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    Dynasty Warriors 6

    Game » consists of 15 releases. Released Nov 11, 2007

    Dynasty Warriors 6 is the latest in a long line of Dynasty Warriors game. The missions are adapted from the 14th century novel Romance of The Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong.

    raycarter's Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (PC) review

    Avatar image for raycarter

    It's the Same Warriors that We All Know and Love and Hate

    We are off to Ancient China, circa 180 in Dynasty Warriors 6. The object is simple, just like the previous installments: Lay waste to the opposition, and help your side conquer all of China. There are different character designs and a new Renbu system to spice things up, but it's still Dynasty Warriors game to the very core.  

    Which could be a good and bad thing . 

    Warriors 6 takes place in Ancient China around 180-260, where separate groups and clans fight one another to claim the throne from the declining Han Dynasty. But you won't actually care about the nitty-gritty technicalities too much. The cutscenes and text are there to move the plot along, but they don't really explore the deep feelings of the characters. 
     
    So let's now move to the actual "conquering" where you send your guy (or gal) into the field to obliterate hundreds of soldiers at a time and to capture key locations. You have Normal attack, charged attack, musou attack, 2 throw moves, a special ability once you recieve a Legend Tome. The first two abilities depend on the new Renbu system: The higher the meter, the more flare and alternatives in the types of attacks. Given the fact that you can combine normal attacks with charged attacks, and that you can chain almost any attack with the Musou, you could just begin to think of endless possibilities of combos. 
     
    Unfortunately, this offensive diversity is largely ignored. 9 times out of 10, I find myself jamming on the J button (normal attack) because they usually take up most space and they can reach alot of your dumb opponents. (It is also noteworthy that the normal attack combo is ENDLESS, adding more monotony to an already monotonous game) In the easy settings, the enemies simply wait to be weapon fodder. They will rarely attack and almost everyone can be put down in 1 or 2 hits. You could only appreciate how well the battle system is implemented if you play the game on hard difficulty and you're using a beefed up character, because the enemies are more agressive both on the attack and defensively and are harder to kill. 

    Besides the unrecognized potential of the Renbu system, the ultimate bummer for me in the game is that only 17 characters get to be in Musou mode (Story mode). For the rest of the characters, they are only useable in free mode. This implies to me that KOEI is simply being lazy. For me, it's every character's birthright to have a least a story to be told, no matter how retarded or ridiculous. Because without a story, as mundane as it is, a character loses its purpose to be in the game. And every time I play a non-playable character, I feel sorry for him or her. I am most ticked off when Zhen Ji and Cao Ren didn't have a Musou mode. I thought that they have a story to tell, and I thought that they and others deserve better treatment than what KOEI gave them. 
     
    The game is deep outside of combat. Each character that DOES have a Musou mode has around 6 missions each. You could also go on Free Mode, selecting any character to carry out any battle to maybe gain experience or complete in-mission side-quests. There's also Challenge mode, where you play a bunch of mini games, like killing troops in a time limit or dodging a stampede of horses. Challenge Mode is OK, although I feel like they are tacked on. As the game progresses, you would unlock other warriors, with each having a different skill set. Therefore, how much you would get out of the game would depend greatly on your enjoyment of the combat.

    From a graphics standpoint, the game looks old and new at the same time. The characters are all redressed and they are pleasant to the eye overall. But there are still stiff movements in the cutscenes, bland environments and troop design is mediocre at best. The soundtracks has some high points (such as Glare at the World and The Mountain Knows for me), but there are some rock metal tunes that just don't fit. The Battle of He Fei is most culpable. To me, that tune is something you would hear from Burger Island. And if I'm saying this to a hack-n-slash game, something is wrong here, and it isn't me. 
     
    Dyansty Warriors 6 has some things that could make itself head honcho above the other Warriors games, but it's still too familiar to be called a total overhaul. You're still doing the same thing over and over again with some minor twists but evene that is not enough. Warriors fans would most likely be most receptive to this game, and people who hate the button-mashing philosophy would not. So what's the final verdict? If the somewhat humdrum combat doesn't sound like something that's not biting your behind, this game could be considered to be a rental.
     
    So here's the breakdown: 
      
    Story: 3/5 
    You ust can't connect with the characters and their stories. And besides, the stories mostly resolves around, guess what, conquering all of China 
    Gameplay: 3/5 
    The Renbu System is nice, the Challenge mode is serviceable, but lack of Musou mode for over half the characters is not helping KOEI right now. 
    Presentation: 3/5 
    Great character designs, but technical issues like stiff cutscene movements, clipping through objects, invisible walls, feet phasing through floors make the game feel old. Also note some cheezy soundtracks (most notably He Fei)
    Bonuses/Alternatives, Replay Value: 4/5 
    Over 40 characters to unlock, lots of levelling up to do, lots of missions, lots of objectives. Yes, it is pretty deep. 
    Overall: 13/20 
    Recommended to Warriors fans, people who could stand some button-mashing monotony

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