Dynasty Warriors 6

"Dynasty Warriors Fanbase After This Game? Same as the last one. Minus a few."

In the world of Rainbow Six and The Orange Box, with that awe-inspiring game, Portal, where players can rant and rave about they're weighted companion cubes and how the cake is most certainly, without a doubt, a lie, Dynasty Warriors 6 pales in comparison. But with the Playstation 3 and the XBox 360 still in its baby-days, there aren't really many options to put your money in these days. Dynasty Warriors 6 is a good buy for new players, and a must-have for fans of the series. I am a diehard fan of Dynasty Warriors, I worship the very ground that KOEI walk on because of this series, it has given me years and years of hack-and-slash goodness that is hard to match and almost impossible to find anywhere else, unless you know where to look - which I don't. Saying that, the fanbase for this game when compared to that of 5, even 3 and 4, is almost the same. Players hopinhg to get into the series are encouraged to go out and buy Dynasty Warriors 4, 5 and 3 in that order, as I personally find them to range from good to perfect in that order.

Dynasty Warriors 5 brought the cast of the series to a all time high, and Dynasty Warriors 6 brought it back down again, with the omission of several well-loved characters, such as Zuo Ci from Dynasty Warriors 5 and Jiang Wei. Many players of the series exclaimed with suprise with the deletion of Da Qiao but not her sister, Xiao Qiao, I do not as yet know the reason for this. This action to remove these characters along with some others has had a mixed reaction, some realise that the characters removed were those who suffered the most in terms of gameplay in the other games, others are just wondering "Why?" has it seems to be a step in the wrong direction. There are 41 playable generals as of DW6 with only 17 of them having Musou Modes, and many of the generals being "move-set clones" of the others, the fact that only 17 have Musou Modes is a big let-down, as it shows some clear favouritism issues with the game, it has always been known that poster-boy, Zhao Yun was an old favourite with KOEI, and in this game, it is no different, just like on DW5, he is the first officer highlighted when you enter Musou Mode. He is also the officer shown ripping through China in the opening movie, just like in DW5. While I do agree Zhao Yun is a good character, I think KOEI need to calm down a bit. Other characters shown favouritism are Cao Cao (who now has this name pronounced CORRECTLY in this game!) and Gan Ning.

While many consider the "cloning" aspect to be a let-down, I am one of those of the opinion that it isn't that bad - I will always play Dynasty Warriors for as long as I live, and I am not bothered by replaying the same-old characters over and over again, I've often wiped-clean my memory cards on the other games and started again. So this won't bother me, it'll just allow me to hone my skills with those characters - whilst using different characters! The new Renbu System gives me a thrill - being able to slowly work my characters up from lowly generals to wargods just makes me giggle everytime I think about it, it really is a joy. Again, the game alienates new players to the game by being frustrating annoying at the beginning, but this translates in being frustrating for ALL characters, with the omission of items, it is no longer possible to prebuff up your characters with the Tiger Amulet to turn them into gods. The new Warhorse system gives the game a few element, allowing the player to train they're own Warhorse, eventually in the hope of training the Red Hare! The horses gain many interesting abilities on leveling up as well, some of which are truly fantastic and you will want to take advantage of them.

The Graphics, if you're playing on a HD-Ready Television, are amazing. If your not, they're still amazing. I've heard Mini-map clarity is not as clear on non-HD TV's, but I cannot comfirm this. The game has truly gone overboard in the terms of graphics, with your characters seemlessly performing complex moves and attacks in an atmosphere that feels truly alive. There are moments when the game overloads, and it causes the game to slow down - but these will not annoy you as it only happens in the heat of really massive battles and adds to the splendor of war and makes you feel truly powerful. Well, I did anyway. If your a old-fan of the series, get this game, it is "unlikely" to disappoint if your a real die-hard fan, but if your not. Skip this game in favour of the earlier games, working your way up to Dynasty Warriors 6. And beware; Lu Bu is still the Monster he always was, being the ONLY general to attain 1000 in every stat when maxed out.

I give this game overall a 8 out of 10, due to the fact that it is worth the time to play it, but it does have its problems - the lack of content due to the reduced Musou Modes, the fact that KOEI got LAZY and didn't think to come up with unique move-sets for each character. But apart from that, this game is flawless, in my eyes, at least.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/24/08

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