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Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires Review - PS2

If you own a PlayStation 2, there's no doubt that by now you've heard of the Dynasty Warriors series, mostly due to the fact that there are so many Dynasty Warriors games available. The latest game in the series developed by KOEI is Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires, which expands upon its predecessor Dynasty Warriors 4 while keeping most of its elements alive. Unfortunately, though, the series is beginning to tire.

Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires focuses once again upon the leaders and warriors in the large-scale battles that took place across Ancient China. Don't expect a history lesson, though; the game only loosely utilises this context in order to hold itself together, preferring to focus upon battle and the elements within it.

Gameplay

Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires is more strategy-based than its predecessors, but still retains the same amount of battling, combo attacks, item pickups and the like. I'm not saying it's turned into some kind of Age of Empires game; rather, you're able to strategically customise and plan your attack before battle by selecting officers to take into battle, choosing a region to attack, purchasing political tactics and viewing statistics, arranging your army for battle, upgrading your weapons and army in general and more. Generally it's a nice idea but doesn't really fit in with the game's arcade-style feel.

Your objective in battle in the Empire mode is to overtake enemy bases by killing all of the enemies inhabiting them, similar to the recently released Star Wars: Battlefront. Each of the battlefields is absolutely huge, capturing the feeling that you're in an ancient battle. Enhancing that feeling even further is the fact that you're accompanied by comrades who'll fight alongside you and of course waves of enemies who constantly respawn, sometimes popping up - quite unrealistically might I add - right in front of you. As you wander the battlefield you'll encounter helpful items that replenish your health, ammo and the like, which you'll definitely need as each battle lasts quite a long time due to the size of the maps and consistent reinforcements.

Aside from the game's Empire mode, there are also four Versus or Arcade modes in which you can grab a bit of practice or try out the game's alternative gameplay modes. The Vanquish mode has you attempting to defeat more enemies than your opponent by using combo attacks wisely in order to take down five or so enemies at a time. A counter on-screen lets you know how many enemies both you and your enemy - controlled by the computer or a friend in multiplayer mode - have killed. Enemies constantly respawn on the huge maps, always providing you with some more fresh meat. The Pilfer mode is geared less towards fighting and more towards a mini-game style pilfering of treasure. The idea is to locate treasure bags and chests and deliver them to a merchant who will give you points in exchange - the player with the most points at ... (continued next page)