Dynasty Warriors 3

"Another great Dynasty Warriors game from Koei"

Introduction
Well the third Dynasty Warriors game is a great addition to this series . There are tons of playable characters. A lot of unlock-ables to keep you playing this game for a while. The storyline is based off of the novel the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Which is about the great battles of Wu, Shu, and Wei. Now, on to the review.

Story
This game does not have much story. It basically just shows how each army won the battles. The characters are based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There is not much else to the story.

Graphics
This game has decent graphics at best. Everything looks regular. The characters look great however, they are very detailed. Also, the horses look very realistic. The stage layout looks average however. Well there's not much else in the graphics department.

Control
The button layout is very good. Well there's nothing really to get used to. You will be mashing the square button a lot and sometimes O for the special attack. There is not very many other buttons you will be using so I guess the controls are easy to get used to.

Sound
If you ask me, the music doesn't fit the game. It has heavy metal music which is in games like Tokyo X-treme Racer Zero. It shouldn't be in a hack-n-slash game about Chinese history. That was a really bad mistake by Koei. Also, the character voices are terrible. They don't even have a Chinese accent. They sound American. Another thing to add to the not Chinese like sound, is that they don't even pronounce the names right. For example, on characters name is Cao Cao. In the game they pronounce it like Cow Cow. I can't believe they did that. Well as you can see, this games lowest point is the sound.

Gameplay
Well now the most important part of the game, the gameplay. This game does have great gameplay, which makes up for the terrible sound. There are around 40 playable characters. About ten for each army and ten neutral ones. Each one has there own musou mode. This is basically the story mode. They all have a different set of levels to play in. There is also a free mode. This is where you can train your people and prepare for the musou mode. Another mode is the endurance mode. Here you test your skills by seeing how many people you can kill without dying. The last mode is the versus mode. You fight in a mini arena. It is a 3 on 3 general match. Out of all of the modes you will probably be playing the musou mode the best.

Another great thing about this game is the weapon/item system. Sometimes when you defeat an enemy general you can pick up a weapon or item. For example, after you finish the level you will find out what the weapon is. If say you get a level 2 weapon and you already have one you can choose which one you want to keep. Since each has their own special abilities you will have to decide which one you want. Like if one has mounted defense +5 but you get a new one that's defense +10, you will probably want the defense +10. With the items they just have their one ability. So when you get one that's a higher level then the on you have, it will level up by itself. Also there are the ultimate weapons. They are insanely powerful but difficult to get. This will keep you playing for a while longer. So therefore, this weapon/item system fits very well with this game and is very fun to mess with.

In the battle itself it is set up like a war. There will be one side with its leader and officers against another army. You win by destroying the enemy leader. So basically you have to break through all of the other troops and officers to get there. Another thing in the game is morale. Each general has their own morale which goes up or down depending on how well their part of the army. Morale affects how well their troops perform. So, when you prepare to fight the enemy leader it helps to lower their morale to make them easier. The battle style is very fun and will keep you playing this game.

This game also has some RPG elements. After you defeat an officer or a gate captain you will get attack or defense +1,2,4,or 8. This raises your stats permanently. There are also life or musou +10s. The life up you should know raises your life. The musou up raises your special meter. Although it makes your special longer, it also makes it take longer to get your special. This is one of the reasons I bought this game.

Though there are a lot of great things to this game, there are some bad things. For example, after there are a lot of people on the screen at once, they disappear. This can get very annoying in a tough fight. Also this game can have some massive slow down at times. There are some other bad things but I need to move on to the next section.

Multiplayer
One of the best things about this game is that you can play multiplayer in every mode except the endurance mode. There is also the lightning musou. You can use this when you and your friend are close and you both have your specials. If you use them right at the same time you will use a mega special. Also, playing multiplayer makes this very difficult game a bit easier. When playing this game with a friend, it makes this game so much better.

Replay Value
This game is fun and you might want to beat the musou mode with a lot of players. Though this game can get repetitive it is fun while it lasts.

Buy or Rent
If you have 20 bucks and you want to buy a good hack-n-slash then this is a buy.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/05