Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release: 09/06/96 Genre: Beat em up
As a fan of the beat em up genre the 32-bit generation was a wasteland. Like shooters this once venerable cornerstone of the industry was one of many sacrifices in the move to the 3d. But this was only apparent in the US. In Japan there were many ports of awesome arcade brawlers to the PlayStation and Saturn that never left Japan. Warriors of Fate is one of them, a side scrolling beat em up interpretation of Tenchi wo Kurau. This is a great game on both systems and another notch in Capcom’s belt when it comes to the genre.
Warriors of Fate is the sequel to Dynasty Wars, a good game overall that has a low profile. The only home console port was for the PC Engine CD and was heavily stripped down. The story follows Liu Bei as he recruits five warriors to help him stop Cao Cao’s path of destruction as he tries to rule all of China. The game delves deeper into the Romance of the Three Kingdoms lore for its cast of characters and stages. Of course since the game is not in English the story is a non factor to us western heathens.
There are a number of significant differences in Warriors of Fate next to its predecessor. The biggest is that the game no longer takes place entirely on horseback. With that each playable character is distinct from each other in many different ways. Compared to most titles in the genre the characters in Warriors of Fate have a larger move set, most executed using simple button combinations. While you perform the moves the same there are significant distinctions per character. Huang Zhong uses a bow and attacks from long range by default. Guan Yu fights barehanded and has plenty of wrestling moves in his repertoire. Meanwhile Wei Yan has some of the most devastating attacks in the game but they suffer from short reach and a long windup. Sadly the experience system and weapon upgrades have been discarded but they were no substitute for the barebones gameplay.
Horseback riding is still in the game and is now even better. Everyone wields a different weapon while mounted with most being some form of spear. The incredibly long reach helps keep enemies at bay but it goes further than that. You have unique special moves on horseback which is extremely cool. It is extremely easy to steamroll entire screens of soldiers when you are skilled enough but it takes time to reach that point. You can only get dismounted twice before your steed runs away. But if you are good enough you can steamroll the egregiously long boss battles.
Warriors of Fate is an exercise in less is more. Your battle options have been significantly expanded over the first game but you do not always get to use them. Because the game throws so many enemies at once it becomes more of a question of crowd control over prioritizing. Brawlers like Streets or Rage 2 and Knights of the Round excel because they vary the enemy groupings. In Final Fight if Andore appears alongside Two P and Slash you know he needs to go first. In Warriors of Fate you usually fight groups of ten enemies comprised of two types. The spectacle is greater but the strategy suffers as a result. It is also a means of stretching the short levels. By no means is it bad but despite the grandeur I noticed I enjoyed the gameplay loop less than similar titles.
Like any arcade game Warriors of Fate is incredibly difficult. Since it ran on the CPS-1 arcade board Warriors of Fate can handle a greater number of enemies on screen than your typical 16-bit brawler. It is not uncommon to see as many as ten or twelve enemies on screen at once. Although the levels are short at three or four screens at most the density of its enemy waves makes up for it. Bosses often have as many as seven or eight life bars which is flat out stupid in my opinion. As if that were not bad enough the frequent henchmen makes them incredibly cheap. Although you have ten credits you only get two lives per continue. The game is generous with its scoring so you will get extra lives regularly. But prepare to play this one a few times before you finally complete it.
In Closing
Warriors of Fate is a good game and an excellent arcade port. Great art and solid gameplay make this a solid brawler all around. It pales next to some of Capcom’s later arcade works in the genre but is still worth an afternoon or two, especially as part of the Cacpcom beat em up collection.
