5 comments

(I'm submitting this review as part of the FiringSquad Editors Challange)


Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2
PSP
Koei

I remember playing Dynasty Warriors 4 with my flatmate on the Xbox a few years ago, and whilst it was fun, it got pretty old, quickly. It was just running around, trying to find 'officers' to kill whilst fighting through hundreds of enemies on screen. Even multiplayer got kind of boring after a while of doing the same old same old. Well, the move to a portable system hasn’t really done the series any favours. If you’ve played one Dynasty Warriors, you’ve played them all.

This game offers nothing new to fans of the series. It’s the same typical story set in Ancient China and you’re a superdooper general warrior guy, and you have to move through the game fighting lots and lots of bad guys. There’s less on screen opposition because of the hobbled power of the PSP, and the game suits a more portable format with smaller and shorter battles divided into a more convenient board-game type map, but essentially this is the exact same game as it always has been. You run about (or ride about on horse back when you unlock it) and kill lots and lots of bad guys by pressing a button repeatedly. When you get to a boss, you start using other buttons to pull off combos. Rinse and Repeat.

Admittedly, at first there’s something cathartic about staring at the screen pressing a single button, and it’s relaxing, Zen like even. And maybe that’s the appeal of the series. But then, after doing this for roughly 15 minutes, you realise actually how excruciatingly boring it is. You’re doing the same thing over and over and over. Sure, occasionally you have to press other buttons, and you can unlock weapons and items that help you destroy more enemies sooner, but basically you sit there and press the same button over and over watching the same on-screen action over and over.

There was so much potential here too – the map could have been made more tactical, with a better ability to control and order troops about. The Generals you unlock could have been more useful in battle instead of just standing there, looking goofy. The enemy AI could have been made better too – made to out flank and out manuver you, but it just stands there waiting to be killed.

So, my advice would be unless you like the Dynasty Warriors games and haven’t gotten sick of them, or are one of those weird obsessive types who sit at stop lights, enjoying pressing the cross button all day every day, I’d really not bother with this game, and lets hope that Koei will eventually see the light and offer us something really different in Volume 3.