Dyasty Warriors (Dynasty Warriors 2 (PS2))

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Product:	Dynasty Warriors 2 (PS2)
Date:	24/05/01 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: decent

Disadvantages: umm,

The original Dynasty Warriors appeared on the PlayStation in the form of a 3D one-on-one beat 'em up, and shouldn't be mistaken with the scrolling arcade beat 'em up by Capcom, which closely titled Dynasty Wars. Although, Dynasty Warriors 2 is actually more akin to Capcom's arcade title than its true predecessor. Confused? Yeah me too.

The game features a lot of the characters introduced in the original Dynasty Warriors, with nine to choose from in the beginning, each possessing various strengths and attributes. As you progress through the game more characters will become available. There isn't a whole lot of moves and combos at your disposal, and you will find battles are nothing more than a button bashing frenzy. But don't be thinking it's just about sword swinging action, as the secret of Dynasty Warriors 2 lies in the sheer scale of the battlefields, and the strategic elements that lie within. You and your army will have to go up against literally thousands of enemies, with up to 50 or so soldiers on screen at one time. Things can get a little hectic, but if the heat gets to much you can perform a special attack which should take out any menacing enemies biting at your heels and allow you some breathing space to gather your thoughts. Performing the special attack treats you to an impressive Matrix-esque freeze frame shot, with the camera panning around you, before applying your own home made brand of pimp slappage.



In addition to your normal melee attacks you also have a set of arrows and a bow lurking in you back pocket. This can be handy when things are getting busy and you are low on health, as you can just stand back from afar and "snipe" the enemy soldiers. It is also useful for when you capture enemy battlements, as you can just climb up on top and rain down your pointy sticks of death onto the unsuspecting enemies while not having to worry about being stabbed in the spine by the little
buggers.

The only real drawback of having huge armies of thousands of soldiers fighting each other is the AI is severely limited. Giving each soldier some semi-intelligent AI would probably hit the PS2's performance quite significantly, so instead it looks like the AI alternates between individual troops. You notice there will be many people just standing around not doing anything, even while they're in the midst of a battle. The only other characters with any form of intelligent AI are the generals, which is why they probably got the job as generals. On the other hand if all the characters had reasonable AI you would probably get your ass kicked black'n'blue. Now that would kill the game's fun factor for sure; there is nothing more fun than breaking the 1000 kill barrier on just one level.



In the top right hand corner of your HUD there is a radar style map that displays the progression of your army against the enemy. This will also highlight any important situations, such as a group of friendly troops engaging the enemy, or one of the other generals being in trouble. This means you have to usually haul ass across the map to go help them out, which can take some time as the battlefields are HUGE. You always have one eye on the immediate battle and one eye on the map, making sure things are going according to plan.

The graphics are a bit of a mixed bag. The characters are extremely detailed, although no where near the detail seen in PS2 games such as Tekken Tag, they sure as hell be the pants off any PSOne beat 'em up characters. As the graphics engine is pushing around so many characters on screen at once a sacrifice had to be made, and that was in the environment department. The game is heavily fogged to hide the clipping, and the landscape is barren of any sort of detail. There are some great between level cut-scenes to set the scene and mood, but I guess nowadays that is not such a big deal.




The Bottom Line...
Ok, so Dynasty Warriors 2 isn't the best game in the world, but at least Koei had the balls to try something new and what we're left with is a type of game that just wouldn't have been possible on any other system at this time. Some people might think that constant button bashing is a little tedious, but the action is so frantic you don't really have time to think about it. Although it might take you a while to complete, each battle lasting in excess of one hour, there's isn't a whole lot that will bring you back.

Summary: