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From now on, i'll start a series of test on this board, called "Let's review..." The goal? make you know the valor of a game, why it is good or why it sucks; Unlike the rest of my articles, theses tests will be subjectives, and far away of the word "professional". I'll try to make one review per week, if i can, more will be made. I can review games from every platform. If you have any special will of review, just tell me through one of the tests or PMs, I'll be happy to do so. Of course, you are welcome to comment the reviews, give ideas to improve it and give your own thoughts about the reviewed game!
So have fun reading theses, and let's begin!
Dynasty warriors 6: Empires (PSP)
DW6 have just been released in japan, and yet thousand of fans are waiting for it to arrive in America and Europe. Mix politics, strategy and huge battlefields, add an mid-age chinese ambiance, and a simple gameplay, you will have the summary of all the last episodes of the series, even if the lasts ones were an improvement. What will this episode be? the answer is below.
First, the scenario.
Nothing new here, if you already know the world of the three kingdoms, you won't have a lot of new infos. As expected, the whole scenario is getting old. It will be probably be what will cause the end of this series. Even the movie was interesting from the scenario. Only a huge encyclopedia will give you the complete informations; If you have to wrote an essay on the three kingdoms, you can buy (download) this game.. only if you want to spend ten hours reading texts on your PSP, which is generally not the point of a game. A book at a library is free, and will have more historical content.
Second, the graphics.
Another point that never changes. If you have played vol 2 for PSP, you'll have exactly the same graphics in game. Even Strikeforce was a bit more evolved. The clipping and other bugs, the empty battlegrounds, the troubles with enemies apparition.... It is pathetic; only the 2D artworks have some quality. As for the design of the characters.... nothing that will make you jump to the roof in game. Once again, big deception. Only the high quality videos can be noticed, which once again is good, but no the ultimate point of a game; if I only want to see the videos in HQ, I have youtube, it's free.
Third, the gameplay.
The first thing we will notice is the creation of an editor mode, which is really well done! even if we are far from games like SoulCalibur, this is a really good first time.
The strategic point is really interesting in this game. You will pass tons of hours making strategies, planning your campaign on maps.... if you will to play the lord of the kingdom. Another interesting point is to be able to play an officer, or even a simple adventurer, witch make things also a lot interesting, with different missions, planning the training, deciding everything you want of your career...and become the lord of China. It's probably the best point of the game. Two good points for this game. But....
...the fights are horrible. Even for a beat them all, the several bugs, and the simplicity is almost pitiful. You will keep pushing the same square button over and over for some minutes,and then you'll spend an hour running in an empty map. of course there are some special attacks.. that you will never use as this game is too easy when it comes to the fights. And even if you find a way to make it interesting, you can't go all out and spend time chasing enemies. There are a countdown! As if the soldier will be late for dinner or whatever. Besides, you will be generally short in time to do what you have to.... so you'll have to focus on pushing square to get rid of enemies, and then run in a direction only to understand that you went in the wrong way. Besides, the maps are so huge, that you can run for 15 minutes without anything else to do than look at the ground! The worst being that you will have to get through all the same parts in a map, unlike the other episodes where you would rush to the end if you want to.
Summary: An interesting strategy and creative part, but a boring fighting part.
Fourth: the music
It could be a good point. The music are entertaining, and set really well the mood! Could....
Indeed, you will quickly get tired of them. For the strategy part, imagine yourself thinking during an hour, with the same background; it's a shot to get crazy. The same goes for the in battle music. You'll have fun listen to it for ten minutes, before getting tired to keep earing the same loop. Besides, you might want to turn the sound down when you'll hear for the fourth hundred time the scream of a dead soldier.
Fifth: the difficulty
Once again, the difficulty is quite crappy. In the easiest mode, even the strategic modes will bore you. But, when you'll get to a harder difficulty, you will directly go to the impossible mode, and skip the normal one. Indeed, expect to suddenly pass of you making One Shots to bosses, to normal soldiers OSing you, without any transition! The same goes for the strategic part. From a no strategy needed, you will pass to a "only backshots ad surprise and critical attacks against you."
Summary? Or too easy to be enjoyable, or too difficult to be doable.
Six: online content.
Like all the DW, another deception. The ad-hoc multiplayer parts are good, with the ability to play at two players, but it still lacks the ability to play online with the rest of the world.
Seven and last: The lifespan.
Well, it's pretty huge, there are a lot of missions, characters to unlock, secrets that are actually pretty cool; but who in the world would want to spend one hundred hours on two missions if they are boring or impossible? Maybe some masochist people...
Final comment:
This is a good old dynasty warriors. If you have never played one before, well, this episode may be an occasion to insert yourself into the three kingdom's world. Same goes if you like easy or hell games. Otherwise.... prefer spend your time and money in another game.
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>In the end, everything falls back into Darkness <
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