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::PUBLISHER::
Koei
::DEVELOPER::
Omega Force
::GENRE::
Action/Adventure
::RELEASE DATE::
06/23/09
::PLAYERS::
1-4
::LIVE::
Xbox Live play, Leaderboards, Downloadable Content
::COST::
$39.99
::FEATURES::
480P/720P/1080i, In-Game Dolby Digital
Good: Lots of characters to choose from, a chance to create your own characters, and a great soundtrack.
Bad: The additions to gameplay don't add a lot. It gets boring extremely quickly.
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Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires Review
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Another one? A new Dynasty Warriors game that might as well be the same as all the others. Don't be fooled.
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Despite mediocre reviews for nearly every game in the series, Koei continues to make Dynasty Warriors games. There obviously must be an audience out there just waiting to scoop up the newest iteration of their beloved or potentially not-so beloved, hack and slash series. The trick is finding someone who could actually end up enjoying another repetitive slaughter-fest.
Within the Dynasty Warriors franchise, games with "Empires" slapped on the end of their title are supposed to imply that there is something more to it than the repetitive killing of hordes of enemies. You are invited to unify China (or Japan, in the case of Samurai Warriors Empires) using a card based system to manipulate invasions of territories or battles to defend your own territories. These invasions and defending battles play out similar to regular Dynasty Warriors games but add in the twist of having to capture bases in a particular way so that your main camp links with the enemy main camp in order to lure out the enemy commander and defeat him to win. However, Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires simplifies the previous equation and adds some painful gameplay that even fans of the series may not enjoy.
Kill, kill, kill.
At first glance, it appears that Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires has brought a lot of new gameplay to the table. For example, in previous Empires games, you always picked your first character, and that character was always a ruler of a territory. No matter what, you were supposed to invade and expand your rule. In 6 Empires, you can choose to start as a Vagrant, an Officer, or a Ruler. Ultimately, your goal remains the same: expand the kingdom. As a Vagrant character, you can only choose to do "Mercenary" missions until you pick a ruler to serve under. Once you decide to serve under a ruler, you become an Officer. As an Officer, you can continue to do Mercenary missions, but also should complete Assigned missions from your commander. You also have the option to participate in defending your Ruler's territory or invading on their behalf. If you choose to overthrow the lord that you serve under, you will become Ruler of their territories and have the chance to unify the land by your own choosing.
As an Officer, you are like a little minion with tasks to choose from.
In theory, this additional three-tier system should add depth to the game. Unfortunately, "Mercenary" missions are so painfully boring that I'm surprised no government has stepped in to ban this game for torture. Previously, games in the series have had missions with somewhat benign goals such as "Take over watch tower in the first 5 minutes of battle" or "Kill 100 enemies in the first 3 minutes of battles." In Warriors Orochi, completing this goals netted you skills for all your characters. In Dynasty Warriors 6 (not Empires), completing the three goals per battles netted you extra experience. In Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires, these objectives come back and reward you with experience, gold, and treasure. The problem, however, is that Mercenary missions contain nothing but these stupid benign goals: "Accompany Huang Gai to the goal point," "Kill 500 enemies in 5 minutes," "Wipe out the Royal Tigers." There is no incentive behind these tasks. You are not going out of your way to complete a cute little mission objective within the context of a bigger battles: you are seriously just sitting at your 360, tapping away like a little drone, and killing 500 hundred enemies in 5 minutes. I usually enjoy Dynasty Warriors games, but the words "I hate this game" escaped from my mouth countless times as I tried my darnedest to complete all the "Mercenary" missions. But is the game really that bad?
No, it's not that bad, but it gets close. Being a Vagrant obviously gets old and there is no progression in the overall scenario unless you become an Officer. As an Officer, your gameplay options expand as you try to rank up within your liege's army. As a Ruler, your options expand even further: now you are in charge of commanding your armies and deciding what invasive or defensive actions to take. Unfortunately, Ruler mode feels dumbed down. In the other two Empires games on 360, you started each turn by either taking advice from your officers by choosing the two cards they recommended, or you could buy card policies of your own choosing as long as you had sufficient funds. These card policies either affected the way you ruled the land, or could be used during battles to sway the outcome through various circumstances. As long as you saw a new card once from one of your officers, you could always go back later and select that card on your own.
You're never working with a full deck.
In 6 Empires, however, you are given a number of card to choose from that depend on the characters you have in your army. In other words, you are given a very small set of options to choose from each time. You do drawn one random card each turn, but oftentimes the card is pretty worthless. Overall, you have significantly less choice over how to rule the land and how to modify battles. Since your cards depend on your officers, if you become dependent on a particular card (for example, one that boosts experience or one that sets fires to bases in battle), you will have to keep this character in your army indefinitely. Another disappointment is that since your cards depend on your character, you have very little choice over who to make alliances with, which was something that was very important in all the previous games. It's hard to tell if Koei was trying to make the card system easier or more difficult, but it truly fails to compare to the depth of the other games. And speaking of lack of depth: the game is almost entirely devoid of story, so don't expect a plot line to keep you hooked. You may occasionally get short "cut scenes" (stationary character images with voice acted text below) between particular characters, but it's really all meaningless.
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