[Mini-Review] Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends
We can think of worse ways to spend $30.
Published: November 18, 2005
The Good
Dynasty Warriors is back! Yay! In fact, it’s back at a lower buy-in and more different gameplay modes than the series has ever seen, and it’s just a add-on pack. Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends does manage to add a few modes not seen in previous games, specifically Destiny Mode, which lets you create a character and slowly level them up to the point of being one of the legends from the series).
We already went into depth about the new additions to things in our preview a few weeks back, and by all means, read that for a breakdown of what’s new, but the short version is that the new modes are arguably more fun than what you get in the normal modes of a proper DW release, and for that, KOEI is to be commended. If they refuse to change things, at least they’ll add a little more variety, and it makes recommending this game a whole hell of a lot easier.
At least for the fans.
The Bad
Take a guess as to how many Dynasty Warriors games there have been on just the PS2. Eight. There have been eight effing games, and I’ll be damned if they haven’t budged one bit from the original PlayStation formula. DW5XL seeks to fix that to a smaller degree, but the biggest problem in place here is that this is more or less still the same game you’ve played before.
My bitching doesn’t seem to matter, though, because the games continue to sell like crazy, and likely will into infinity, but the lack of change in things is starting to wear the gameplay down. The inclusion of Destiny Mode and assigning some arbitrary tasks to your missions in Legend Mode helps add a touch of motivation to things beyond the usual “hack everyone to bits” angle, but it’s certainly not enough to keep those that have lost interest around.
The Verdict
This is Dynasty Warriors in all its unflinchingly simple gameplay. There are people out there that will buy this game regardless of what I or anyone else says, and they likely had the game pre-ordered and have beaten it by now. Twice. Still, as a former die-hard, I find my interest in the game slowly waning. It’s still fun, and you can still find yourself losing a ridiculous amount of time to the simple but addictive mechanic, but after eight games, it just doesn’t hold sway over my time like it used to.
For $30, you’re getting more or less a full game without all the extra crap. From the simple menu that does little more than list the different modes in text to the blocks of text and diagramed screen shots, what’s here is here for the fans, and them alone. If you like the series, by all means, pick up this game, but if you lost interest a while back, you’re not going to find anything new here.
Dynasty Warriors is back! Yay! In fact, it’s back at a lower buy-in and more different gameplay modes than the series has ever seen, and it’s just a add-on pack. Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends does manage to add a few modes not seen in previous games, specifically Destiny Mode, which lets you create a character and slowly level them up to the point of being one of the legends from the series).
We already went into depth about the new additions to things in our preview a few weeks back, and by all means, read that for a breakdown of what’s new, but the short version is that the new modes are arguably more fun than what you get in the normal modes of a proper DW release, and for that, KOEI is to be commended. If they refuse to change things, at least they’ll add a little more variety, and it makes recommending this game a whole hell of a lot easier.
At least for the fans.
The Bad
Take a guess as to how many Dynasty Warriors games there have been on just the PS2. Eight. There have been eight effing games, and I’ll be damned if they haven’t budged one bit from the original PlayStation formula. DW5XL seeks to fix that to a smaller degree, but the biggest problem in place here is that this is more or less still the same game you’ve played before.
My bitching doesn’t seem to matter, though, because the games continue to sell like crazy, and likely will into infinity, but the lack of change in things is starting to wear the gameplay down. The inclusion of Destiny Mode and assigning some arbitrary tasks to your missions in Legend Mode helps add a touch of motivation to things beyond the usual “hack everyone to bits” angle, but it’s certainly not enough to keep those that have lost interest around.
The Verdict
This is Dynasty Warriors in all its unflinchingly simple gameplay. There are people out there that will buy this game regardless of what I or anyone else says, and they likely had the game pre-ordered and have beaten it by now. Twice. Still, as a former die-hard, I find my interest in the game slowly waning. It’s still fun, and you can still find yourself losing a ridiculous amount of time to the simple but addictive mechanic, but after eight games, it just doesn’t hold sway over my time like it used to.
For $30, you’re getting more or less a full game without all the extra crap. From the simple menu that does little more than list the different modes in text to the blocks of text and diagramed screen shots, what’s here is here for the fans, and them alone. If you like the series, by all means, pick up this game, but if you lost interest a while back, you’re not going to find anything new here.
