Cons: Repetitive gameplay, fog of war, sub par graphics.
The Bottom Line: The Three Kingdoms War will never be the same... or should I say, never be looked on with as much respect, thanks to Koei's Dynasty Warriors 2.
Patach's Full Review: Dynasty Warriors 2 for PlayStation 2
The historical Three Kingdoms War in China is one of the greatest wars fought in what would become the most powerful civilization for centuries. This war united the country together, after years and years of battling each other.
So then, the game puts YOU in the Three Kingdoms War. Soldiers buzzing toward each other. Things seem so real you are compelled into medieval China as if you really were fighting in the war. You are frightened, yet willing to fight for your own kingdom, as you hurling your spear towards the enemy, intensity comes in and you are surprised by the war authenticity of the game prior to the Three Kingdoms War. The search for that game goes on… because Dynasty Warriors 2 definitely is not that game.
Dynasty Warriors 2 comes down to this conclusion, brainless and repetitive action. It plots you as one of the famous historical generals and leaders of the Three Kingdoms War, dividing the leaders in their own authentic historical path to their goal of taking over all of China. The Three Kingdoms war and the infamous Chinese Yellow Turban Rebellion is included in this game that seems to have the historical background of the entire game quite authentic… then you get to the actual game. The game plots you on a “unique” path throughout the entire Three Kingdoms war, where you can pick your own REAL historical leader for the path. Then we get to the actual gameplay.
You first start out as a small leader of actually one or two “bodyguards” who will fight to the death for you. Your leader is unique in statistics and what sort of weapon he or she (actually, there was no female leader in the Three Kingdoms War, but Koei thought it would be good for the feminist crowd, if they added Shu emperor’s daughter in to fight for no apparent reason) has. You are then put in a battle field with two sides coming at each other with masses and masses of soldiers with spears. Your mission is to assassinate the main leader of the opposing side. Yes, that’s all you have to do. Run all the way to the other side and whoop the big guy’s butt, and you are home free! This is the objective on EVERY battle that you fight in. The game attempts to mix RPG style action into the gameplay, as the more people you kill, the more powerful your leader becomes (and more heavily influenced, such as how many bodyguards you can lead with you or if you get to ride or horse or not). But even with this “complexity”, we still have complete crap. The gameplay is laughable at best, now, I know that the leaders during the Three Kingdoms War were definitely highly skilled in the arts of war… but DAMN! It becomes apparent that you can knock down hundreds and hundreds of enemy soldiers just by lashing out a few swings of your sword/mace/fan/baseball bat/whatever. Yes, that’s right, enemy soldiers are that many and that weak. When positioning yourself as walking holocaust, your power bar builds up on every person you beat up, when it hits full level, you are able to leash a big row of fury where you start maniacally and immaturely swing your weapon every where around you killing anybody in contact with your rapid blade of fury. This itself, is like a mini-nuclear bomb, as it takes out almost anybody in your vicinity and it impresses the hell out of your friends and family, before they find out how incredibly stupid this game is. In one battle you are able to kill over 1000 enemy soldiers… geez, I would hate to see China have those sort of people NOW, they would be the dominate country in the world!
However, there is somewhat a challenge to this, and that’s to try to open closed enemy gates in most battles. Each gate is controlled by a leader, and in order to open that gate, you must go and defeat the leader. Unless you hit the hard setting in options, you will not have much trouble butchering the leader into little pieces before moving on (especially with that stupid Fury move).
There are actually a few more elements that you have to deal with in Dynasty Warriors 2. For once, some high positioned enemy generals have horses. Once you knock them of their horse (which is hardly impossible), you can take the horse and proceed running around enemies. The horse is technically a tank going about 80 miles per hour. You can run over and kill almost anyone (which is your strength). Another thing is that you and the enemy can shoot arrows. Though, you have a limited supply, this can help you take down snipers or far away enemies… only because the rest of your side does not do this (actually, in some occasions, they do, but don’t count your stars).
All the levels are different rendered battlefields portraying actual battles during the Three Kingdoms War. Though extremely easy to beat, each one is excessively long and repetitive. Sometimes you’d die on purpose in order to rest. Graphics are also sub-par, though, thanks to Playstation 2 technology, the graphics are nice, with high resolution, and clear, the “fog of war” in which you are not able to see much of distance in this game really limits the scenery around this game. However, thanks to this excessive “fog”, things can be for the better in framerate, as you can have hundreds of soldiers in your screen without having to deal with any slow downs or choppiness. Plus, the soundtrack, though not suppose to be fit for a Chinese medieval oriented game, has a decent rock track… that loops around after about 3 minutes. Though it absolutely kills any desire for authenticity of the Three kingdoms War, it’s good enough to let through THIS sorry game.
This game shouldn’t have been made. It’s an abomination to the Three Kingdoms War, not to mention to all of the videogame market. Try another game with actual depth, such as Kessen, that may quench your thirst for oriental authentic war games.
This is a new type of action game that allows you to relive first hand the experiences that made these men and women the Warriors of the Three Kingdom...More at eBay
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