As fans of the Dynasty Warriors games will know, bigger means better. And we're not just talking about the length of your sword either; we mean the colossal collective of enemies that players can hack, slash and blast their way through. Samurai Warriors transports the epic action from feudal China to Japan, but all the familiar game modes are on offer.

Story mode, unsurprisingly, gives players the chance to work through a multitude of armies as one of five specific characters, all with various weapons and outlandish special attacks. Depending on which character you choose, you'll encounter each of the other four’s armies in your struggle through each six-battle saga. Successful fights naturally result in your character earning Experience points to upgrade their attributes after each battle.

Less is definitely not more here, as wave after wave of soldiers ripe for the slaughter charge at you, providing plenty of fast-paced, sweat-inducing gameplay. It's fantastic fun slashing your way through an entire army (it's common for the number of enemies killed on one level to run into the thousands), and knocking out tens of opponents in one go should prompt a glowing satisfaction in even the most ardent pacifist.

Unfortunately, this can bring on monotonous button-bashing gameplay too, because melee attacks are limited to the X button and magic attacks to A, with range attacks (Y) mostly ineffective against smaller foes. Spectacular combos are dependent on how many enemies surround you, rather than player skill, and there's not a massive variation of bad guys either. That said, the engine runs smoothly enough, and there's not the slightest hint of slowdown during the frantic action.

Although not as visually stunning or vibrant as their Dynasty Warriors Chinese brethren, the dark and gritty environments of Samurai Warriors do invoke the misty-eyed mysticism of medieval Japan. But at the end of the day, these too become very similar, only punctuated by the odd castle or two.

The several additional game modes (Free, Survival, Challenge etc) should offer a bit more sundry swordplay, but the time challenges only thinly veil the same core gameplay of the single-player campaign. Two sprouting samurai can take on the hordes co-operatively in the passable multiplayer, though during a particularly intense battle the action gets a tad confusing, so it's probably best to shun your sword-swinging mate and go this one alone.

It's not the most original or groundbreaking of Xbox games, but Samurai Warriors knows exactly what it wants to be and, being a devout samurai, makes no pretensions of swaying from the hack/slash/hack/hack/slash gameplay mantra. It can occasionally be more hard work than fun, but if you want ferocious fighting on an epic scale, tune in for the latest Dynasty episode.

1. Vast numbers of enemies on screen mean this is gameplay at its most entertaining.
2. No slowdown whatsoever and unrelenting, frantic action makes for devastating special attacks.

1. Melee combat is limited, with sword attacks restricted to just one button, and combo totals are determined by surrounding numbers.
2. Not a great amount of variation in type of enemies, level design and game modes. Action can quickly become monotonous.
3. Characters look detailed enough, but the rather bland environments don't boast huge draw distances. Not the best looking Xbox title ever.

Ambitious, epic hack 'n slash that suffers from a lack of any real variation and could do with more spit and polish.