Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires Review

Chinese history lessons return with Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires, once again the tactical change of pace returns to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. There have been many installments in the series from KOEI and this is their third venture on the current generation consoles.

Dynasty Warriors is purely focused on hack and slash gameplay and for many years the games have seen much attention and revulsion at the same time. Most of this can be put down to the apparent lack of changes made between each game. Has Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires done enough to change the minds of the average gamer and prove itself to be more than a title that's just for fans?

For those not familiar with the Dynasty Warriors franchise, the game focuses on massive scale conflicts, placing the player in the control of a single officer each with their own unique attack styles and weapons. From this point onwards it's mostly a case of being worth a 1,000 men on the battlefield. Cutting and destroying a path towards the enemy's main camp to defeat their leader and thus end the battle. Various bases and outposts, along with other officers attempting to do the same to your army at the same time, make this more complicated. However, it essentially all boils down to who can kill the most faster.

There have been some new additions and changes to this title. Many of them are relatively small, but there has been a major change. Free Mode, a mode which enabled players to play any battle of their choosing to power up their characters, has been completely removed. It has essentially been removed so that the Empire Mode can be more focused, but it unfortunately means characters can no longer be levelled up outside of the campaign. It also removes the "pick up and play" element to the game.

Empire Mode is essentially the same formula used previously. The land is split up into various territories and taking over all of them unifies China, bringing an end to chaos. There are some differences this time round, the first being that a player can take up three different roles: Vagrant, Officer, or Ruler. Vagrant is rather worthless as essentially all this allows is mercenary work until the player decides to join a force or overthrow a ruler. Officer allows players to continue mercenary missions, but every 3 months the player's ruler will give them a specific mission where the rewards are more substantial should the player succeed. The real heart of the game resides in being a Ruler. This allows the use of cards given to the player, which can affect the outcome of upcoming battles greatly.

Some of the objectives from the missions undertaken are quite varied and not just a case of simply "defeat the enemy commander", as seen in previous installments. However, none of them are really that much different either. There have been some more specific changes made, such as the ability to defect in a battle to the other side, and various events that can allow officers to become more willing to protect the player on the battlefield. There is even the option to marry, although most of the time the benefits from such events are negligible.