An Unconventional Concept that Kicks Ass

I’ve just acquired the newest Dynasty Warriors game this last week. The concept, I think, just should not work in an American market. But it does.

I’ve been a fan of the series since I first bought my PlayStation2, and snagged a copy of Dynasty Warriors 2. The series is based off a very cool historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is a long and complex piece of Chinese historical drama. The game allows you to play one of a myriad of characters from the book in a run-amuck-hack-slash-blammo campaign of third-person slice-and-dice action. There, I’m out of hyphens.
The graphics are good, the music has a techno-chinese feel that’s odd yet appropriate, and you can mow down ranks and ranks of peasants with an axe without blood or unnecessary gore. There’s strategy, there’s straight-out action, and there’s enough variety between missions to keep it interesting.
Make no mistake, this isn’t a shallow game, but can easily be picked up by anyone. It’s simple on the surface, but with the layers of gameplay and the number of characters with special attacks and characteristics, there is an amazing amount of replay value in this title.

Highly recommended. 95%.