Dynasty Warriors 4

"And I thought DW3 couldn't be surpassed..."

Introduction:

The Dynasty Warriors series have been around for awhile now, and, maybe even, if you want to say, started a legacy. Many Dynasty warrior fans love the hack and slash game play, while others don’t. Now I’m writing this review to tell you whether you should or should not buy this game. It won’t be biased, so don’t expect much. Oh, and just to let you know, the dynasty warriors series are based on real life history in China, some fictional, some true, but at least your learning and having fun at the same time! :D

Game play:

This is the heart of the game. This game will bring you back to those days when you played Final Fight, when you would beat up bad guys and bosses for apparently no reason. Know this game is basically pure hack and slash action. The are 2 attack buttons, one that can be linked up to make combos, and the other which is a charged attack, which is stronger than your other attack, but can’t be linked up into combos. Then you have your “musou” attack, which is more like a special attack, that basically beats the crap into any enemies who don’t block it. Once you’ve got that concept, you go through massive levels killing hundredssoldiers and officers, trying to reach the main officer, and once you beat him and all the other conditions to beat the level, you basically win the level. But you have to make sure your main officer isn’t killed by any enemy, then you would lose. You also have bodyguards, which follow you around helping you out with enemies, which you could also assign them types, like defensive, or offensive, or normal and so on. Most levels are around 30- 60 minutes long, so you won’t be getting through this game in a breeze. There duels with other officers, which are basically one on one fights. Other than that, you have co-op mode, and multiplayer, which are basically death matches. You can equip you character with different items like armor, or other things, you can also upgrade your weapons once you get enough weapon experience, which you gain by defeating enemy officer. There is also a challenge mode, where you have to defeat a certain number of enemies before the time limit and so on. This game will last you for months, with over 30+ characters to unlock (9 which you can start off with), and also tons of levels to be unlocked (there's 50+ levels in all).

Graphics

The graphics are really great, showing off Play Station 2’s graphical capabilities. Nicely detailed characters, great cinematic scenes and but the only setback are the bland levels. But if you have already played Dynast Warriors 3, I'm not going to lie to you, there's really not that much of a improvement in graphics. The only really noticeable difference are the cinematic scenes, which aren’t that great of an improvement. The characters are more detailed this time around, but the levels are still bland, a little more detail is done, archer towers can now be destroyed, but that really doesn’t make much of a difference. And yes, there still is slowdown, but isn’t as much, but it can be very annoying during those huge battles, but if you want, you can think of them as cool Matrix effects. :D

Sound

The sound is a mixed bag of good and bad. The game’s soundtrack is pretty much top notch, with catchy techno sounds and beats mixed in with Chinese style of music. While most level soundtracks are great, some can be very weird and annoying, and may I even say it.....crappy. The voiceovers are well...average at the most. It has been greatly improved over Dynasty Warriors 3’s voice acting, but not that much. Some voices have gotten even worse, now Xhu Zhu sounds like a big dummy. And now, the option to switch between Japanese and English voiceovers is gone, so if you hate the English voiceovers, you may have to turn your volume down. The sound effects for the actual battles are pretty nice, the sound of your weapon clanking on to your enemy’s is a very nice touch. The battle cries are much more bearable now, but some characters really are bad...

Control

The control is top notch. As I said before, you have 2 attack buttons, a “musou” button, which is like a special attack, an block button, a button to shoot arrows, a jump button, and even a strafe button. You have a choice to choose the analog or the control pad too. Everything is great. I couldn’t find anything wrong with the controls. Every button is in the perfect place, even for the smallest hands, it still feels perfect. I recommend the Dual Shock 2, but any controller is nice. Oh, and to let you know, regular Play Station controllers aren’t compatible with this game, so for all you people who busted up your Play Station 2 controller , sorry, I guess your going to have to deal out the extra cash.

So what’s new from Dynasty Warriors 3 to Dynasty Warriors 4?

For all you people who already have Dynasty Warriors 3, and don’t really want the same game, well, its kind of 50/50. Every level has been redone, so don’t expect much deja vu. Second of all, there are now 6 different costumes to choose from, 5 which have to be unlocked. There are 3 new characters who have been added, Zhou Tai of Wu, who is a katana swinging bad ass, Yu Ying of Shu, which is a lady Scythe user, and Cao Ren of Wei, who is a...well...I can’t really explain his weapon well, let me tell you this, its basically a blade attached to a shield, which sometimes he takes apart for certain combos. There is finally, a create a character mode, and even a bodyguard create mode. The create a character mode isn’t that deep, but you hey, beggars can’t be choosers. There is also a new weapon system, which now you don’t receive weapons from officers, but know you must level up your weapon with weapon experience points, which you get from defeating officers. Your weapon gets upgraded every 3 levels you gain. Which is a fresh breath, but really isn’t that much different from the old weapon system, since which you still have to do something special for your “ultimate weapon”. The game play is exactly like before, so if you hated it before, you’ll hate it again. But for those who loved it, will fall in love again. Also the difficulty hasn’t been spruced up that much, lets just say it got cheaper. The new musou mode is really the same, but crappier, since every character now has the same musou mode, which can get repetitive.

So should I buy it?

Well it depends really. If you hate sequels that are basically the same, then steer clear, but if this your first Dynasty Warriors, then you picked the perfect one to start off with. But if you loved the third installment, but got bored, then you will fall in love again, just like I did.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/26/03, Updated 04/26/03