DISCLAIMER: I personally want to apologize to Koei for how long it took for this review. I unfortunately lost someone very close to me, and also moved. My apologies and I truly hope you don’t reflect this against us in the future. >.<
Publishers: Koei
Designer: Koei
Developer: Omega Force
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox360, Playstation Vita
Where to buy: Gamestop, Amazon,
To call Dynasty Warriors a series that is known for innovations would be a outright lie. It is good old fashioned beat em’ up action. With it’s newest installment, Dynasty Warriors 8 tries to spice things up for long time players while still offering a educational, and entertaining look at the 3 dynasty’s. I was always a huge fan of this series since I found it in a demo disc waaaaay back when I was a kid. I remember it like it was yesterday. Dynasty Warriors 3 was my first taste, and ever since then I have been in love. Does Dynasty Warriors 8 make me have that same love? Keep reading to find out….
In this installment we start off with by far the best opening in Dynasty Warriors history. Zhao Yun has never been more bad ass. I have to applaud Koei for the openings in all their installments. They for sure know how to mix action and music into a amazing cinematic piece. After the intro, you are greeted with that same sound you know and love when you hit start. From there, pretty much everything you know about Dynasty Warriors is about to change.
Of course you have your story mode, with Shu, Wei, Wu, and Jin. At the end of the day, it’s the same battles, but with a few new spins added to it, and honestly, I really enjoyed it. There are different endings in certain stories, and its a refreshing take on the series. I was always a fan of the “What Ifs” in video games, and this fill that void nicely.
Visually, the game looks pretty good. It will not knock your socks off with its visuals, but it gets the job done nicely. The main criticism from reviewers in these type of games is the draw distance. Sadly, DW8 suffers pretty bad from enemies just disappearing, and appearing. It is to be expected however, as the amount of enemies on the map is just impossible to show on a screen. I’ve grown to accept this, but it seems to be more of a issue in this installment.
…Now, my major complaint. The voice acting. The English voice acting is HORRIBLE. They show no emotion, and it is hard to like a character after they speak most of the time. With over 70 playable characters, you can only like maybe 5 to 10 of the characters, solely due to the voice acting. It is a shame, as Lu Bu was always a treat to me, but in this installment he didn’t seem as fierce.
I know what you are wanting to know. “Okay Bill, that’s cool and all, but how does it play?”. Well, to answer your question….. more of the same. If you played DW 7, you will feel pretty familiar with most of the features in DW 8. It is still a button mash game. Honestly, I like that. I like how easy it is to pick up and play. The game features new battle mechanics that rely on a new concept called ‘Commander Affinity’. One of these mechanics is ‘Storm Rush’, a multi hitting attack that requires repeatedly pressing the attack buttons. This can be triggered when the players affinity is higher than the opponents. It is shown through a blue gauge above the opponent which decreases as you attack. Storm Rush is then initiated when the gauge is fully depleted. The other new mechanic is ‘Switch Counter’, a counter blow attack that allows you to avoid a hard hitting attack from an opponent while also blowing them away before switching to another weapon. This can be triggered when the players affinity is lower than the opponents. It is shown through a red exclamation mark where as the opponent does a strong attack, a marker will appear giving you the chance to counter. The last example is Rage Awakening, this mechanic is similar to the Rage system from Dynasty Warriors 5. This requires the awakening gauge to full which can be achieved by attacking enemies. When it is full, it can be initiated with R3 where the player’s stats dramatically increase while the gauge slowly depletes. It also merges the players musou bars together where during this status, the player is able to perform an ‘awakening musou’ which is a powerful move similar to the musou from previous Dynasty Warriors games. This continues as long as the player holds the O button until the musou gauge is empty. I personally like this, as it makes me feel like my one guy is a total bad ass. I play these games to feel unstoppable, and this works well.
A new game mode, called the “Ambition Mode”, has been introduced.In it, the player is tasked to create a social base for peasants called the “Tongquetai Tower” and to make Emperor Xian visit it. To raise the tower’s status, the player must partake in three different kind of battles; Skirmish battles which give materials to construct the tower, Raid battles which increase fame, and Large-scale battles which can recruit new partners. Players start out with the weapon shop as their sole base facility. More can be added or expanded upon as the town gradually becomes populated with people. I personally enjoy this mode, as its a different type of challenge then the normal DW action.
The music…oh man the music. Dynasty Warriors has always been spot on with the music in their games, and this iteration continues this. The music is perfectly placed. During a sad moment, the music is tense, sad, emotional. If Lu Bu shows up? Best music ever.
Don’t mess with Lu Bu.
Something new in this installment is online play, but sadly, I was unable to test this as I had no friends with me to try it online. However, I did try offline Co-op. The pop in is horrible, but that is to be expected, and the graphics are noticeably less detailed. There is also some spots were the frame rate dips, but those are few and far between. Me and my friend had a blast with the game co-op, and that’s what its all about. We had plenty of things to do, upgrading our weapons, our skills, and leveling our characters. DW8 tries to add some RPG elements and I feel it works great. It really allows you to customize your character to whatever you wish. Don’t want to be Zhuge Liang and be a fan wielder? Have him use a sword instead. The weapon combinations are almost endless.
I could go on and on, but I would just be stating the same things over again. I am a huge fan of this series, and 8 delivers. While it still has some of the series trademark issues, it is still a enjoyable experience and I am constantly wasting 2-3 hours a day just playing the game, being a total bad ass. Dynasty Warriors is a great example of “If it’s not broke don’t fix it.” A expansion is already announced in Japan and I truly hope we get that in the west as well. I love my Dynasty Warriors.
Pro’s:
- Same great gameplay we know and love.
- Amazing music.
- Great to pick up and play.
Con’s:
- Draw distance needs some work.
- Split screen co-op looks a little messy.
Rating: 8/10
