Koei offers a different take on its Dynasty series (Dynasty Tactics 2 (PS2))

Member Name: sagat

Product:	Dynasty Tactics 2 (PS2)
Date:	16/02/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Engrossing and addictive

Disadvantages: Storyline is iffy at times

Dynasty Tactics 2 is a spin off from Koei's Dynasty Warriors series and a sequel to the first game. I have always loved the Dynasty Warrior games, despite their repetitive nature and constant rehashing. There is something about chopping through hordes of enemies whilst rock guitars wail which resonates with me!

I had the original of the this game on my Playstation 2 and played it to death, so when this was released I quickly snapped it up.

Basically, you take control of an army during the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. You do not need to know the whole history of what went on (all my background knowledge of this time is based on what I have learnt from the Dynasty series!) but if you know a bit, it definately makes the experience more enjoyable. You take your army and generals and face off against opposition on the battle field in a rock-paper-scissors situation; for example, cavalry will defeat archers easily, but lose to pikemen who lose to archers and so on. You have to co-ordinate your attacks to beat the opposition and move the storyline onwards.

You can chose to play as one of four generals, compared to the choice of three in the previous game. Fans of the series will be delighted to play as one of the greatest warriors in history, Lu Bu, but his story arc is very difficult due to his small army.

After a battle has finished, you can level up your officers and plan your next move. You can make or break alliances, spy on opponents or try to cause unrest amongst their troops. You are given certain conditions to fill, such as taking over a base within a set amount of time. Depending on how successful you are, your story will take on different paths, allowing for multiple endings for each army, giving the game great replay value. The only slight criticism here is that the game tries to follow the rough story of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and in doing so you are often forced to make choices that you did not want to do, in order to progress the plot.

During battles, you have to take into account what sort of forces you are facing, the terrain and win conditions. Should you wait to build up morale, or steam in and try and kill off the enemy before they can heal all their troops?

As the game progresses, you get access to more damaging combos which can be chained into each other in a long combination of attacks. Planning ahead for these attacks can result in you decimating you opponents. It is extremely satisfying to pull of a five move chain of attacks and the screen flashing up with the total number of your kills. The more combinations you pull off, the higher the damage, which sometimes results in you killing more enemies than actually exist on the screen which is slightly strange.

As with the first game, it is quite easy to abuse certain in-game mechanics once you get to the higher levels. Chaining attacks such as pit and taunt will allow you to kill two or three enemy generals on your first turn with relative ease.

The AI is generally pretty strong as long as you do not abuse certain tactics and puts up a strong fight, especially on the higher levels. Yet due to the nature of the game, I felt that when I did lose, it happened fairly (although that does no stop me from swearing at the screen when the enemy sets my troops on fire and confuses them three turns in a row!)

There is a two player mode as well which pits random officers against each other, but I have not played against anyone with this. It is not something a friend could just jump into and play without having experienced the game.

The graphics are of a good standard without being dazzling. Tactics are carried out with a little cut scene which is just the right length so that it does not jar. The sound effects are excellent, and you really get the feeling that you did just cut through a horde of bandits with your officers. The only slight complaint is that alot of vocal effects are reused during tactics and this can get a bit bothersome.

If you are already a fan of the Dynasty series, then this is an excellent addition to your collection. If you have not encountered this world already, then this game is a good introduction. Whilst it has a great deal of depth, it is not as baffling as the likes of the Suikoden games and has an easy tutorial to get you up to speed on things.

The main fault with the game is that they have now incorporated this mode into the Empires expansion of the Dynasty Warriors games, but diluted it considerably to appeal to pure action fans, so as a result, we will probably never get a sequel.

Summary: A nice intro to the strategy game field