"A Must Get Game for Strategy Game Lovers!"

Introduction: I really liked this game once I was able to borrow it from my friend. I was surprised at Dynasty Warriors 3 and I thought Dynasty Tactics was going to be a good game because of the fact many of the other ''Tactics'' games were good (Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Orge, etc.) I took me a while to get the hand of it because I was a beginner and I played my friend One on One in the 2 Player Mode. I lost horribly like 2 or 3 times. After he let me borrow it, I got better and even beat Cao Cao's campaign a few times.

Gameplay: 10/10 This game is like many Strategy games, the battles are a little slow, but it's a lot of fun. The game has a story mode (which you can select by pressing X on the ''New Game'' choice., and it teaches you the basics when you first start the mode. After you complete the tutorial you are able to select either Cao Cao, Sun Ce, or Liu Bei. Each person has 4 different endings to watch and many different paths to take. The other choices on the menu screen are ''Load'', ''Resume Battle'', ''2-Player Mode'', ''Game Setting'', and ''History''. You can't select history until you have beaten the game with someone at least once. The game isn't too bad, it really depends on who you select, because in my opinion, Liu Bei's campaign is the hardest to do first and Cao Cao's is the easiest. The controls are X is the the select something and Triangle is to cancel your selection on the main menu. When you are on the map menu during a campaign X and triangle are the same as Main Menu. Square is objective, Circle moves cursor between capitals, and Select brings up the Save/Load menu. Start ends your turn, R1/L1 switches between armies, R2 shows list of Free Officers at your capital and L2 shows list of Civilians at the certain city your cursor is currently on.

Story: 9/10 The basic story depends on the character you have selected. You are one of the great leaders of the time period and you are trying to rule all of China.

Graphics/Sound: 10/10 The graphics are awesome. The map is easy to navigate through and there isn't any sketchy pictures. They have great cinematic scenes whenever you do a tactic or when you first do someone like move or fire arrows or build something. The sounds are great, especially in battle. You can hear the armies yell when they are attacking or doing something. The character's voices are pretty good, but to me they sorta sound the same for some people...

Play Time/Replayability: 10/10 It took me about 12 hours to finish one campaign for Cao Cao and see the ending. Seeing that each person has about 4 endings it could take you 80+ hours. Also, with the idea of 2 Player Mode it lets you play with the friend who is sitting there watching you play or a while bored. Because of so many different paths and endings for the 3 characters the replayability is very high.

Final Recommendation: This game is a definite BUY. For all the people looking for a good strategy game for the PS2, this is it. Also, after finding out there is a sequel coming, I'm hoping for more endings, more characters to select, and maybe even let you select Japanese or English like in Dynasty Warriors 3. An idea that always pops in my head, is what if you could do a two player campaign and have two players on one team like in FFVI or even a two player competition campaign without all the cinematic scenes or things you must do, but an all out whatever you want to do and whoever you want to attack.

Final Score: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/03, Updated 02/22/03