Dynasty Warriors Advance

"Destined for the bargain bins..."

Since the release of Dynasty Warriors V for PlayStation 2, I instantly fell in love with the series. It's no exception that I would take an interest in some of its predecessors and spin-offs, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Kessen. However, the first portable installment in the lengthy Dynasty series is sure to provide many disappointments for even the most hardcore fans. Coupled with the game's unusual lack of support -- including a mere 12-page black-and-white manual -- it is difficult to imagine this under-budgeted release as actually having some relation to the massively popular Dynasty Warriors franchise.

Gameplay - 3 / 10

Like previous Dynasty games, the player leads a chosen officer unit into the fray of combat, slaying hundreds of nameless soldiers, as well as a few enemy officers along the way. However, there is a slight difference in how this is done -- rather than exploring a large field in real-time, the player is presented with a map screen, and must move the officer across various nodes on the map. These nodes may be populated with enemy encounters, events, random treasures, and so forth. Personally speaking, I thought this was a good addition. At times, it can give the game a more strategic feel, like you would get with playing a game of Risk. At other times, map navigation can become extremely tedious, such as when random enemy ambushes occur, or enemy units side-track and defeat your commander. (resulting in an instant game over) There are also many frustrating occurrences to watch out for, such as enemies razing your keeps or supply lines, or calling down random catastrophes using "black magic." However, some of these events occur in the player's favor, as well.

With combat, the player is taken from the map screen and placed in a small battlefield populated by enemy units. From here, we deal with an action sequence of simply unleashing several attacks and combos, a la the usual Dynasty formula. However, there are three factors which make this process extremely tedious:

1.) At the top left-hand corner of the screen, there is an enemy counter. The first number represents the number of enemies slain, and the second represents the total enemy roster. Basically, about 6 enemies will appear at any one time. Once they are slain, 6 more will appear, and so forth, until all enemies are vanquished. This makes action sequences unnecessarily long -- especially when there are 40 or 50 enemies per sequence. (this occurs quite a bit in later battles) Enemy officers are no exception, as they are usually preceded by several enemies before appearing on-screen.

2.) Compared to other installments in the series, enemies now have a considerable amount of health. Without performing combo attacks, it would take 10 or 20 hits to slay a single foe. However, certain foes are weak against certain combos, making them easier to defeat. This creates another problem -- all action sequences merely consist of using a formula of combos over and over again depending on which enemy type appears. (swordsman, spearman or archer) The process becomes redundant and, at some point, just plain dull.

3.) Most of the player's strength and skill depend upon a power-up gauge near the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. As the player unleashes combos and defeats opponents, he or she gains access to various power-ups which boost damage, speed and general effectivity. The problem is that, without activating every power-up available early on during the battle, the action sequences will take a much, much longer time to complete.

After completing several action sequences, the player will eventually reach the enemy commander, which is always the main objective of each battle. Defeating the commander will allow the player to progress in his or her scenario. Of course, each battle is comprised of other trials and goals, as well. Sometimes, the enemy commander will not appear until after the player deals with these other objectives.

As the player progresses through each battle, he or she will occasionally gain levels and discover new items. Leveling-up will, of course, make the officer more effective. Finding new items or weapons will give the officers a broader range of abilities to choose from. Some weapons may provide higher statistics, while others may simply have various abilities. (such as firing long-range shots)

Interestingly enough, there are some 200 weapons to be found, which is a time-consuming process. Most weapons are obtained randomly by finding treasure-chests scattered across various nodes on the map. Some are also found by completing certain objectives, such as slaying optional high-level officers. This does tend to give the game some replay value, though. Coupled with difficulty settings, the player should always be able to find an adequate challenge from the game.

Even considering all of this, after completing just one officer's scenario, it is difficult to pick the game up later to complete another, as the player has already seen the ins and outs of the entire game.

Graphics - 2.5 / 10

The graphics department is, perhaps, the greatest downfall of this release. The character design is probably the most noticeable detail of all, as the officers take on a sort of "chibi" look with large heads and small bodies. This is not necessarily the extent of my complaint, though -- the graphics just lack detail in general. With everything being poorly designed and animated, it's often difficult to take the game seriously.

I didn't think that the map and background designs were as horrible as the characters, but they do lack a lot of detail. The maps would have presented a better theme if they were hand-drawn and less colorful. And the battle backgrounds are far too symmetrical, making everything seem flat rather than having some perspective.

Sound - 4.5 / 10

Fortunately, the sound department did not suffer terribly. Many of the sound effects are fairly accurate, and manage to fit the theme quite well. There are also a few voice-overs, where officers may sometimes call out their victory. The music is also fair, staying true to the usual Rock-theme found in other installments. It is, however, quite loopy and repetitive at times, and only consists of a few short themes.

Conclusion

Overall, I did enjoy the game somewhat during my first time through. However, trying to complete other scenarios quickly becomes a tedious and boring process which must be done over and over again in order to unlock all of the extras. While I do feel that this presents a fair amount of replay value, it hardly seems worthwhile at times, and can leave you with a lack of further interest.

If you consider yourself a hardcore fan of the Dynasty series, then you may want to pick this game up simply for the sake of having it. Otherwise, it's not worth whatever price-tag it may bear -- even if it's moved to the bargain bin along with all those arcade collections. Actually, I think "Pac-Man Collection" looks pretty good right about now...

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 09/15/06