Dynasty Warriors 3

For some reason, it seems like every so often Konami or Koei have to make a game based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. You've got the literal "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" strategy game series, then you have Dynasty Warriors, a action-based Three Kingdoms game. For those of you who are already confused, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is basically the time period of wars between three Kingdoms in China. Don't ask me any more details, I just play the d*** games.

Dynasty Warriors essentially is like a Strategy Game with action, putting you in the shoes of one of 50 commanders in any of the three kingom's armies. Much like any typical action game like Chaos Legion or Devil May Cry, you have a quick, combo-based fighting system. However, as opposed to the games I mentioned, this game pits you against hundreds and hundreds of opposing forces at once, making fast combos, quick thinking, and management of your teammates very important.



The game is great to play, but it has it's obvious graphical flaws. Because it's so difficult for the limited PS2 (Or even the XBOX) to crank out hundreds of independently-thinking enemies at once, you're going to see a lot of that familiar Nintendo 64 looking fog. This gets annoying in bigger situations, because the fog sometimes will get so close to you that your effective view range is equal to s***, and you'll get suprise hits from enemies hiding behind the fog.

Another issue is a big issue, but it makes the game somewhat funner. The enemies are literally dumbasses. For the most part, a whole team of enemies will encircle you, and proceed to look menacing.. and do basically nothing. They can do damage to you, but it takes all of two seconds to quickly dispatch of them beforehand. However, in the distinct opposite of that, it seems like Konami stacked the opposition against you in the form of commanders, who will absolutely tear your ass up if you do not pay 100% attention to them. So essentially, the best theory is to run in, kill the leader, and run off.



Of course, this AI issue carries over to your teammates, as well. Giving your teammates anything but a bow will result in suicidal runs at the enemy, and them being weak, it just equals danger. Typically, the best thing to do is give them crossbows and just pray to god they don't do anything stupid. Thankfully, having a team of in this game helps out to a point, because there's always the added advantage of your team taking out the more annoying enemies.

Also, I need to add this game has a two-player splitscreen mode where you both can run around killing the enemies, but I don't recommend this, as the fog creeps in to an unhealthy level, just asking for those "WHOA WHERE THE HELL DID HE COME FROM" moments.



Overall, this game isnt bad, so much as it just boils down into one big slamfest. Running around killing certain captains is fun, but this game gets repetitive fast. It does sport an unique RPG-ish power up system, and a very fun-to-mess-with equipment system, but it does little to nothing to increase the game- you'll always just tear up the enemy. I'd recommend getting this game (Or the more recent DW5, or the much-better Dynasty Warriors 4 Extreme) if you need a game that you can use just to relieve stress.

3 star(s) out of 5

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