During battle, you capture bases to raise troop morale and get access to valuable healing items, and you can also assign actions to your officers. If you want the strategy element to play a less substantial role, you can play as an officer or vagrant, rather than as a ruler. Doing so strips away some of the strategy and sees you completing assignments for an AI-controlled ruler instead of playing cards and making invasion decisions on your own. You can even customize your own character using clothing and other items you unlock as the campaign progresses. Of course, there are a stupendous number of characters already available to you, which means as with most Warriors games that there are potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay available here. The true replay value doesn't come from the soul-crushing combat, however, but from shuffling officers and messing around with cards, weapon effects, and special skills. Leveling up your character and customizing his or her abilities is--dare we say it--almost enjoyable.
If you need help with insomnia, don't count sheep--count slain troops.
Unfortunately, developers Koei and Omega Force haven't improved upon Dynasty Warriors 6's lackluster visuals and other technical qualities. There's simply no reason for any game on current systems to look this substandard. Environments are bland and lifeless; water looks awful; and character models, while clearly upgraded from Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires, still look primitive by today's standards. There are hundreds of models on the screen at a time, sure, but these crowds aren't so impressive that you'll overlook the unattractive visuals--or the occasional dips in frame rate when things get extra busy. The horrible sound effects (the grunts of massed hordes as you carve into them are incredibly grating after a short while), laughable voice acting, and generic grinds of guitars make the game sound almost as bad as it looks.
Warriors fans get more of what they seem to want with Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires. Some subtle differences distinguish it from previous Empires entries, but this is, more or less, what you'd expect. A second player can join you in split-screen play, and franchise faithful will enjoy unlocking various wallpapers, voice clips, and other goodies. Yet there's no doubt that in spite of the fresh coat of paint the Empire mode offers, chipping it away reveals the same tired, worn-out action that Dynasty Warriors games have embraced for years--and will likely embrace for many more to come.
Where to buy
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires (PlayStation 3):
$36.99 - $39.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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$36.99 | Yes |
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$38.99 | No |
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$39.99 | Yes |
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