Expanded Empires
Things are mixed up again in Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires, and guess what? It works.
Published: June 28, 2009
The Empires games have always bolstered the tried-and-true button mashing sequences with a bigger, deeper goal. Unifying China by way of negotiations and/or subterfuge in addition to offing thousands of enemies at a time is actually quite a bit more engaging than just straight-up skull cracking, and in this respect Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is actually the best of the next-gen offerings -- at least in terms of depth of gameplay. I still prefer the Samurai Warriors games because they feature characters I find a little newer and more interesting, but until we get one of those (and an Empires version thereof), I'll settle for this.
I'll also have to settle for the game's visuals. Complaints leveraged against the series as a whole aren't going to die down anytime soon; you'll still see enemies fade in right in front of you (particularly because there's a lot of beating on them to reduce their numbers in bases and then take them over), and any time your character gets near a wall (or, god forbid multiple walls) the camera will wig out in the worst possible way, usually pointing at some patch of empty ground instead of the enemies gathering around your character. The framerate, though, is usually fairly solid, and the increased detail in both enemy numbers and the main characters themselves at least makes it all look nice. Animation is still fairly stiff, too, unfortunately, though that's likely a byproduct of me going with a created character that attacked with a whip rather than something with more branching, martial arts-infused moves.
Like the levels, the music is all re-used (though you can pick your themes before you start the level, a nice touch), and most of the quips will be instantly familiar. If they aren't, you'll still hear them 200 times a level after taking a base or killing a commander, so fear not. At least the driving guitar and lilting flutes that make up the series' core soundtrack still sounds good enough to hum along to even after tens of hours.
I will say that some of the upgrades and customization for the characters means some neat little bonuses. Weapons are slotted, of course, but the characters themselves can be upgraded in abilities and skills using a simple little flow chart and some serious cash in areas of land that have a Forge (which means new weapons too). Being able to activate both a health refill and a zipping one-hit-killer crowd-clearing attack with just a bit of recharge time means even my cute, innocent-sounding whip-wielder girlie can hold her own against heavy hitters. Things like taking land to get stables so one can use a horse (and yep, anyone can call them over by pressing Select, thank Jeebus) or shops or what have you means there's at least a little logic in taking over areas.
Really, though, it's just all about being able to amass a progressively larger army, taking on more officers and keeping troop numbers in line so you're not always making land grabs (and, later in the game, defending against rivals' attempts). The extra responsibilities make driving into levels to beat the snot out of people that much more fun, and because you're snatching up entire swaths of land, you'll see more of the different levels and environments faster. Sure, you'll know all the layouts, but... well, guarded expectations, I suppose.
If you're still a fan of the Dynasty Warriors games and need your fix, this'll do it quite nicely. No, it's not overwhelmingly new, but there's some stuff here that may actually entice even those that don't like the series, though I'm not holding out a lot of hope for that later situation to happen en masse. Even still, for guys like me that still dig the series, this is a welcome addition to a tweaked-but-not-entirely-new formula.
