Dynasty Warriors 3

"Man, if more sequels could be like this..."

Let me start off by saying that I was a fan of Dynasty Warriors 2. For its time, it was an impressive and fun game to play, with different battles to play and hundreds of enemies to wipe the floor with. However, it was very linear and repetitive, with nothing more than a 4 hit combo, the occasional musou attack, a jump attack, and a horse to hit with. The game definitely could have used some more meat on its bones.

Now, Dynasty Warriors 3 has been released, and after playing it, reliving the massive battles from DW2, I can safely say that this game and what it has is just what this series needed. With item collections, separate weapons to collect, an improved and more aggressive AI, multiple body guard options, more polished graphics, 18 maps, with all the original ones reworked, this game has been fleshed out quite a bit.

The graphics in this game are quite similar to DW2. You can see 30-50 guys on the screen at the same time. The character models are fairly well detailed, including the common solders. The landscapes have been enhanced significantly, however, as now you can see more subtile mountains, river valleys, and fortresses that don't have quite the blocky feel of DW2. They also seem to be more polished than DW2, and it seems less like an arcade game (a good thing in my opinion). All in all, the graphics still do a pleasant job of moving you about.

On top of fighting countless enemies, now you have the opportunity to collect rare objects of great power. These items range from The Way of Musou, which allows you to perform a super musou attack at any time, instead of when your life is low, to a saddle that calls the legendary Lu Bu's horse, Red Hare. Other items enhance your base stats, and come in a range of power levels on the same item. You must also collect new weapons, each better than the last. The different types of weapons that you can collect also have additional stats on them to give you that extra bit of power or jumping ability. These items are collected off the corpses of generals and other ''special people'', so some work is required to obtain them.

The AI has also been upgraded. Now, you cannot run by an enemy horde as easily without being attacked, and normal troops are quite a bit more powerful and intelligent. The generals also fight smarter, and combined with the fact that they don't auto-heal whenever they fall down (that was REALLY annoying), it makes for a more satisfying fight, instead of pure frustration when you get Lu Bu down to that last bit of health only to knock him down and have him get back up with full life. They still can heal, however, but it involves them charging up for a few seconds, not unlike you charging the musou attack manually.

The bodyguards are also more customizable than before. You can decide at the beginning of a battle whether you want them to wield swords, spears, pikes, bows, or crossbows, and if you want them to be aggressive or to defend you. You can also just totally remove them, if they're getting in your way, or take any number of guards in between. This feature helps out a lot, as you can further dictate how you wish to fight. There is also an item that enhances their abilities, to make them even stronger.

Other than these points, nothing else is drastically changed. For fans of the original, this is a good thing, but for those who found it repetitive, then you may have a few problems. Even with all the new features, you'll still probably get bored of hacking guys to pieces after a while.

This game is DEFINITELY worth at least a rental, and many people will probably come away wanting to buy the game itself. All in all, Dynasty Warriors 3 is just the sequel that the original game deserves, and even then some.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/12/01, Updated 12/12/01