Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires

"Haven't been this addicted since DW3"

Alrighty I have noticed on the boards that everyone is asking about how good this game is and I'm afraid a lot more will be asking so I decided to make this review. I'm hoping that you guys out there will read it ^_^.

Gameplay: 9/10

Now the for the first time Dynasty Warriors comes out with it's new empire mode. First you always have to start with your first weapon and beginning stats. And items are all gone too. First you can start by selecting "historical" or fictional mode. Historical is what it says. Most of the kingdoms of 3k are there. (Except some of the least important ones). Also many historical events can take place. Such as the yellow turban rebellion and the alliance against Dong Zhuo. Also everyone is positioned the same each time so that can get boring that's why there is fictional mode. Where every thing is random. Like what force has what city and what the ruler is. So for instance...Wei Yan could be ruler and have Han Zhong, Tian Shui and Xi Liang at the start. So really I only play historical mode for all the different events that happen. Also there is three difficulties easy, normal, and hard. Do hard later when you are more used to the game. Now there isn't as much strategy as you think there is. But it's good enough to keep you entertained with it. Well you have officers (4 at a time) you give you 2 proposals to accept. Now there are a lot so I'm not gonna go through em. Oh and you have 2 different ranks. You have general and lieutenant. General being higher than lieutenant. The difference between them is that generals can give proposals and they can't also the skills in this game only generals can use; unless you use a special ploy that'll allow lieutenants to use their skills during that turn. Oh and also all the special characters like Wei Yan Liu Bei Xiahou Dun ect. are always generals. And you can play with those from generals list when going into battle. Well lets say your ruler is Xiahou Dun and you have Cao Ren and Yue Ying on your team as generals. Then you don't have to be Xiahou Dun all the time you could be Cao Ren or Yue Ying as well but you can't select from lieutenants. Though now you can play as non playable generals I.E. Cheng Pu. Which can now have Level 7 weapons and beyond. They will have the weapons of the edit character only of course they have one of the playable characters move set. Okay now about CAWs. They have much improved in this game. They look much better. You can choose from 3 different voices. Also it has everyones weapon. New ones include people like Zhou Tai and Xu Zhu. But the only problem with gameplay is that there is no co-op play and you only have empire mode to play. And don't worry there is still 2 player vs but it has gotten worse since DW4 and XL.

Sound: 9/10

Good old music. Only it's hard to come by the good ones I.E. ( Chi Bi, Hu Lao Gate, Yi Ling ect) Least those are the good ones to me ^_^. But no new music except for the main menu and strategy phase. Oh and the stupid ending >_<'.

Controls: 10/10

Easy, simple, and effective...

Graphics: 8/10

They still have the slowness problem. Where if there are too many soldier and officers on the screen the game will go really slow I hate that. Also they still have clothes going through horses when people rid them and legs going through the back of their clothing... that's something Koei needs to fix.

Story: 8/10

There really isn't a story here. But in historical mode they have those certain cut scenes and they have historical forces and they put them where they belong so that was nice. And Sun Jian finally doesn't have to be leader and Sun Ce and then Quan can take their riffle places.

Overall: 9/10

This is a great game. If you ever have played a DW game then go ahead and buy this. If you haven't then I'd suggest that you rent this just in case that this isn't your time again. But for those who have played you'll be hooked but then realize it's missing a couple of things.

Well I hope this was helpful you. And now maybe you wanna go buy it or ask on the boards anyways 0_o'

MFX

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/07/04