Case Cover
Dynasty Warriors
Case Cover
Game File
Publisher: Koei
North America Release: March 16, 2005
Number of Players: 1
Wi-Fi Mode: N/A
The day when the PSP was launched in North America, this was the first game I purchased. Purchasing this game was one of the reasons I brought a PSP after seeing some demo movies of it on the net. I have never played a Dynasty Warriors game before so I didn't know what to expect.
About the game
Dynasty Warriors is loosely based on the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" novel that takes place in ancient China. Although the story is pretty much fiction, the events & some of the characters are real. Three kingdoms battling against each other in order to gain supreme control over China. I don't know much about this historical event, so I'll just stop here.
The game is the same as past Dynasty Warriors games as this is a port of Dynasty Warriors 4 with some features missing & added for portability play. This game was made before PS2's Dynasty Warriors 5, so the characters here are the same ones you'll find in Dynasty Warriors 4. Instead of just hacking & slashing, the game has some strategy elements to it. So you won't be running around the fields mindlessly killing people most of the time.
Like every Dynasty Warriors game, you play as one of the characters from either the Shu, Wei, or Wu campaign trying to gain control of China. When you unlock some features, you will be able to play four more campaign scenarios.
Graphics
The still portraits of the characters in the character selection screen are quite good with an expectation of a few. Some look very good while some look like last minute jobs or little effort was put into them.
For the gameplay part, the background scenery looks good from a distance. But looking at them up close, you can see "blocks". The same goes with the characters. If you pay very close attention to them, you can see them blocky. The movements are smooth as they run down the field & swing their weapons. If you are not very picky, the graphics are pretty good on the PSP.
Music & Sounds
Nice, crisp, & clean. Although the sound effects weren't great in my opinion. The hitting & cutting didn't sound too real, but it was fair.
The music did have an Asian feel to it. But it sounded kind of weird to hear it in a rock style. But it fitted with the gameplay in terms of the mood.
Gameplay
If you have played a Dynasty Warriors game before, you pretty much know how it is. Running around hacking & slashing people. If this is your first Dynasty Warrior, don't worry as the game is fairly easy to pick up.
There are 2 playing modes: Musou Mode & Free Mode. Musou Mode is basically story mode. Free Mode is where you can revisit stages you have been. Whatever stats & officers you gain from completing the stage gets carried over, provided that you save the game.
The maximum level your character can reach is 10. Your weapon changes when you hit level 7 & there is no way for your character to change to a different weapon. As you character's level increases, his/her attack pattern will change a bit. At the end of the stage, your character's level will reset back at 1 & you will return to your basic weapon as you enter into the next stage. However, the character's stats build stays intact.
But what makes this Dynasty Warriors differ from the previous versions are the two new features: officer system & field movement.
Unlike the previous versions, the stage is broken down into small areas. The game is designed like this to allow easy access in saving your progress. Also, it will require some thinking as well. Some of the areas has routes that will affect your army's morale & health. It also shows your enemies' positions. As you are battling in the field, your allies & enemies will move around the map & you will receive pop up messages of main events happening. Their movements can affect your strategy.
The disadvantage of this field movement system is the supply time. Each stage is timed based on the amount of supplies your camp has. As you fight in the fields, you lose some supply time. Since there are no healing items, you have to heal yourself by going to a supply depot. By doing that, you lose some supply time. In order to increase that time, you have to take over an enemy's supply depot. Depending on some stages, you may get more than enough or a shortage of them. Therefore, you have to plan your route wisely. Taking the shortest route may not be the best method since the enemy generals could be more than you can handle based on your character's level.
The officer system is also another element for your strategic brain. Each officer brings a different set of skills & abilities for your army, so you can't just choose them randomly. They can help your character's stats build or weaken it. I strongly recommend that you read the games instruction manual for the list of skills & abilities that are available to the game since there are a lot of them!
Since your officers will fight with you, you have to watch out for them. Each officer can be use a certain number of times. By selecting them, he/she will lose one turn. However, you will regain that turn back when you complete the stage. But if they die in battle, that turn is gone I believe. So far, I haven't lost an officer after completing a stage. If I do lose an officer in battle, I just reset my game & start over. But it is very seldom for high leveled officers to die in the battlefield.
The battles can be bad at times due to the moral system. When you try to attack a enemy general with their morale being low, you may not be able to finish the job. When it hits zero, the area is cleared even though you didn't defeat the general and he/she may not return to the stage. Fighting in an area with the enemy's morale begin high with no enemy generals can be boring as you spend your time running around killing enemies mindlessly. This is usually the case at enemy forts.
One major problem with the gameplay is that it suffers from lag at times. When there are a lot of people or buildings in view, the game slows down a lot! I don't know if it's due to the PSP software restriction on the CPU speed or the game itself. If Sony releases a firmware update that removes the restriction & lets the PSP run at 333Mhz, it maybe possible that the game will not slow down under those situations.
Extras, Bonuses, & Secrets
As you play the game, you will unlock more characters & have a chance to play 4 different campaign scenarios to enhance the game's replay value. They are 42 playable characters. On the officer side, there are 200 officers available. Of those 200 officers, some of them are characters from Samurai Warriors & Suikoden. The characters from Samurai Warriors will have their own sprites & attack patterns, while the Suikeden ones uses the default general sprites & mimic other characters attack patterns. For example, Li Shi Shi uses the Lady Guard sprite & uses the same weapon & movements as Zhen Ji. The officer biography is quite a nice feature if you are interested in their history even though it is brief.
Replay Value
With 42 playable characters, each having their own attack styles, this game can keep you busy for awhile. However, the story is based on the character's campaign so you won't get a story of the individual character. If you plan to unlock everything in the game, you probably paid your money's worth. At most, I think the game will last you 6 months. If you play it like crazy, you'll probably finish it in 3 or 4 months or less.
Overall Conclusion
Since this is a hack & slash type of game, it can get boring pretty quick. At the time of writing this, I'm still playing it since launch day as I try to unlock all 200 officers. This is one of the reasons why I'm still playing it. I would give this game a 7.5/10. The reason behind this score is due to the unlockable extras & repetitive "running away mindlessly killing people" gameplay which I kind of like.
Last updated on July 10, 2007
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