First Impressions: Dynasty Warriors 6 (XBOX360)
A lot of people have accused Koei of making the same game over and over, and considering we are now on the sixth iteration of Dynasty Warriors, that is true to some degree. What they tend to mean is that the game is marked by intensely repetitive gameplay, which differs little from one game to the next. In the recent (and in my view excellent) Bladestorm the thirty-year-old Japanese developer demonstrated that they can at least play with the genre conventions of their core franchises to produce satisfying twists on the staple battlefield action.
Warriors Orochi was a big hit for me -- a massive roster of characters were taken from the two worlds of Samurai and Dynasty Warriors respectively, and the cosmic carnage that ensued revived a sense of true arcade action in my living room.
Dynasty Warriors 6 was hailed as the first true next generation incarnation of the game, with an upgraded combat engine, graphic style, and intense tactical focus. Whereas in the previous title (WO) you had acute control over the combination attacks of your chosen crowd smasher, in this title you simply mash one of two buttons to cycle through a default attack pattern. In this regard, the game feels slightly dislocated, and I feel less personally skilled when I triumph over a particularly hard strategic obstacle or stalwart enemy officer. I simply mash by x button, hoping against hope that his guard drops, trying intermittently to get the largely broken 'throws' to connect. Poor collision, clunky camera (with no full reset) and arkward enemy movement make for a largely unsatisfying experience reminiscent of amateur ice skating, or Ninety Nine Nights.
The combat is a real sticking point for me, and I feel (two hours in) that this isn't the game I was promised in the rhetoric of the TGS videos. Considering the sheer output of Koei around these franchises I feel that DW6 is a victim of the split energies of its maker:
Dynasty Warriors 6 (X360) Mar 07, 08 Samurai Warriors: Katana (WII) Feb 22, 08 Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends (PS2) Mar 21, 08 Warriors Orochi: PC (PC) Mar 28, 08 Warriors Orochi: PSP (PSP) Mar 28, 08 Warriors Orochi: PSP (PSP) Mar 28, 08 Warriors Orochi 2 (PS2) Apr 03, 08
Full review once I am finished; over and out.
SuperSpecialDavey
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 7 March 2008
· Comments (1)
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Name: Dave
I think the worst of this game's flaws is the motion capturing they did for the movesets for each character. This lead to several characters losing their unique weapons, brandishing a spear in their stead. A declawed Zhang He just.....isn't right...