Sadly, not a fighting game based on the old TV show
Written: May 26 '05
Product Rating:
Pros: Great fun,graphics
Cons: ill-fitting music, a tad repetitive
The Bottom Line: It may not revolutionise gaming, but Dynasty Warriors 2 certainly does a good job of bringing the good old Beat/Slash 'em Up up to date.
flash-hammer's Full Review: Dynasty Warriors 2 for PlayStation 2
Given that the original Dynasty Warriors was a fairly lame Soulblade wannabe released in the flood of 3D fighting games in the 90s for the PlayStation, I'm sure I can be forgiven for not only passing up, but wondering why such things existed as sequels to the game. It wasn't until one day I happened to just be bored and looked at the back of one of the sequel's sleeves and discovered that while the game featured a lot of the same characters as the lame 1-on-1 fighter I played, and it kept the ancient Chinese 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' setting, but this was now, in terms of gameplay, a whole new kettle of fish.
Dynasty Warriors 2 cost me a grand total of £3, so I didn't go into it with huge expectations, but such has been it's impression on me that I even purchased the next sequel for the XBox, and I'm making plans to not only invest in the 4th series installment, but the offshoot Samurai Warriors as well. Considering I paid well over double the price for the lame original, I would say I got a pretty good deal on the game.
Dynasty Warrios 2 is still a fighting game, but not of the same ilk as it's prequel. This is closer to a Beat 'em Up, where you pick a famous warrior from one of the three kingdoms and slash your way through opposing armies in various historical battles. You can choose from a selection of 3 warriors per kingdom, that's to begin with, as there are loads more warriors to unlock by completing Musou Mode, which is the main single player option. The battles aren't fought by just you, oh no, you'll be fighting on the side of an army, although how much use your AI controlled buddies are is debatable. Your warrior has three types of attack at his disposal, as well as the ability to fire arrows and even mount a horse for a speedier travel accross the battlefield. It's not an exaggeration to say that you will go up against hundreds of enemies, and it truly is a rush the first time you get charged by a platoon of enemy soldiers, especially if you've lost all your bodyguards and close allies, so it's up to you to take them on.
There are two main gameplay options, Musou Mode and Free Mode. Musou is the main single player mode, where you take part in all the battles your chosen warrior did, constantly 'levelling up' RPG style by defeating more, and more worthy opponents. Levelling up can lead to more health, improved strength and better weapons amongst other advantages. Free Mode is designed basically to level up your characters for use in Musou Mode, allowing you to play any completed battle to try and increase your level. Stages are won by the defeat of the enemy Leader, and lost if your Leader is killed. Battles can go on for a pretty long time it has to be said, so it's not a good idea to sit down with DW2 for a short gaming session. One thing that I like about this game that was oddly removed from the next sequel was the ability to save at certain points during levels. This makes completing Musou mode a whole less obnoxious task, and generally enhanced my enjoyment out of the game, being able to actually quit a battle halfway through and no I won't have to start it from the beggining.
As I mentioned, your character has 3 attacks at his/her disposal. A regular move which can be combo-ed, a Charge attack, which can be used independantly to hit several enemies, or used to end combos, and a Musou Attack, which can only be activated when a bar below the warrior's health is filled, a process performed by killing enemies. Musou attack basically whips your warrior into a fury, as he mangles all enemies that dare come anywhere near him.
With the exception of the ally AI, my only other real complaints about the gameplay focus on the enemy AI, which is usually either a bit stupid, in the case of the cannon fodder enemies, which I expected anyway, and the turtling nature of the enemy Warrior characters. The only other complaints are cases of characters fading in and out, although that's an expected evil when you try to cram in this much war onto a PS2 game, and that the horseback riding is pretty horrible to control when it comes to battling on them. The game can become repetitive, but that's only if you try to complete it entirely with playing sessions in too close proximity to each other. The fact that the level goals never change, and how long battles can take does make it repetitive if you play it too much, but spacing out playing sessions, maybe a battle inbetween plays of other games, really adds life to the game, stopping it from getting too tiresome.
When it comes to the gameplay, I find DW2 to be really good fun, although the fact I've now played the sequel detracts some of my enjoyment of the second installment. The introduction of 2-Player play, both Co-Op and VS in the third game really does highlight the fact that it should have been included in 2, but the simple fact is that the game is fun if you liked Beat 'em Ups, as it's the closest thing to a successful attempt to bring the genre up to date, and there really is no feeling quite like swathing through a literal army of enemies with your sword/axe/spear to emerge victorious in battle.
There is no actual story as such, it just allows you to play battles from various periods in Chinese history after the fall of the Han Dynasty, where the forces that toppled it went to war over control of China.
Graphically, the game is pretty great, especially for an early PS2 title. While I mentioned it does suffer from some fading, the character models all look excellent, with their armour being wondefully textured and metallic in appearance. They are also beautifully animated, with the motions being smooth, and a general pleasure to view. The stages are fairly well rendered, if rather bland in most cases, consisting of fields with the odd castle and such.
Sound in the game isn't too hot. The dubbed voices are a bit goofy and unintentionally stoic and amusing, and whyever Koei decided to soundtrack the game with cheesy 80s power rock sounding guitar as opposed to some form of orietal music that would, you know, fit with the theme of the game.
I can't claim to have encountered any problems with the layout of the controls, and 98% of their response I have no issues with. My only problem is when it comes to blocking. It just doesn't seem to do it very well. It seems to first change the camera and then block, not do the pair in sync. Why they didn't assign them different buttons I don't know. But anyway, for the most part it works out fine.
Overall, I have to say that the majority of my feelings towards Dynasty Warriors 2 are positive. It's a great fun little game that I usuall sit and blast into after work at night, and while I rarely do more than 1 battle in one sitting, I've never had a session of it and came out feeling negative. My only complaints, and the only things stopping it from getting full marks, are that it can grow repetitive if you play it too much, and while this can be said about any game, this in particular, given it's nature, does so faster than most games, but for those who enjoy good old Beat and Slash 'em Ups will definitely get a kick out of the game, although it's sequels may add more features and so on, if it's just a cheap slasher you are after, I would recommend Dynasty Warriors 2.
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