The pinnacle of the Dynasty Warriors Series. Fun!Fun! Fun!
Players take up the weapons of one of the generals of the day. Each warrior is capable of performing a basic attack which can be strung into a series of combos unique to each character, a charged attack which can be used to end a combo and perform a more powerful move, these also apply when mounted on horseback, though the moves have different effects when upon an elephant. All the generals are also capable of pulling a bow and a volley of arrows out of their behind and using it for long range attacks. Armed with these skills you must venture forth onto the battleground of ancient China and pit yourself against droves of enemies ranging in the 1000s in some of the battlefields.
There are fair few amounts of game modes, the story angled one being Musou Mode. In musou mode, one plays through the story of the playable warriors fighting the battles they fight, etcetera etcetera, Despite the seemingly simplistic gameplay, a little strategy is required to efficiently circumnavigate the levels achieving the highest possible score. All the while, one must note that if one meets certain conditions within a level one can unlock further playable characters(this is also done by the completion of multiple different musou modes) hidden item, and, best of all, powerful secret weapons for your characters. Also, after the completion of a level, your character gains levels and their stats are upped upon the finding of power up items attained from the defeat of enemy generals. The bodyguards that protect you also undergo this same empowering experience so that thet may assist you even greater, ie steal your kills(oddly dubbed Kos, if I ram my sword through you don't worry you're only knocked out). The thrill of completion and the results it yields on the games ease are worth the extra hours of input required. Upon finishing a level in musou mode one unlocks the level for use in free mode; a mode of play where one can relive the story missions of a certain character playing as one that may not necessarily have that level within their own story campaign. Both of these modes are two player making them easier still and twice as fun.
Graphically, the game is fair in caliber. The character designs do bear a distinct Asian feel and are rather good-looking. The characters do fare particularly well visually in the FMVs use dto tell the plot throughout the game. It is also quite impressive as to the sheer number of enemies Dynasty Warriors 3 can fit on screen at once . Unfortunately, it seems that the volume of opponents can wear a little on the graphics engine used as it can cause slowdowns, or sketchy occurrences of enemy characters who simply disappear amongst the hordes of enemies. This problem can be compounded in multiplayer mode where the screen splits in two. Another graphical issue is the “fog of war” whilst this was an intentional feature to add realism it is rather annoying. This fog is in the distance of battle ground meaning that you cannot see your entire approaching enemy. Apart from this the graphics are pretty good.
The soundtrack is mainly a melee of guitar rock anthems, which though perhaps not in tune with the game's setting, are pretty catchy and give a certain invigoration to some of the movies within the game, and even to gameplay itself. It is also good to note that English voice acting is optional and one may use Japanese if one prefers. Whilst the voice acting is good, despite the stereotyped, over-acted, martial arts movie style voices, and adds to the atmosphere of the game, the in game sound effects, though funny as hell, are rather poor.
Not a ground-breaking game, but one that's real food fun to play when hanging out with your friends. It has a certain addictive quality and the fun I've had with this game has been immense.