Publisher: Koei
Developer: Omega Force
Genre: RPG/RTS
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

Before playing Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires, my only experience with the Dynasty Warriors series lasted about an hour, five years ago, in Japan. Even based on such a fleeting contact with the series, I can say that very little has changed since then. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is designed for people who know and love the series. Even with the addition of strategy elements and a character creator, this game is still an action RPG that’s all about mashing buttons.

Foremost among the new elements is the strategy component. You can play as either a Lord or an Officer. The strategy is much more prevalent when playing as a Lord, and it makes DW6 much more fun. As a Lord, the game is a lot like Risk. You decide when to invade other countries, resist invasion and play certain cards that give your officers advantages on the battlefield. During battle you can also issue orders to your officers to either defend your bases or capture those controlled by the enemy. You are in charge of leveling up all of your officers and their weapons in addition to your own, and you can also recruit new officers.

Playing as an officer involves a lot less strategy, as you cannot issue orders during battle and you can only suggest policies to your Lord when you have achieved sufficient rank. Rather than choosing when to invade other countries, you have the option to accept mercenary missions to earn cash, or take assignments issued by your Lord. As an officer, you can also defect to another country, both during and between battles. The primary motivation for doing so, however, seems to be finding more facilities with which to level up.

The gameplay is very familiar. You jump into a crowd of mindless goons and beat them senseless. Occasionally a boss character or a group of lieutenants appears in the crowd, usually out of thin air, and gives you a little more trouble. When you enter a base occupied by the enemy, a number appears in the corner of the screen that tells you how many foes you have to defeat before the base is yours. When named characters show up, you kite them along until your Musou gauge fills. Use a powerful Musou attack, rinse and repeat. If you’ve leveled up enough, you can use this attack quickly to win the battle. If not, you run out of time, you lose and you swear at the TV.

The graphics don’t approach anything you’d expect from a next-gen console. As expected, the swarms of drones all look exactly the same. But the details of named or custom-created characters get lost in the translation on the battle screens. The environment is even worse: it’s flat, poorly rendered, and it creates distance between you and the enemy. Objects such as trees often disappear as you approach them, contributing to the sense that the game’s environment was an afterthought and not something intended to contribute to the gameplay. The music is some bizarre compilation of ancient Chinese sound effects and bad 1980s guitar riffs that would give metalheads migraines.

Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires suffers from an inherent dichotomy. As an RPG heavily focused on character leveling, the game calls for a substantial investment, and becomes a lot more fun as time goes on. Battles are often long, even epic, unless you lose right away. However, the button-mashing seems more suited to people who don’t have the time or energy to put into serious gaming, and there is almost no narrative of any consequence. This forces casual gamers to invest serious time for very little payoff. While die-hard fans might enjoy the new take on an old formula, I’d advise newcomers to look elsewhere.

Our Score:

Our Recommendation: