Dynasty Warriors 5

"A great game that delivers in all the right places"

Since the release of the fabled Dynasty Warriors 3 on the PS2, I have been a sucker for this series of games, and thats saying something, as only a handful of games have successfully kept me entertained for an entire two months on its own. This series of games has a reputation though, of being the same throughout its long line of instalments. And although that is true to a degree, the game itself has grown on many levels, such as new characters, new modes and new levels to name a few, that is why for a fan of the series this game delivers, for a casual gamer however, your probably looking at this review with a confused face, but none the less, I will do my best to explain why I enjoy this game so much.

Graphics
Whilst the game isn't draw dropping in the field of graphics, its still more than good enough to enable solid gameplay. Every character looks very unique and different from the rest of the field. Tattoos, armor, hats and the assortment of weapons can easily be distinguished from one another and do a good job at adding a unique spin to every character. The levels themselves also look fantastic, although some can suffer from repetition slightly they still do more than is needed to made the game enjoyable.

The physical animations of all the characters is also very well done, from every fluent swing of a blade to the reaction given when hit, all follow the principles of physics to a tee. All the enemies do not look the same as seen in other games, foot soldiers are given rank and as such, are given different types or armor or weapons leaving them to be easily distinguished. As a whole he graphics of this game more than hold it own compared to others.

Sound
This is were the game starts to crumble, but not nearly as bad as some of the other games in the series. Let me begin with the voice overs, whilst not fantastic by any stretch of the imagination they ARE a vast improvement on previous installments. The developers of the game clearly made a solid effort to ensure that each of the characters sound different and genuine. And to a good degree they did a good job all the voice overs matched the characters to some extent, some better than others. But I can only think of two or three characters that sounded a bit shaky. But out of the forty plus characters in the game, thats not a bad effort.

As for the actual effects, I was very pleased. You will notice the footsteps of the characters walking around on stone or ground as well as the sound of the weapon slicing or hitting through an entire crowd. Even the grunts of the voice overs is done well, Im particularly found of the way each character has they're own unique line after they have defeated an enemy general. Although subtle, things like that do a great job at adding enjoyment to the game.

The soundtrack itself is fantastic, I own the album and I'm glad I do, almost every track is done very well, adding to the way the battle is going. For example if your team is winning then a victorious sounding track will come on, likewise if your losing or someone has died a sad, down low track will begin. Whilst the album wasnt the best I've heard it definitely is one of the better musical soundtracks put to a game. In the end is really adds to the flow of the gameplay.

Story
The entire Dynasty Warriors franchise is based entirely on real battles fought in ancient China around eighteen hundred years ago, in an era known as the Three Kingdoms period. In a nutshell three tribes or Kingdoms known as Wei, Wu and Shu are engrossed in a battle over the country. Each ruler has they're own reasons for conquest as such, but the main reason is to "bring peace to a troubled land" (get used to hearing stuff like that cause it comes up often).

So naturally, with each installment the developers really have they're hands tied in terms of developing a solid story, or character development for that matter. But the game does its best with what it has. Each character follows they're own "musou mode" where they are given they're "story" or tale of what they did in real life all those years ago, each story ending with his/her respective Kingdom ruling over the land. Whilst some of the story modes aren't entirely accurate they still do a good job in tagging the player along. After each battle or so the player will be treated to a cutscene or FMV. These scenes however aren't unique and you might come across the same one a few times as you complete the story mode with different characters.

Gameplay
Now on the the games most promising aspect, the gameplay of Dynasty Warriors will suck you in after you get used to how its played, just expect that to take an hour or two. The game takes no time to explain to you what to do to win or how to go about doing it, but once you find out that you have to kill the well defended commander your all set to go.

The game itself starts off with around twenty to thirty characters from which you can choose, the remaining ten or so have to be unlocked by completing story modes. Each character has they're own move set, weapon, sprite and voice over to make them all unique. Once you have a character you can either complete they're story mode or play on free mode, which is any stage you want that you have unlocked. Once the stage is chosen you have the option of equipping items, this adds a fun dimension to the game as they're are around twenty items you can equip that do different things, such as increase health, defense ect. You also get to equip a bodyguard, this is a very good idea to me, instead of 8 bodyguards such as in previous games, you are given one, stronger bodyguard that follows you around and does they're best to aide you in battle. Whilst not compulsory they really do help in tight situation. There are also different types of bodyguards, some use swords whilst others use spears of crossbows, each also has they're own set of moves as well.

Once you are past the configuration you enter the field of battle, this is were the game shines brightest. The fluency and strategy are second to almost none. To begin, the commander will usually say a few words as to who you are fighting and what the stratgey is. As you begin, the mechanics of the game take over. As stated, each character is given they're own weapon for which to attack with. There are 3 types of attacks; light, charge and musou. A character can use a string of up to 9 light attacks to deal damage with, at any time, a light attack can be canceled into a charge attack that takes more time but does more damage. You are also given a musou attack, they're is a little bar that charges when either you hit someone or they hit you, when its full you can release a short but very powerful attack that, during which, grants you temporary invincibility. A new twist has also been added to this game, by collecting a golden icon on the field you gain what is known as a musou rage, when activated you character will glow a radiant glow, will attack much faster, take less damage whilst dealing more to enemies. I personally live this new feature as it adds an entire new strategy to the game, as they are rare to find and have to be used carefully.

Once you get the game down you begin your campaign, some levels will require you to only hack and slash you way past generals and then eventually to the commander to win. Others however, require that you do a bit of strategical work before you finish the battle, for example destroying a bridge or laying a trap. A new addition to Dynasty Warriors is the concept of bases. There are three in total, defense, used to block routes, attack used primarily for offense, and supply, which houses health and goodies. Succeeding in a strategy, defeating a general or taking a base adds morale to your army, which in turn increases they're ability to defeat other enemy generals, fail to execute a strategy, however results in an overall fall in morale.

As you play more, your characters stats increase in defense, attack ect. As you play with a character more you will gain new weapons for them to use (the same type), giving them more attacks, and extra stat bonuses. But be warned though, in this version weights have been added, males typically sport normal or light weapons whilst female are generally given heavy weapons. Light ones deal less damage but attack strings are faster, whilst heavy weapons are the exact opposite, normal is a cross between the two, I personally dont like this feature at all, but luckily it doesn't impact on the gameplay too much. Once a character is decently leveled you can attempt to gain they're fourth, or last weapon which is unique and adds the max amount of attacks and stat increases. This is also were the game delivers, for a cast of forty plus characters, maxing them all out, getting they're final weapons and completing all they're story modes takes a LONG time, so expect to get dozes of hours out of this game.

The difficulty is something that should also be touched on also. They're are four settings present; easy, normal, hard and chaos. Whilst the first three are pretty much no challenge for a fully leveled character chaos mode has the potential to be nightmarish. For an entire stage your character can only take around five to nine hits, and considering some of these stages take a good ten to twenty minutes to complete, you have to be good, that is to say very good to play on the hardest difficulty. I myself have been playing this game for a few years and I only have a success rate of about fifty percent. But although difficult, it adds a new and great challenge to the game, too many times have I whizzed through a game not being tested at all (Final Fantasy comes to mind).

With that said, if you find yourself getting tired of playing either musou or free mode they're is also challenge mode, although not quite as entertaining it adds a new spin to the game, providing interesting challenges such as defeating enemies in little time as possible or knocking soldiers of bridges. Although its a nice addition, I only played it two or three times.

Conclusion
Whilst Dynasty Warriors does have its subtle flaws, it never gets to the point where is effects gameplay, if your looking for a good beat em up game that dominates the rest, I recommend this. Naturally, because of its long life, its not a rental, but none the less, although its suspiciously similar to its predecessors, it does live up to its name as a great game. If you are a real fan of this series or looking for something new to take up your spare time, I wouldn't go past this.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/11/07