this Dynasty deserves to fall
Written: Aug 09 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Well...it isnt complete crap
Cons: Animation,music,BORING
The Bottom Line: I dont recommend DW. The sequels are good, but this is just a horrible second rate mediocre 32-Bit 3D fighter.
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| flash-hammer's Full Review: Dynasty Warriors for PlayStation 1 |
Fairly unique in that its sequels were in a totally different genre, Dynasty Warriors was Koei's attempt at a 3D fighting game. Seeing as every other company out there was trying to come up with the new Tekken, Koei decided to take a bash at Namco's much better weapons based fighter Soul Blade's crown. The game features fighters who apparently really did exist in ancient China, and is designed to appeal to fans of their Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, none of which I have ever played.
The game is set, as you may have gathered in Ancient China. The story is really not there, and the game just uses a fighter to represent an army. There is no fighting tournament or anything, its just a one-on-one fight that is supposed to symbolise a war between two armies.
Graphically, the character models look decent enough for your average 3D fighter for the PlayStation, nothing special and a bit blocky, but not too terrible. One thing that is incredibly disapointing is the animation of the fighters. They just seem so robotic, and just do not move fluidly at all. For instance, one of the fighters holds his sword with both hands, and the way he stands, and the way his basic attack is animated makes him remind me of a Thundercats toy I had when I was a kid. Said toy was of the character Hatchiman, who was a samurai, and his action feature was a two handed sword chop. When your animation looks like an 80s action figure (even a pretty good for the time 80s action figure), you know you are in trouble. The stages in which you fight look a bit better though, although it is mainly the backgrounds that look great, with the area you actually duel in being fairly plain.
Should you complete 1P Battle (read:Arcade) mode, you will see a short Tekken-style CG video, the graphical quality of which is mediocre, with the character models in these still looking pretty blocky.
The control system goes as follows:
Square: Slash
Triangle: Thrust
X: Parry
Circle: Redirect
You also have a 'Musou' attack. In normal fighting games, they call this a super move. You build up a little meter as you fight, and when it is full you have access to a very powerful attack. Here each character has 2, and they are performed via the universal command of Quarter-circle forward + Square+X and QCF+Circle+Triangle.
If you are wondering what redirect is, it is the simple act of dodging an attack and giving yourself an opening for an attack. This, like Parry, doesnt seem to respond all that well all of the time. When you press it, it seems more luck than good judgement if it works or if you get hit.
The two attack controls respond decently enough, but the Musou attacks arent always as responsive, although that might be down to the PlayStation's D-Pad which I've never liked.
The sound in the game is restricted to music that is mostly highly forgettable, with the only tracks being memorable are the ones that just stand out as not fitting in with the game at all. Dao Chan's tune is the prime example of this, seeing as it sounds like a Sonic the Hedgehog song more than one you would expect to duke it out to in a fighting game.
Overall, the game is just too bland. It is hard to get into a fighter where each warrior looks more like a robot than a martial arts warrior trained with a weapon. Even when the character's are on the recieving end of attacks, they dont really look like they are being hurt, just getting hit.They just rear their heads back and stand there.
The weapons on offer also dont do much to inspire. The majority of them are spears or halberds, and some of them are just plain rubbish. One character's looks like a giant metal lolipop poorly rendered in 3D, and the less said about Dao Chan's 'enchanted maces', which look like maracas with extra long handles the better.
There just really isnt any reason that a fighting game fan with a PlayStation should put in the effort to find this game, when there are much better fighters out there for the console.Better 2D fighters, better 3D fighters, better weapons based fighters, just generally better fighting games of every description.
I can't even recommend it to fans of the series, seeing as it is so drastically different, and drastically poor in comparison to the sequels that it would probably crush you soul, and love for the series.
Koei learned their lesson and quickly done away with the idea of Dynasty Warriors as a fighting game, and in its (so far three) sequels, it has become a far more suitable Slash 'em up come war game that even in its worst incarnations are much more fun and playable than this.
The only thing that saves this from a one star review is the fact that while it is disgustingly bland with nothing going for it above any of the major competitors, is that it isnt terrible. While it is one of the most uninspiring fighting games I have ever played, it was at least competently made.
Recommended:
No
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flash-hammer
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