Become The Ultimate Officer And Control The Land! (Dynasty Warriors 3 (Xbox))

Member Name: Goldensummit

Product:	Dynasty Warriors 3 (Xbox)
Date:	21/12/05 (351 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Graphics | Story | Officers | 2 Players | Voices

Disadvantages: Lack Of Officers | Perhaps Could Have More Battles

This is a review on one of the best Dynasty Warriors games around for the XBOX called Dynasty Warriors 3. They have finally released this game onto the XBOX and with better graphics and detail. But there are no new features so it is pretty much a straight transfer from the original one on the Playstation 2. This was the second Dynasty Warriors game to come out onto the XBOX, but it is very dear and rare to find which an annoyance is, but it is worth getting if you do find it.

The game has many modes for you to play, there is Masou mode and free mode, there are a few things that this game is lacking compared to Dynasty Warriors 4 like the Edit mode, and other stuff, but this is still the better one to get then Dynasty Warriors 4. The good thing about Dynasty Warriors 3 is that it is extremely realistic to the story of the three kingdoms, and has very detailed maps, and probably has the best map design then all of the other Dynasty Warriors games.

Masou Mode:

In Masou mode you get to choose an officer you would like to be from Wei, Shu or Wu, and then follow there story of the three kingdoms. You will go through each battle, and acquire items and better weapons during the fights. Depending on which officer you choose to be is depending on how the story goes, each officer has their own unique story for you to go through. You unlock officers by either completing stories on Masou mode or making certain events occur.

Also in Masou mode you will unlock new battles for you to fight in free mode, so you can play them whenever you want with whichever officer you want. But for those whom not know the Dynasty Warriors series, then I shall tell you what it is. Dynasty Warriors is about a war between three kingdoms called Shu, Wu and Wei. Each kingdom has numerous officers and lots of troops to take out their enemies. It won't always be them three kingdoms fighting each other, there will also be other threats, like The Yellow Turbans and Dong Zhou's forces. But you will fight to help your kingdom and try to become the ultimate warrior that will strike fear into your enemy.

In every battle you may face, you will start off on your own, with your army there also, depending if you are doing this part of the story or not is depending if you will have troops on your side. Your army may be massive or small depending how far into the game and which battle you are on. But you will always have the chance to have troops on your side by having bodyguards on your side, you can have a maximum of eight bodyguards, but you will start off with two, and you will upgrade them by training them into ultimate bodyguards so you will be invincible. Each officers will have their own set of bodyguards.

Free Mode:

Free mode allows you to play any battle that you already have unlocked, also to play them maps with any officer you want and also to play with certain officers that do not have a story like Lu Bu, Meng Huo etc. Free mode is great for training your officers and bodyguards so you will be able to play their story easier. Free mode is also a good thing to do with a friend as this game is 2 player also. You will be on the same side as each other and will be working together to take out the enemy commander.

Normally the best way to finish a battle first is to head for the enemy commander and kill him, then you will have won the battle normally unless you are doing a battle with other win conditions. When you kill an enemy officer, a special item drops, which will increase your stats once picked up, it will either be attack up, defence up, life up or masou up. Each officer has their own unique attack moves so they can attack better then some other officers and do more damage also. Each officer will be able to do more attacks as soon as you find a better weapon. You can find weapons and items by destroying crates during battle which you will find scattered around, also you may get items and weapons from killing enemy officers.

VS Mode:

This is where you will be able to duel a friend with any officer that you have unlocked in masou mode, you will be able to duel each other, and do other mini things also with each other which makes this really fun to do. You can only play against another person and not a computer unlike Dynasty Warriors 4 Empires which can be a downfall for this, but it is still great fun to play with mates.

That's all the game modes you can play, but there is an encyclopedia on there so you can get information on what weapons you have for which officer, what officers you have, what officers are in the entire three kingdoms story including a little about them, which items you have collected etc, it is a lot of information and really worth looking at if you are in need of searching for more information about the three kingdoms story.

The game was very enjoyable, had great fun with doing the stories of each of the officers, trying to get their 4th weapon which is their ultimate weapon which is really hard to get… also had great fun with playing free mode and playing VS mode with my mates, all a lot of fun. Very playable, really worth playing if you are a fan of the Dynasty Warriors franchise or the three kingdoms story.

The game is fairly addictive, when you play this game time will fly by, on average if you kind of rush a battle will take around 10 minutes per battle, but if you do the battle properly could take around an hour to do the battle, which really rocks. The game is original, it has unique maps, lots of new ones to Dynasty Warriors 2, also has new officers, and new added storylines to make the game just that much better.

The graphics of the game is good, the detail in the battlefields, in the officers looks and the weapons and the detail of the game in general, pretty good stuff, considering it's a fairly old game. The background music to this game is fairly epic, sets the mood of the game and makes the game better as it is oriental style music until you go into battle which is more of fighting rock music with does indeed rock.

The first Dynasty Warriors game to have every cut scene done in voices, unlike Dynasty Warriors 2, this Dynasty Warriors game has everything in voices, so you don't have to read the subtitles all the time. You can change the language of the subtitles under options if you are that desperate. The sound effects are good, with the slashing, the footsteps, the screeching of the enemy troops dying, its all good really.

The game is pretty difficult, is one of the hardest Dynasty Warriors games including the new ones, yet it is still fun to play, but just needs strategy on how you fight in battles, if you are in a battle with Lu Bu (this warrior god) then I recommend running away like hell so you don't die. This is not really good value, considering its like £40 new, which is pretty dear, when you can get it on the Playstation 2 for cheaper, but if you do find it cheap this game is really worth getting, even if you get it on Playstation 2. I give this game 5 star * * * * *, as it has become one of my favourite Dynasty Warriors games, and has the best story of them all and the best map designs.

Some information you may want to know about the game:

RATED - 15+ (for violence)
PLAYERS - 1 - 2
CREATED BY - Koei

THIS GAME IS

Long
Epic
Action

THIS GAME IS NOT

Just For Kids
Boring
Short

Thanks For Reading, and will look forward to reading any comments that you may leave, thanks!

Summary: 3rd in the dynasty warriors series, hardcore action slashing game