Dynasty Warriors 6 Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 28th April 2008

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The Dynasty Warriors return in their sixth installment.

Dynasty Warriors 6 Details:

	Action
	PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
	Koei
	Koei

12+

Out Now

N/A

The Dynasty Warriors games seem to have been around for a long time now, letting players take part in epic battles set in medieval China. But the biggest question has to be does this sixth instalment in the series bring anything new or is it all starting to feel a little old now?

The story of Dynasty Warriors 6 is based on the battles ignited by the fall of the Han Dynasty when three rebellious states moved to overthrow the Emperor of China. The games story is full of corruption and treachery with you being able to follow it from three different viewpoints.

Dynasty Warriors 6 features several modes of play a Musou Mode which basically acts as the games campaign. This is split into three different stories, one for each of the playable characters featured in the game. Free Mode, in this mode you are able to play in any of the missions from the Musou mode which you have already completed. The final mode is the Challenge, in this mode you have to complete a set task and achieve a score to become the leader. These include taking out a set number of enemies, travelling to every base on a map as fast as possible or breaking as many objects in a set time. Challenge mode also features online ranking on PlayStationNetwork or Leaderboards on Xbox Live.

Battles themselves are a rather simple hack and slash affair, you are required to go from point to point defeating various enemy armies. These are largely made up of simple soldiers that don’t really prove to difficult to beat. However, they are always accompanied by various lieutenants and commanders who while are more of a challenge still shouldn’t trouble you too much.

During battle you are able to pull off various combo’s as well as use a number of special moves once you have generated enough musou. You are also able to unlock new moves and abilities through the games experience system, which is gained from defeating commanders and lieutenants within the game, this is also how new weapons and other items are unlocked.

Before each mission you are taken to a preparation screen, here you can choose which skills to upgrade and what weapon to equip your character with from those you have been awarded during battles. Each weapon has different strengths and weaknesses that will affect your character during battle. You also choose which warhorse to take into the fight with you, and each horse gains experience from taking part in battles.

Prolonged play in previous games always became a little tiresome and this latest version in the series is no different as all of the games missions pretty much consist of doing the same thing over and over. Another slight gripe with the game I had was it can be a little hard to follow what’s going on, as the games map isn’t the easiest to follow. Also you often have requests barked at you from different allies at the same time. These are usually asking for your help, deciding on which one to go and assist can also mean the success or failure of a mission so deciding which one to assist is critical, keeping in mind if you fail a mission right at the end, next time you try you have to replay the whole thing again. Another annoyance is allies tend to run off and engage further enemies mid battle, this can often end up in them being killed as you’re still engrossed in the original battle and once again this means a missions failure is sometime out of your hands.

Both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game play exactly the same, the game completely lacks any online multiplayer support, although another player can join you in the campaign mode on the same console.

Graphically the game looks ok but is nothing exceptional, environments are fairly varied however most of the games characters look similar and bases on the maps are all exactly the same. Animation for the most part is good, although some of the games characters tend to move in a rather strange, but amusing way.

Sound effects in Dynasty Warriors are pretty good; however the voice acting is poor and quite annoying. Music is pretty much what you would expect from an arcade style hack‘em up.

Dynasty Warriors series may have made it to its sixth outing but for me the series is feeling a little tired, with no major leaps forward in this latest instalment. The repetitive play and lack of multiplayer support makes it difficult to recommend the title to anyone other then the most hardened fan of the series.