Last year, I had my first taste of the Samurai Warriors series and was pleasantly surprised by the experience. While heavy on the hack ‘n’ slashing, the game still provided for a bevy of interesting objectives and some frantic pacing as you rush about the level to meet all of the expectations. Not only were the objectives varied, but the experience was dynamic. New objectives were presented each time I went through the level, changing and morphing based on the state of the battlefield. Samurai Warriors: Chronicles falls very much in line with its predecessors, with improved graphical fidelity and a fully-voiced presentation.

Given that Chronicles doesn’t really shake the boat, players familiar with the subseries should know well what they are in for with this one. While all of the Warriors games are similar in design, none have ever felt quite as good to me as the Samurai Warriors subseries, making this a welcome addition to the 3DS library.

Fortunately, the game lends itself well to the portable platform the 3DS provides. Considering the game offers up a variety of scenarios based in Sengoku era Japan that last around fifteen minutes each, it’s easy to pick up the game for just a single scenario before moving on to another real world task.

The 3DS hardware also proves to be the best for the gameplay as well. Players can view the map on the touch screen now, as well as tap the portrait of one of the other warriors on the battlefield to quickly switch to them while in the heat of battle. Given the dedicated location of the map, it’s now far more descriptive and useful, making it much easier to navigate the level and perform all of the scattered objectives.

While the Wii provided for some questionable visuals in Samurai Warriors 3, the game looks great on the 3DS, complete with crisp and clear character models that have plenty of detail. While the 3D effect doesn’t add much to the gameplay, it is nice to look at and it definitely adds a layer of detail not previously present. The game is also fully-voiced, which adds just a bit more to the presentation. It’s clear that the game couldn’t be pulled off this deftly with Nintendo’s previous handheld device.

Many of the camera problems I encountered in Samurai Warriors 3 have been alleviated here, making the overall experience extremely smooth and enjoyable. The circle pad and general 3DS button layout was perfectly suited for the gameplay, making it easy to constantly combo enemies and pull off the stronger special “musou” attacks.

While it can be enjoyable to dispatch enemies in spurts, long play sessions of Chronicles will grow tiring – just like any preceding Warriors titles. Frankly, the 3DS iteration of this series excels in making the series portable and refining the core concepts into one of the best Warriors games to date.

If you’ve enjoyed Warriors games in the past, you’re sure to love Samurai Warriors: Chronicles. It’s clearly the most polished of the group, thanks to refinements to all portions of the experience and the capabilities of the 3DS hardware. While I lament the lack of co-op play, Chronicles does a surprisingly great job of making the experience enjoyable even for a single player.