Dynasty Warriors Advance

"Repetitive"

Introduction-
Although I've never played any of the other Dynasty Warriors games, I've heard from many people about how absolutely amazing it is. After picking up Dynasty Warriors Advance, I'm wondering if all my friends have warped tastes. I don't see much merit in the game; not even if I consider the fact that it was made a while ago and that GBA isn't the greatest gaming system.

Gameplay-
This is the most important part of a game, but Dynasty Warriors Advance doesn't seem to care much about it.

The battle system is pathetic. First, you move around on a map to fight enemies. Okay, so there's tactics incorporated in the game; what's wrong with that? The problem is that it's not really tactics. At most, you get to choose which of two directions you want to go and both of them will get you to your destination.

Then, there's the actual fighting. I managed to get by all the fighting by pressing A, run, wait for the enemy to slash at the air, press A, run... Oh, and every five minutes, I press L and A to do an attack that lasts for a few seconds. Perhaps it's just me, but that does get quite repetitive after a while. It doesn't help that each enemy unit on the map consists of a few rounds of enemies, each round having five enemies. And guess what? Despite playing as a general, you fight by yourself and a few allies. For some reason, your one unit on the map is equal to one unit in the battle. Why is it called Warring States when it's really just a few guys miraculously beating up a hell lot of guys?

Story-
The story is okay. It's based upon ancient Chinese history, taking place during the Warring States period. More specifically, it takes place during the time when the last three kingdoms are fighting. The events are most probably based upon the Chinese novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Graphics-
The graphics are pretty good. The characters look like their historical counterparts. The graphics are far from the best, but considering the time it was made in, 32-bits isn't bad.

Sound-
The sound quality is average for GBA. I tend to just either drone it out or put it on mute and play something from my personal collection, though.

Replayability-
I wouldn't want to play it through, nevermind replay it. It's much too repetitive and the only part that isn't repetitive is the story, which you hear from every fifteen minutes of gameplay. But I'm not going to bash my buttons to death just so I can have a story which is in my library.

Final Recommendations-
If you like mindlessly bashing things in, try renting it to see if you like it. If not, I'd suggest to stay away from it.

Gameplay: 2/10
Story: 5/10
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 5/10
Replayability: 1/10
Overall: 4.2/10 (rounded to 4/10)

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/06