Dynasty Warriors 2

"A GREAT game! Its fast, furious, simple, AND fun!"

This has got to be one of the funest games that I have played. Even though the gameplay is simple, it will keep you entertained for quite a while.

Gameplay (8/10): This is essentially a 3D fighting game, but the context is quite different from the norm: you're not a fighter alone who's mission is to beat everybody up on his path to save his girlfriend. You're a general out to win the war for your ruler. And believe me when I say that you're not alone. There are other generals on your side who are acting autonomously, each with his own legion of soldiers. Plus you've got your own bodyguards! This game is essentially a microscopic view of war (i.e. fighting down to the one-on-one soldier level). Each level has a main boss (i.e. a general, a lord, a ruler) that you must hunt down an kill, and the ruler has his own generals and soldiers to protect him. On average, there will be 500 to 1000 soldiers fighting the battle on each level, and I can tell you that it's a very unique feeling to be fighting with them, side by side, as you beat the crap out of the enemy. You can either use your basic fighting techniques (i.e. various martial arts moves), or a bow (the game then goes into a first person view mode), or you can use a special attack. The special attacks are a bliss to watch. Your weapon starts glowing a certain color, such as fluorescent green, pink, blue, etc. and your character starts moving around in a sea of enemy soldiers, who fly through the air as they get hit. Sometimes you can see up to 10 soldiers in the air at once, who get hit again and again as they fall back down. I must say that the gameplay is quite simple, but its extremely entertaining.

Graphics: (9/10): This game's graphics are excellent. You can have up to 30 characters on screen at once, with no slowdown whatsoever. It amazes me every time that I zoom into these characters, and see the detail in their weapons, armor, clothes, faces, etc. I have no clue how the programmers managed to do this, but they did a great job in terms of balancing good graphics with a solid framerate. I would have given the graphics of this game a 10/10 if it weren't for the fact that you see some ''popping'' every now and then (i.e. it looks like the ground is shaking up and down - essentially a graphical glitch). But this was one of the first games released on the PS2, and it probably had to use a refined PS1 3D engine.

Audio (3/10): This is the only criteria where this game lags. The music is heavy metal with bad electric guitar solos. It is simply not appropriate in a game that takes place in 200 AD China. Luckily, you have the option to turn the music off. The sound effects used in this game are about average. Unfortunately, there is not enough voices used as well, except for the screams. It would have been nice to hear the characters speak when the game switches over to a cut-scene that shows an enemy general standing in the battlefield, and uttering a threat at you (even if it was in Japanese or Chinese).

Story (10/10): The story for this game is based on a book called Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is possibly the best books ever written. It is considered as one of the four great classics of China. If you have read this book, then playing this game will be 10 times better, because now you can actually fight side by side with the same characters that you have read about and admired. It is really a pleasure watching one of your fellow brothers fight an enemy general right in front of you, then jumping in to help him out when he seems overwhelmed. I must note that it IS possible for your generals to kill the enemy (and even the main boss) by themselves.

Replayability (10/10): Probably one of the few games that you'll want to play over and over and over again. Not only is there three separate kingdoms to complete the game with (i.e. each which eventually branch out with their own levels), but there are so many characters to unlock, that chances are you will finish it at least once with a character from each kingdom, then a couple of times more with characters from one specific kingdom. I have already finished it 7 times, and I'm not done yet.

Load Time (8/10): It takes a little while to load up a level, but once its loaded you will be spending anything from 20 to 90 minutes fighting in that level (with no more loading). So although the load time is bad, the overall amount of time you spend waiting for things to load is quite short in this game. Another cool thing, is that while you receive the briefing for the mission that you are about to play, the level is being loaded in the background. So you can check out your stats, get a background story, view the enemy characters, etc., and once you are done the game will be already loaded.

Buy or Rent: BUY! Don't waste your money renting this game; you'll simply want to buy it right after! It's a definite keeper. Even after finishing it a dozen times, you'll want to put it to rest for a while, so that you can eventually get right back into it.

Overall (9/10): Out of all the games that I have played for the PS2, this one is my favorite. I will admit that the gameplay is a little simple (i.e. you essentially run through each level, killing as many people as possible), but its FUN as hell!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/01, Updated 05/30/01