Dynasty Warriors 5

"This game is addictive."

Dynasty Warriors 5 is the fifth game in the Dynasty Warriors series by Koei, and continues the fight to reunite the land of China and bring peace.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics are nothing special, but that doesn't really matter. There are a bunch of cool CG animations which have cool fight scenes and good dialogue and plot revelation, and some cinematics occur during battles which also have cool fight scenes. The opening CG cinematic is the coolest CG I have ever seen in a game, even over Ninja Gaiden.

Gameplay: 10/10

The gameplay is great. The game is organized into 48 different characters, and you can fight with each of them in between 4 and 10 battles each. The coolest thing about this game is you can kill thousands of enemy soldiers single-handedly. There's basic attacks, combos, Musou(a powerful attack), true Musou(a really powerful attack), Musou Rage(increases your speed and attack), jump and air attacks, and range attacks(bow and arrow). Plus each character varies in all these aspects. On the battlefield, there's always an objective which you have to accomplish to win. It's usually to kill the enemy commander, which is like a boss battle. If you have trouble, you can hire a bodyguard to accompany you. After the battle, your character receives new items, weapons, and levels, and your bodyguard also gains levels. Overall, the gameplay is the greatest part of the game.

Sound: 8/10

It's nothing special. The sound effects occur when they are supposed to, but they're just not that cool. You get to hear the screams and war cries of your fellow soldiers under your command, so that's pretty cool.

Story: 10/10

The general story isn't very unique, although it's pretty interesting: The Han Dynasty has fallen in 200 A.D. and three different groups are fighting to establish a country based on their own ideas and desires. The cool thing about the story is that you get to see the story through 48 different characters' point of view, not to mention their own personal stories.

Overall: 9/10

This game is great, and I would recommend buying it if you can, it's available for XBOX and PS2. It's a very addictive game, so watch your schoolwork and your sleep, seriously, I've been playing it for about 4 hours for the last 4 days.
Buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/20/05