Don't believe Gamespot. If you're a fan of the Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors series', you'll enjoy this game.
Granted, it's the same thing we've all seen a dozen times. As a fan and avid player of every Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games, I would definitely agree with myself when I say this is the best in the series. Not because it adds anything new... it actually takes away one of the best features that was in the first Samurai Warriors (creating your own Samurai and training them)... but it adds a refreshing change in terms of the maps you fight in, story elements, the music and gameplay.
Thankfully, the worst part was modified from the original and changed to make it much more fun - that being the castle siege options. No longer do you have to tread through the same looking floors of a 5 level castle just to get to the bottom and defeat the boss. Now, you set foot into the castle on the battlefield and are instantly and seamlessly inside and sieging from within. Not only is this an excellant change, but no longer do you feel like you're the lone soldier taking on the infinite odds that are always inside. Your allies will follow you, making it a much more enjoyable experience.
Another interesting change was that of making the game much more like Dynasty Warriors in the more "realistic" fashion. Ok, so a single soldier killing thousands of soldiers isn't entirely realistic. The difference being between Samurai Warriors and Samurai Warriors 2 is that there is no longer that "mystical" element, save for a few ninja spells and some characters that have elemental weapon effects. The characters have taken a more mature and defined look... just like how you'd imagine a soldier wearing full armor would be. There is still the incredibly large weapons on tiny women aspect, but the game has more or less developed into a Dynasty Warriors look and feel instead of 12 year old girls wielding huge mallets.
Interestingly enough, I found this game to be highly more enjoyable than any of the previous type games, save the Dynasty Warriors Legends spin-off (I have a thing with creating my own soldier and training them, or being an officer under a main character). The stories of each individual character are interesting and refreshingly new, especially if you've played Dynasty Warriors 1, 2, 3, 4.... 5......... It's nice to breathe in a new story and new history.
The voice acting, while still not movie quality, is actually pretty well done, even the best in these type of games so far. Some characters really fit their voice pretty well and those that don't are actually pretty amusing to listen to instead of being so incredibly annoying that you'd wish they'd just shutup. I've yet to find a character that I really wished I could kill just to get them off the battlefield so they'd stop talking.
All in all, don't believe anyone when they tell you this is a horrible game. Its far from it. It's a great series, minus a few things and plus a few others, that I still find enjoyable. While not taking huge leaps into new areas of the unexplored, it still brings back that mindless hack-and-slash element with a few new added features, new stories, new gameplay options and an entirely new experience all together.