Spirt of Sanada is the latest Koei/Tecmo game that can be described as "like dynasty warriors but". If you are not familiar with the Dynasty Warriors games, they can best be described as modern 3d takes on classic 2d, side scrolling, "beat em' ups" like Final Fight. They do have more depth and strategy than the 2D games they were inspired by but at the end of the day there is more button mashing than brain power needed to beat these titles. Spirit is the latest game in the Samurai Warriors series. Where Dynasty Warriors focuses on Chinese history, Samurai Warriors typically uses Japanese history, specifically the Sengoku period, as the backdrop for its games. Where Spirit differentiates itself is that it focuses entirely on the Sanada clan rather than multiple clans and characters. While this does drop the character count, it pays off in the long run buy allowing the game to provide a more in depth story than most DW games. Spirit isn't perfect and if you have played a lot of DW games you will still get that feeling of deja vu by defeating the same grunt character model for the 1000th time on the same level. Still, there is enough different here to warrant a play through.

Never played any of these games in the series. It’s fun good hack and slash. Good story.

Spirit of Sanada is a great side story to Dynasty Warriors. The game play and story is very reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors and I really enjoy the story line and game play. I would highly recommend this game to someone that is not familiar to Dynasty Warriors as a good practice game and the controls are very easy to learn.

This has one of the best stories as they focus on the Sanada clan instead of the Sengoku period as a whole. Samurai Warriors still has the best combat in my opinion and definitely a welcomed addition to the series. Only critique is the slow start, but that is kind of expected with a new type of story mode.

This might be the most polished warriors series game I have played. I just wish it focused on more than just the Sanadas.