Dynasty Warriors 6

"Still a fun time."

Believe me, I know. As hard as it is to believe, Koei has released yet another Warriors title, although thankfully, this one is not a spinoff. A dozen some titles later, we're finally at the sixth iteration of this long-running series that, hopefully, everyone has at least heard of by now. Clearly you can see my point: Koei is not necessarily one to innovate. However, none can deny that these titles meet success, and I admit that I'm one of those people who eagerly gobbles up new Warriors titles. Now, after a few more spinoffs, Koei is back with the first next-gen Warriors game and some – at least for this series – pretty large changes. What results is something you probably could have guessed: fans will love it, haters will hate it, and it's the best time for a new player to jump in.

Although it's hard to imagine that, due to the number of these titles, there are people who haven't played at least one, I'm sure there are still a few who have managed to completely avoid this series. Every Dynasty Warriors title plays out like this: you select one of many generals from the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China and use that general to beat the crap out of thousands of mentally challenged enemy soldiers in order to unite China under your rule. The generals existed, and most of the battles did as well, but the history lesson more or less ends there. That having been said, what's been added or subtracted is more important to explain for players of past titles.

One very sad change is a slightly reduced cast of playable characters. The cast has lost seven characters, bringing the total down to 41. To make matters worse, only 17 generals have a storyline – what is known as a Musou Mode – which can only be seen as a bizarre change. To make matters worse still, many characters are simply “clones” of each other, with nearly identical movesets. For instance, no more Taishi Ci with his dual clubs, or Zhang He with his claws: the two now have basically the same set of moves. This strikes me as a particularly odd change as one of the more exciting aspects of the series has always been in the variety of movesets and generals. Making cuts doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.

Not all of the changes were negative, though. Character development has been changed, and what has resulted is – at least in my opinion – the best system so far. You get experience points based on how well you do and the generals you defeat, and your character gains levels, improving his stats. Each character also has his or her own “Skill Tree”, which allows you to purchase skills and upgrades as you gain levels. The system is simple enough, and although a maxed-out character will have a completed skill tree, at least it allows you some choice in the matter. The system also makes more sense than systems in games past.

Weapons are handled a bit differently, too. Weapons come in three flavors: Standard, Strength, and Skill (which may as well have been called Speed). Weapon mods and elemental attacks are all random, and there are no pre-set “ultimate” weapons for each character. The silly weight system of Dynasty Warriors 5 has been discarded. While it's a little less fun to not have a super-powered weapon to look forward to, the system still makes sense and if you play on hard enough stages, you'll get your fair share of decent weapons. Horses are handled in a similar manner.

Movement has been enhanced slightly, as well. Your character can now swim in bodies of water as well as climb ladders. While this doesn't exactly open up the world, it does allow for interesting strategy, and you can “sneak attack” generals by attacking from a higher elevation. All in all, while it doesn't change the game too much, it does add a wrinkle or two to the strategy, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The biggest change, though, is the combat system itself, which is now called the “Renbu System”. Basically, as you continue to attack enemies without receiving an undue amount of hurt in return, your Renbu Rank builds up, allowing you access to better and more powerful attacks. As you take hits or stay out of combat, your Renbu Rank drops. The Renbu system helps keep the combat from feeling artifically limited – older titles had a cap on the number of hits in a combo chain – because as long as you do not get hit, you can generate infinite combo strings. The character will cycle through the same attacks, but all in all, Renbu helps open up the stale combat system a little bit and encourages players to wade into the combat swinging, which is really what the game is all about.

Everything else about the game is pretty much secondary to the gameplay, although there are still a few things worth noting. Graphically, although the game did receive an upgrade and the character models are very nice, the game actually got worse. Dynasty Warriors 5 managed to get rid of almost all of the fogging problems of previous titles, but in this installment, it's even worse. There isn't actually any fog limiting your visibility range, but past a certain point, enemies simply don't exist. At least with the fog, it gave you an idea of how far out you could see, but now, you don't know if the distance contains nothing, or an entire pack of enemies. Worse, still, the game can experience some extremely heavy slowdown, reducing the game to a snail's pace. Granted, this only happens when there are hundreds of characters on the screen, but seeing as this is Dynasty Warriors, most players probably dive into such packs eagerly, and the frame rate drastically suffers as a result. This seems inexcusable now that we're in the era of Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Another odd omission is the lack of multiple language tracks: you're stuck with English. Especially given the storage capacity of a Blu-Ray disc, it seems sensible to include at least Japanese language tracks as well. The English voice actors are the same cheesy quality they've always been, and the same with the sound effects. If getting new voice actors isn't a priority, at least adding in multiple language tracks would be a prudent decision. The fact that each general says the same lines over and over again makes it even worse: a more diverse script would certainly have been welcome as well.

Bottom Line: Simple-minded fun has always been the strength of this series. I can't help but admit that I'm a sucker for this franchise. As always, there are plenty of things to do: weapons to acquire, generals to unlock, and faces to smash. The only question is whether or not this sort of game appeals to you. If it does, happy mashing: the Renbu System definitely helps add a new wrinkle to the stale combat. If you've never liked this series, this title definitely won't change your mind, and you can safely ignore it. If you still haven't experienced one of these titles, this is as good a place as any to start.

Graphics: 7
Sound: 6
Innovation: 4
Gameplay: 9
Replay Value: 9
Overall: 79, rounded down to 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/08

Game Release: Dynasty Warriors 6 (US, 02/19/08)