Dynasty Warriors 5

Review - Koei's latest hacks onto consoles....

After co-operatively playing Dynasty Warriors 4 and Extreme Legends to death on the PS2, I swear I almost thought I heard the controllers breathe a sigh of relief. Unfortunately for the button-mashing stressed peripherals Dynasty Warriors 5 has gone the way of practically every new EA title, and extended itself to the realm of the Xbox.

Unfortunately, unlike many cross-platform titles, there really aren't a lot of reasons to go for the Xbox version - unless of course it's the only console you have available. To anyone who knows me this complaint will sound somewhat hypocritical (I've never been an advocate of high-end graphics) but despite the undisputed superior graphical might of the Xbox the visuals in Dynasty Warriors 5 are very much like those in the PS2-only DW4. Which is to say; not that brilliant. I typically only buy cross-platform titles for Xbox for the slightly better graphics and to avoid memory card mayhem so the lack of any graphical improvement is somewhat disappointing. On a higher note it performs a little better and the draw distance is a lot greater, preventing soldiers popping up like foliage on a 1990s racer. A side by side comparison of Dynasty Warriors 4 and 5 shows the draw distance improvements clearly, highlights the slightly bigger maps in 5 and makes the shockingly ugly menu system of DW5 stick out like a sore thumb.

Now I have that little complaint off my shoulder it's time to get into the review proper. For those of you who have not come across Dynasty Warriors before the basic premise is that you play your choice of a gargantuan selection of characters through their own personal story as a hero on the side of one of several warring Chinese Kingdoms. Each individual character has their own distinct weapons ranging from Chakrams to spears, staves, swords, sticks and more as well as their own distinct moves. The almost unanimous goal of any mission is to take these weapons and use them to cut a bloody swathe through hundreds of enemy soldiers, officers, gate guards and generals assisting where the battle needs you most and completing the odd objective.

In short, Dynasty Warriors is extremely simple, extremely repetitive, extremely long and extremely addictive and it still has enough hidden complexity to satisfy the most hardcore players. It is, however, a little like marmite - you either love it, or you hate - unfortunately unlike marmite, if you love it hundreds of hours of your life will disappear in the blink of an eye as you and your friends play endless co-operative battles until the wee hours of the morning.

Dynasty Warriors 5 continues the legacy of this simple gameplay and is as hopelessly and irresistibly addictive as its immediate predecessor. Everything from character development, to customised bodyguards is present letting you drive your friends insane as you spend precious play-time minutes sifting your way through the menu system so you can equip an item that lets you run a little faster.

The core play style of Dynasty Warriors 5 is exactly the same as 4, for those of you who haven't played this it means you rush around the battlefield aimlessly or with intent to complete some vague objective that you completely ignored because you were too busy fighting. In your rushing around you will bump into groups of enemy soldiers which you will inevitably beat the living hell out of before moving on about your merry way. You can throw yourself a curve ball by actively hunting down officers which are tougher than the average soldier and will do their very best to deal ample amounts of punishment back to you, if your health gets too low the whole game turns into a track and field esque mad dash for a health pickup with the disgruntled officer right on your heels, and your bodyguard in tow.