Dynasty Warriors 5

"My review for both English and Japanese version of this game"

Dynasty Warriors 5 is a great game. Although it is not the best game ever yet (not yet until the xtreme legends arrive). It is still a good and fun game to play with. If you ever play Dynasty Warriors 3 and 4 before, then you must play 5 because it contains the pro from both games.

Graphic: 10

The graphic for this game is amazing. In DW2, DW3 and DW4, once you have somewhere around 20 soldiers on screen, it will start to lag and your statute bar will keep disappearing. Also in both DW2 and DW3, you can't see very far as if you are inside a fog. In DW4, they push the limit further and now we see more soldiers on screen and less fog. Just when we though they have reach the limit, DW5 again push the limit even further. Now we can see 40 to 50 soldiers on screen without lag. There is no fog as well and you can see very far. There is rarely a slowdown at all.

Everything in this game looks very detail. From the surroundings to an individual, the details are amazing. The FMV movies looks much better as well because they are more realistic.

Looks like Koei had Work a lot on the graphic this time. It is still amaze how they push the ps2's limit even further to show more soldiers on screen.

Story: 10

The story for this game has gotten better as well. Now each person has their own Story mode and people who are supposedly dead did not appear in the stage they are not suppose too. There is an introduction for each character when you begin the story mode. Your character will tell you little of him/her-self after each story battle.

This is an improvement comparing to the older Dynasty Warriors titles. I still remember I fought Zhang Fei in Yi Liang in DW2 when he was suppose to be dead by that time. This has gotten even worst in DW4 when someone like Dian Wei can go and slain peons in the battle of Wu Zhang Plain.

Gameplay: 10

Evolution attack, Musou Rage, New characters, etc. make the score for this section a 10 again. Now this game not only requires you to button smash, it makes you think a lot more as well. Everybody's jump charge has been changed as well to become more unique. Some musou and most true musou had been change as well.

Sound: Jap- 10 Eng- 7

In the Japanese version, the sound is perfect. It fits all the character and even the sound for peons sound better as well. However, in the English version, the sound is horrible. The sound for half of the characters doesn't sound like them at all and some generals and peons death cry scream like a little girl.

At least in the Japanese version they pronounce the characters and places names correct. In the English version, they pronounce it wrong. Cao Cao and Cao Pi isn't suppose to be pronounce as Cow Cow and Cow Pee. Cao is suppose to sound more like Tsou. The only good improvement is that they pronounce the "sun" correctly.

Overall: Jap-10 Eng-9 Total-9.5

This game is a must buy as I enjoy it very much. If only they add the Japanese voice option in the English version will make this game perfect. They also remove the vs mode and create-a-character mode preventing this game from being perfect. I guess Koei will properly add those back in the xtreme legend to boost the sale.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/05