Dynasty Warriors 3

"Infinitely better than Dynasty Warriors 2"

One of the early Playstation 2 games that was quite popular was Dynasty Warriors 2. Dynasty Warriors 3 is the same type of game; an action game based on the three kingdoms era of ancient China where you fight and win entire battles single handedly. There are many things different this time though, and you may not notice them at first. To sum up the main difference in DW2 and DW3 is that this newer one is better in every single way. I actually thought DW2 was an average game with a great subject, but got boring too fast and was unbalanced. These faults, and many others have been fixed.

Graphics; 9. For the amount of characters on screen, they are very detailed. Much more detail is put into every person in this game, and the armor no longer looks like it was spraypainted to look like the color it was supposed to. The terrain is much more realistic and smooth this time, with manmade objects having massive detail. The number of characters on the screen appears to be more, and you don't see people dissapear in this game very often. There is still some breakup and some glitches in the graphics, but they aren't ussually too bad. Also, as ussual, Koei's fmv is excellent and does not look cold or like clay. Overall, very good graphics.

Sounds; 10. For an action game, the music is amazing. You may or may not have liked the music in the first, and it's very similar in this game. A lot of guitar effects and upbeat music is in the game, but you don't hear any one song for too long. Many battles change music after a certain event, or when you gain the advantage. Sound effects are perfect as far as I'm concerned, with the weapons and armor piercing sounding just right. Voices are excellent, as long as you use the Japanese ones. Koei gives us the option this time, and I suggest you stay with the Japanese ones. I'm not the type of person to be biased in that respect either, since Koei managed to get good voices in Kessen. This time, the English voice actors just don't seem to care, and sound more like voices in furniture store commercials than ruthless warlords.

Control; 10. Again, vastly improved. It's no longer so easy to run through enemy positions and not get hit. Enemies will try to surround you or attack you from behind, but if you're fast enough you can jump or find some way to counter. The enemies also can't juggle you as easy if you are good, since you now have an 'escape' move after you've been knocked off of your feet. The biggest flaw from the original game is also fixed; enemy generals no longer recover life whenever you knock them down. They still can recover life, but they have to charge up for a few seconds(and you can stop them) and they don't do this so much that it becomes ridiculous, like last time(if they manage to do it twice, that's a lot). The enemy generals are a lot more balanced, but be careful because stage bosses, or generals who are supposed to be especially hard can be dangerous when low on health.

Innovation; 10. I didn't expect Koei to make everything this much better, but they amaze me once again. Now you can get four different weapons per character, each better than the last. In DW2, the bodyguards weren't good for anything but stealing your kill points when enemies where at 1% health. Now, they actually help and if you still don't like them, you can turn them off! Special items are nice as well. The greatest new innovation is the character specific Musou mode. It's just what it sounds like and keeps the game fresh(although I still think Nanman is too common a stage).

Story; 10. It's based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so of course it's going to be great. Sometimes the story takes a turn for the different, but it's a welcome alternate history, and works out well.

Replay Value; 8.5. The game is very much the same, but not nearly as boring as the last. There are now forty characters who are all unique, with two secret characters. There is a versus mode that is either a simple combat, or some kind of contest. This is really a good feature, even if it is kind of limited. There are two player cooperative battles, but if one player dies, both lose. I think the dead player should at least come back as a private or something but oh well. This game is worth giving a chance, even if you think you won't like it because of DW2.

Overall; 9.5. I would say this is the first actual must-buy game on PS2, because it has general appeal and appeals to RTK enthusiasts as well. This game is worth giving a chance.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/13/01, Updated 12/13/01