Warriors All-Stars

Some fans may enjoy seeing their favorite characters from different games fighting together, but ultimately it's only these fans who'll enjoy this hack-and-slash action title. In Warriors All-Stars, characters from the Ninja Warriors series, the Dead or Alive games, and 10 more of Koei Tecmo's franchises come together to do battle. Except unlike in Super Smash Bros., this isn't a fighting game, but a third-person hack-and-slash action game. Or, to be more specific, a Dynasty Warriors-esque hack-and-slash action game. Which is why, whether you're playing as Ôka from Toukiden: The Age of Demons, Sophie from Atelier: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book, or Arnice from Nights of Azure, you still spend all your time slap-fighting your way through large swaths of easily beaten enemies.

It also means that unless you're a fan of the Dynasty Warriors games, or the spin-off series, Samurai Warriors -- both of which also have characters who are playable here -- you'll probably feel this is about as much fun as cutting grass. Rather than pitting you against a few tough enemies, the game has you regularly facing dozens, even hundreds, of opponents, but most are as weak as newborn deer. That said, fans of those games will enjoy getting to play this with more than a dozen characters, each of whom bring their own fighting skills, such as how Kasumi from Dead or Alive brings her jiggly brand of martial arts. Which isn't enough to make hardcore fans of D.o.A., Ninja Gaiden, or the other dissimilar games enjoy this, but lovers of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors who enjoy the other ones as well will get a real kick -- and a couple punches, and some sword slashes -- out of Warriors All-Stars.