservice, but it also may represent a good starting point for newcomers.

Warriors All-Stars sticks with the formula it knows best, and that works. For players looking to dive into a lengthy game with nothing but that satisfying punchy feel of the hack-and-slash combat, this is absolutely perfect. There’s an endless stream of side missions and content to tackle, and the unlockable cutscenes between the crossover characters are just the cherry on top. However, for players who might not entirely be sold on Omega Force’s classic combat, or even for players who have taken a 16-year break from these Warriors-style games and are just returning, you might find that it drags on a tad too long with no real variety in gameplay to shake things up.

Warriors All Stars brings some of Koei Tecmo’s most famous characters into the Dynasty Warriors format, including characters taken straight from the aforementioned series. While a few extra bells and whistles are added here and there, along with much improved character variety, it’s still a Dynasty Warriors game at its heart—and that’s not a bad thing. Fans of the series will still love this, despite an underwhelming narrative set in a cliché new world.

Warriors All-Stars is good silly fun as the story never takes itself too seriously, nor do the cameos. But in the process a few huge staples we've come to expect have been stripped.

The trouble is that All-Stars has the misfortune of being released as the Dynasty Warriors 9 hype train is gathering speed, and Tecmo-Koei have made it quite clear that they're on the cusp of bringing substantial changes to the admittedly formulaic series. While it might seem unfair to judge All-Stars against a game that doesn't even have a release date yet, it's hard to see it as something more than a stopgap to keep fans happy while the promised headline act is still in development.

A decent Koei Tecmo crossover experience for fans of the Warriors style of gameplay.

The only valid reason you might want to welcome it is represented by the genuine presence of many Koei Tecmo icons, some of which could play a strong nostalgia on fans.

Warriors All-Stars is another game from Omega Force with all its pros and cons. It's poor story can't save a game suited only for hardcore fans of the musou genre.

Not going to convert people to musou, but a nice, non-serious departure from the stewards of musou.

After spending over 25 hours playing myself, I was able to complete many of the character’s stories and had a pretty good time doing it. However, the issue with the game is that the dull level design, lacking story premise, minimal voice acting, and visual novel style scenes made it feel like this game could have been so much more.

Despite the overwhelming difficulty found at the start, it is certainly worth pushing through it to enjoy the unique experience that Warriors All-Stars is. Koei Tecmo has found its own Smash Bros. mash-up game that brings together a brilliant ensemble cast of characters like Ryu, William from Nioh, and Dynasty Warriors' Zhao Yun for classic Musou hack-and-slash gameplay.

A quickly-produced cheap spin-off.

While the fun selection of characters teaming up to destroy hordes of demons and soldiers is a hoot, Warriors All-Stars is otherwise a weak, uninspired jumble of a Musou.

Musou Stars gives you a lot of fan service, but lacks a lot of content, and have some gameplay issues.

Warriors All-Stars does have a degree of depth when it comes to the various interrelated systems that support what is, on the surface, rather simple gameplay when it comes to actual battles. There are plenty of endings for hardcore fans to pursue, and the game is likely to reward players who take the time to understand all the underlying mechanics. Sadly, the overall lack of polish, the game’s repetitive nature and the completely dysfunctional way in which information is presented to the player is a real let down. As a result, I don’t think Warriors All-Stars is a game that is going to win over many new fans. The combat is accessible but everything else is a bit of a chore.

Warriors All Stars is a grand celebration of the history and popularity of Koei Tecmo. Unfortunately, the celebration fails to deliver a satisfying video game experience. Every time I had to re-unlock a character, or study three different menus to try and guess which missions I had to avoid so I could get the next proper story chapter, Warriors All Stars felt less like a celebration, and more like homework.