As much as a sugar high that the industry is on right now in terms of innovation and beauty, there's always the bitter fruit that sneaks in. You run into a game that disappoints you on nearly every level, and leaves you pondering if you should fire off an email to the company, demanding a change. The only reason said pondering comes into play is that you have to wonder if the company's even going to listen.

When Koei released their first next-gen Dynasty Warriors effort for the Xbox 360 earlier this year with Empires, I did find a few things to like about it, but couldn't help notice that the graphics, gameplay, and sound implemented very little change. At this point, I said, "Well, they'll improve over time." Sadly, they haven't, and Samurai Warriors 2 is the proof.

Like the Dynasty Warriors games before it, Samurai Warriors 2 puts you right on the battlefield in a series of missions to bring down specific targets, like the commander of a rogue army or some madman who thinks he (or she) owns the place. Strategy has a small place here in the form of a pre-battle map, but mostly the game is about moving along, hacking and slashing dozens of soldiers with combo attacks, and then moving along again. You do have the option of occasionally mounting a horse for speed and quick attacks, or using a bow and arrow so you can knock off soldiers from a distance, but that's it. And there's very little to tie any of this together for the long run through Story mode.

The gameplay really hasn't changed over the years, nor does it change here. You've seen this game before, all the way back to when Dynasty Warriors 2 debuted on the PlayStation 2- six years ago. That's right; little has changed between that title and this, a next-gen release for the Xbox 360. The gameplay has you doing attacks, gaining the occasional power-up along the way and eventually charging a super meter that lets you unleash a brief yet powerful attack. Been there, done that. There isn't even a leveling up system for new attacks, just the same old thing that kills dozens of soldiers. Diversity is the spice of life, Omega.

Worse yet, you only have a few characters to start with at the beginning of the game. You can unlock more characters over the course of time, which in turn gives you Achievement points on your 360. However, the mundane proceedings will test even the most patient of gamers, as you pretty much just walk through each level, hoping to find something different. It never surfaces. You can't help but feel you've covered this territory before in Empires...and whatever Dynasty Warriors games you played beforehand.

The graphics fail to take advantage of the Xbox 360 whatsoever. Character models looked a little more touched up than they are in the PS2 version, but that's it. The levels look the same, with nary a hint of next-gen beauty. The animation is stiff and near lifeless, despite Koei's attempts to give each warrior their own personality. The sound is no better, once again copying the blueprint from previous games. The voicework is a complete and total joke, poorly acted dialogue that sounds like it's being read off by Shakespearean hacks. The rock music, while not a complete loss, doesn't sound like it fits here at all.

There are some new things worth addressing in the game. The first is a board game called Sugoroku, which kind of works like the old-school property managing game Monopoly. Up to four players can take part in a game off-line, buying bits and pieces of Japanese land. As players move around, they can obtain new properties, as well as pay up once they land on someone else's. It's a matter of winning with the most gold, but it's a nice touch...and probably the only real significant thing about this new chapter.

There's also a power-up system, in which you can use newly acquired gold to purchase new power points. You can buff up your bodyguard, work on your horse-riding skills, or make your character even more of a bad-ass. Unfortunately, this system is pretty much useless, as it has little effect on the bland gameplay. You could be the buffest bastard in the world, and it doesn't change up the fact you're still slicing the same way that you did when you started the game.

The game does offer a decent game of off-line co-op, but that's about the only pleasure you'll get out of this game in terms of multiplayer. You can challenge a friend via Xbox Live, but you don't even end up on the same battlefield. It's a competition of kill numbers instead of an all-out war between two players. Worse yet, Sugoroku can't be played off-line. And that's a shame, because it's a game that deserves online play. It would've been cool to see a comparable leaderboard as to who has the most gold in the game. But not to be.

The well that the Warriors games feeds upon has run dry. Hell, it looks like water's even being borrowed from somewhere else. Sorry, Koei, you know I have respect for you, but it is time to see what Omega Force can REALLY do on the Xbox 360. Samurai Warriors 2 is a quickie port with very little thought put into it, leaning way too heavily on ingredients from earlier games and not addressing that many new features whatsoever. Sugoroku is a fun game, but it's not playable online. A rental for a few hours of giddy Japanese land-buying might be best recommended. Otherwise, you've played this game before...and probably still have it in your library somewhere.