Dynasty Warriors 6

"Two steps foward, and three steps back"

Intro: The next installment of the classic hack n' slash game comes to the next generation and is based loosely on events and battles of Ancient China.

Gameplay: Who doesn't enjoy a beat 'em up game every now and then? Had a bad day? Take all the day's stress out on this. After starting up the game, the rest is simple to launch a battle: choose a stage, a hero (or villian, depending on how you look at it), and a mode of difficulty. The game can range widely in difficulties from dim-witted AI's to over the top AI's. On easy mode, you will find yourself facing stationary enemies, take it past hard, however, and you'll be losing a quarter of your life wihtin two hits. This variety of difficulties offer playing styles for those new to the series or the die hard fans. This game handles easier than butter. You ultimately use about three buttons; two to attack and one to block attacks, too easy!

Story: As stated above, this game is loosely base on the events and battles on Ancient China, albeit it has been tweaked a little. The story is basically one of three kingdoms and their quest to unify the land of chaos. You'll find yourself playing the same battles, just fighting them under different kingdoms.

Graphics/ Sound: In the case of most PS3 titles, dev's tried a little too hard to make this next-gen. Characters and landscapes look bright...and that's it. Sure it's a nice gesture, but also incredibly blinding, still, it's a lot better than other games released before this. If you play in 2-player mode, things get even worse. Since the screen is split horizontally, everything in no longer bright, but just flat. At least the sounds are good. When swinging your weapon against an opponent and it hits successfully, it actually sounds like the weapon is cutting armor, but if your enemy blocks, it sounds as if the two weapons are colliding. Throughout the battlefield, you'll hear the struggles of foot soldiers and the victory cheers after you just captured an enemy stronghold.

Play Time/ Replayability: Completing all three kingdom's and the fourth category of "other" can take a while depending on your skill and the mode of difficulty, and failing and having to restart a battle also adds to the playtime. Besides this, you can also play on higher difficulty stages and higher difficulties to earn higher powered weapons and horses with better abilities. You could also simply replay battles just for the heck of it.

Final Recommendation: Definitely rent if you're into this genre, and buy if you are a fan of the series.

Pros:
+ Great game for genre
+ Tons of playtime/ replayability

Cons:
- Graphics are a flop
- No 4th weapons to earn
- All items are completely random after battles

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/08

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