Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires Review

When Forrest Gump sat on the park bench and uttered the immortal words “life is like a box of chocolates” no finer statement on human life was made. Certainly life is like a trusty box of Thorntons, pretty exterior with plenty of nice treats in store, however the odd coffee chocolate litters the box almost as a reminder that life can throw a few stinkers your way. Games too can be the epitome of a chocolate box and such is the case with Dynasty Warriors Six, after so many installments what does this title have to offer either the new gamer or those who are faithful to the franchise.

The first aspect that hits the games is the visual sheen of the menu screens; they ooze finesse with clear-cut lines and purity of the white background. It suggests to the gamer that the actual game will be of the same richness, sadly it’s not but we’ll get to that a bit later. New additions to this edition is the ability to design your own character, or if you prefer you are able to choose to play as various historical Chinese warriors.

The nice aspect of the create mode is that although the gamer is only offered basic armour choices, these suits are all interchangeable, whether you choose gauntlets of one suit and armour from another, they all knit seamlessly together to give your character a unique look (Well on Dynasty Warrior’s scale of unique anyway!)

The graphics are ultimately a flawed experience though, as once in game, they are bland uninspiring with more in common with last gen games rather than stepping bravely into the next generation of graphics. Landscapes are drab and the contours of the mountains, and the joins between the ground and higher levels are angular and clinical rather than organic slopes that we have become accustomed to with the likes of Oblivion and Resident Evil.

Confusion seems to reign supreme in the graphics department, while the game clearly wants to establish links with the historical lineage of China, everything about the game’s look screams 1995 Sega arcade, almost as if Koei has seen fit to use it as their template. The brash titles, the generic yet primary colour characters have more in common with Virtua On than they do with Chinese Dynasties.

This arcade feel is again replicated in the soundtrack for the game, with rock music filling the air. This may do wonders for charting the action as it unfolds on screen, but does absolutely nothing for creating a dramatic ambience. With Empires there is an attempt to overlay the seamless button bashing with a layer of strategy and before each battle you are treated to a map screen were you can navigate to training  and other various locations which allow the gamer to enhance their combatant’s skills.

Once in the game though the title drops the strategic sheen and instead reverts to type. Playing through the game demands nothing more than pressing the X button repeatedly battering through countless foes until the inevitable boss battle. Once done rinse and repeat.

Gamers returning to the franchise are sure to like this formula, why else would Koei remain so faithful to this format if the userbase didn’t already like it? but the gameplay is about as enticing to a newcomer as asking them to juggle knives whilst blindfolded. To fully assist your character are a legion of officers and lieutenants, however they are very limited and there is very little in the way of a dynamic  battlefield commands, and rather makes the gamer feel like a 3rd century Rambo dispatching countless enemies as they fall slightly.

The one aspect that Koei gets right is the scale of the battles, there are loads of in game enemies fighting on screen at any given time, it effectively creates a battlefield, and there is a sense of frantic tension about each battle. For fans of the series it is sure to appeal as it offers a very similar formula, with some negligible tweaks, whether or not that is enough to satisfy the fans remains to be seen. For those new to the game, there will be joy to be had from the action elements of the game, however the dated graphics and simple gameplay will mean they have played countless games more innovative than Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires.

So what of Forrest Gump’s chocolates, which chocolate best describes Dynasty Warriors? Well certainly not the caramel barrel or another top notch choice, but is it quite a coffee chocolate, well not quite. Dynasty Warriors is a contradicted title undoing it own good intentions, it’s like a packet of revels; you expect the orange toffee every time, but instead are continually disappointed by biscuit, raisin and indeed the rogue coffee. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is definitely a case of try before you buy, so venture cautiously if the relative summer drought in games is making you want to needlessly burn some cash.