So, for my first review, I'll be discussing the Dynasty Warriors franchise. Specifically, Dynasty Warriors 5 onwards because of my exposure and experience with those games. Now, I played a lot of Dynasty Warriors when I was younger, a LOT. So much so before I knew it, I had unlocked every character and their special weapons. I guess that was kind of an addiction I had back then with hack and slash games. I was first exposed to Dynasty Warriors 5 when my cousin brought it over. I admit, I was hesitant to play it because I thought it was too challenging (I was 8 YEARS OLD, cut me some slack). However, once I picked up the controller and started to cut through enemy soldiers (for this review, I shall label them as peons), I couldn't stop. I was having too much fun. While I agree that these kinds of games might get repetitive for some, I just always enjoy relishing in the fact that I'm controlling an almost superhuman character with insane attacks that just blow everybody into the sky. And that's what makes this franchise so fun to play. It isn't just about the unique characters and their weapons and stories, but it's also about the sheer size of immersion that the franchise gives you. Being able to control an officer that is front lines of a huge battle, there's just something so fascinating about that. These are REAL battles that you get to fight in and knowing that you get to change the tide or alter history by repeatedly slashing hordes of peons with some of the most devastating attacks mankind ever laid eyes on is just too incredible (I'm surprised there AREN'T blood and guts flying through the screen).
The first Dynasty Warriors game wasn't the hack and slash game of its genre. It was instead, a two player arena type game (a fighting game) that allowed you to pick characters and pit them against each other in a duel to the death. Now, this isn't a good game to get started on in the franchise because the second game is a completely new game (should the first game even be called dynasty warriors?). That is where the REAL dynasty warriors gaming experience begins. In spite of this, the first few games had flaws and glitches that occurred because of the sheer amount of troops required to be on screen at one time. Granted, they still had a few bugs to fix considering its KOEI's first (dynasty warriors) hack and slash game, but it did not leave a generally positive impression on people. The next two games, Dynasty Warriors 3 and 4 were much better in the experience overall, as they fixed numerous glitches and bugs that were present in the second game. I would recommend people new to this series to start out at either 3 or 4 because of its smooth playability. But you can still start on any game after 2 because it's basically the same thing, just with better graphics each number up. Now, some people may think that I'm dissing the second game in this review. And you are correct (TROLLED). Anyway, the reason I hated 2 was because of its slow nature and *cough* the graphics. I know its a PS2 game and one of the first dynasty warriors games to be made, but seriously. The lack of texture in the ground and your surroundings would be like running around in a playdoh factory. It gets boring really freaking quick. Even though some people might prefer it this way, I just couldn't stand it. What I mean by slow is that it, for some reason, doesn't feel quite as fast paced as the other games in the series. It doesn't give you that feel like you're dominating someone even when you manage to get 100 K.O.s in a single musou attack. I don't know, it could just be me, but those are the reasons.
Now, pictured above is a screenshot from Dynasty Warriors 7. I could say that Dynasty Warriors games after the 5th one all became HD. Dynasty Warriors 6 and 7 were both released on the PS3 with graphics beyond your imagination (seriously, beyond even IMAGINATION?!). This was a godsend to a guy who has been playing the series on the PS2 in standard quality on a tube TV for the past 5 years. The standard controls for sweeping your weapon through huge ass mobs of peons still exists, but now you get some new elements like swimming (characters were too lazy to actually do it in standard quality). Now, instead of running into an invisible wall all the time when you get near a body of water, you can actually go for a dip and Michael Phelps your way through entire enemy fortresses. It seems that every character can swim now, even the old ones (sorry, bad joke). The immersion factor is definitely scaled up in terms of size in these versions as you have to deal with new elements such as height of the land impeding your march to the castle. Horses can also jump now, just like in Samurai Warriors, but that's another story.
Let's get to what I really wanted to focus on, Dynasty Warriors 5. This game changed me in ways I never thought possible. It introduced me to the hack and slash genre and made me realize that a game doesn't always have to have a huge story and plot to be awesome. It was also the game that I had the most fond memories of. This is an excellent game and is considered a staple of the franchise due to it having the most playable characters at that point in time and its unique renovation to the leveling system and weapon system. It was also the cast of DW5 that were featured most prominently in many of KOEI's spinoff games, like Warriors Orochi. Point is, if you were to take a look at the most famous Dynasty Warriors game in the PS2 age, this would be it. Just the sheer amount of characters is enough but coupled with the fact that each character had his or her unique story mode was mindblowing to me back then. The narration in the story mode was incredible. Each character had a voice actor that read the words that appeared on screen to the player and just hearing their voice makes you really sympathize with the character you're playing as, a BIG reason why I love this game. The stages were incredibly textured and it almost felt like you were in an actual war (by ancient China standards). What really caught my attention was the almost god-like qualities of Lu Bu, the strongest character in the game (along with Zuo Ci). It seems that whenever Lu Bu arrived on the battlefield and was your enemy (he was almost ALWAYS your enemy), your soldiers and officers would run screaming for the hills in a genuinely scared tone of voice. Your commanding officer always tells you to avoid fighting with Lu Bu and for good reason. If you're playing as a weak character (the qiao sisters) then you're gonna get freaking pissed on. Seriously. Even on easy mode, Lu Bu is a pain in the ass to get rid of, simply because of his action replay defense strength and constant, CONSTANT musou rage modes. Hell, I had a hard time killing Lu Bu while playing as Lu Bu. This made Lu Bu a living demon and the fact that he has his own theme song which plays every time you encounter him is truly amazing. All in all, DW5 is really fun to engage in either by yourself or with a buddy (that sounds wrong...). The hunt for some of the characters' ultimate weapons might have some writhing in frustration, but it's all worth it. Oh, and the fanservice of course.
Time for the last topic on this matter, the expansion games. More appropriately, they are called Dynasty Warriors X: Xtreme Legends, where X is an arbitrary number (sorry for bringing math into this). For example, they created Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends as an expansion to Dynasty Warriors 5 itself. The expansion boasts nothing more than a few more playable stages and modes. That is practically the case with every expansion game before DW7: Xtreme Legends. In DW7: Xtreme Legends, they actually added new characters in the series that you couldn't play as in the original game, a much bigger incentive to get it than the other expansions. No matter how many times I look at it, I feel that the expansion games are nothing more than an effort by KOEI to make more money. I mean, it's not like they released the the original game and realized, "Oh! We forgot to make this and that! Let's spend an entire year on building new content that we left out and could improve the game!" Now, that excuse might have been acceptable had the expansions actually come out a year later. However, the expansions come within mere weeks or months after the original, leading me to speculate that they did indeed plan on leaving something out of the original game as an incentive for players to buy the expansions. In spite of all this, the Dynasty Warriors franchise has certainly earned a welcoming place in my heart as it is one of those games that I will never regret laying my hands on.
Except for this....but that is yet another freaking story.
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