Dynasty Warriors 4 Review

Developer	Omega Force
Publisher	KOEI
Genre	Action

Dynasty - it’s a powerful word. Sports fans define it as any team that reigns in the upper echelon; the New York Yankees of today, the Chicago Bulls in the early 90’s, the Celtics from 57-69, the Edmonton Oilers in the 80’s. Dictionary.com defines as a succession of rulers from the same line or family that maintains power for several generations. Dynasty Warriors, in a move that’s a downer for all the sports fans out there, uses the latter definition in its melding of a storyline from Chinese history with a hack and slash adventure.

At its heart, Dynasty Warriors 4 is little more than simple hack and slash game mechanics. Koei has done an admirable job of adding layers to that basic gameplay concept however, raising Dynasty Warriors 4 from being a simple button masher into an entertaining game that requires a modicum of strategic play.

Gameplay - The PS2 received Dynasty Warriors 4 a couple months ago which David Conaway reviewed here. Many of the same points apply, as the game really didn’t receive a great deal of changing in the port aside from minor tweaks.

Dynasty Warriors 4 is a fairly straightforward retelling of events from AD 220-280 in Chinese history. China at the time was a series of fiefdoms undergoing the struggles of reunification, and gamers will play through several recreations of battles from the time. The battles, as well as many of the characters within the game, may be familiar to those who have played other Koei games, particularly Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

After choosing which faction and officer to play as, gamers are thrown directly into the action. Missions are a series of running battles, with several battlegroups wading into the fray in different spots on the map. The groups will fight and advance by themselves, though the presence of the player-controlled avatar will usually help swing the battle in a much more expedient manner. As with previous games in the series, the player character is somewhat more powerful than the normal footsoldier. Powerful combination attacks which hit multiple opponents are key, allowing the gamer to singlehandedly wipe out 10-15 opponents without much effort.

The typical mission begins with battle already raging in the area. A small map marks the positions of currently active combat, and audible messages provide players with status updates on unit morale, group advancement, and the like. When one area is secured to satisfaction, gamers can use the map to locate a group that needs assistance or to decide the fastest way to get to the enemy officer that is the mission objective.

While hacking through the level, gamers will discover new weapons and items to equip, as well as leveling up their own abilities (and weapon) in a very RPG-like fashion. There are also hidden missions, weapons, and items that can only be unlocked by meeting certain objectives within the mission, though gamers will need to stumble upon these objectives by luck or, more likely, a strategy guide. The ability to collect new items really adds to the replay value, as does the character building.

The enemy AI has been tweaked from the previous game in the series, adding in more fluid decision-making. Replaying a mission can have different outcomes because of this, since the enemies you fought last time may have moved to attack someone else instead of standing around waiting to be slaughtered. Officers, both enemy and friendly, have also gotten some AI enhancements and new relationship elements. Defeat enemy officers enough times and they will ignore other battles to seek you out, while aiding friendly officers will result in them becoming indebted to you.

As David noted, the game has added in siege weapons like catapults and battering rams. Unfortunately, in the end, these additions are just another thing to babysit on the battlefield and not something gamers directly interact with. The weapon appears on the battlefield, moves to where it needs to be while players guard it, then sits there firing until it’s destroyed or blows up whatever it was aimed at. While it adds a little depth to the game, it becomes more of a chore than anything.

To add some life to the game there’s a two player mode and unlockable outfits for each character, as well as an officer editor that allows gamers to create their own characters. While not a very deep character creator, the editor does allow for some fun characters to be made, and helps keep the game fresh for an extended period of time.

Graphics - The graphics do a decent job of setting the scene and capturing the essence of a major battle while keeping a decent framerate. Heavy fogging is used to help keep things moving, though slowdown still persists when the screen is full of enemies. The slowdown is most pronounced when using a Musou attack with particle attacks, though it could quite easily be intentional as the slowdown adds a certain dramatic flair to all the swordplay.

The level layout is strong overall, particularly levels with fighting in towns, though much of the non-essential elements didn’t receive much in the way of attention. Things that are there just to set the mood or provide a backdrop for the action just don’t look as good as everything else.

Compared to the PS2, the Xbox is a bit of a step up – but it’s a small step. Textures are sharper, there’s less aliasing, and the framerate is a touch better.

Sound - While I’m not as big a fan of the music as David (Heavy rock music is considered appropriate for a Chinese historical game? What is this - Bill and Ted visit the Wang Dynasty?), I have to admit that it’s at least varied with a good number of tracks to listen to. There’s also an ongoing controversy about the English dub of the game, but it’s really a pretty silly argument in the end since the focus of the game isn’t exactly on realism to the point that it matters at all.

Dynasty Warriors 4, according to Koei, has Dolby Digital 5.1 support exclusively on the Xbox. While I wasn’t able to check this out due to a receiver which has a current status of “blown up”, the sound quality is decent enough, especially for explosions and weapon effects.

Overall Value - Dynasty Warriors 4 isn’t anything revolutionary, rather it’s a simple evolution of the series. The game fixes a number of flaws from its predecessor, and tweaks a few things that didn’t need major adjustments. It’s more of the same, but bigger and better. Anyone who enjoyed Dynasty Warriors 3 should give it a look, as well as anyone looking for some fact-paced action.

Review by Rod Oracheski