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- Dynasty Warriors
Dynasty Warriors
- March 29, 2005 18:17 PM PST
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While core mechanics are faithful to the PS2 games, the stages are broken into schizophrenic vignettes that mar what the series was good for.
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Battles in Bits
When starting up the game for the first time, you're engaged--it looks and plays exactly like the PlayStation 2 installments. As with the console versions, you choose an officer to play and whack masses of generic-looking armies ad infinitum, mixing up standard melee attacks and charge moves. However, the excitement dissipates when you see how stages are cut into smaller segments--very small segments--that feel too fragmented. Although the stages were broken up to supposedly provide bursts of action on the fly, the battles seem to end only moments after you first swing your weapon. The supposedly tactical aspect of selecting different stages on the map offers little consolation, instead it breaks down the pacing of the game.
Slow Dong Zhou
The rationale behind the bite-sized stages becomes apparent when you see the massive slowdown that occurs in some of the more intense battles. With a full army of soldiers on screen, the game frequently slows down by as much as 50%, revealing the limitations of a handheld medium. Still, the graphics far exceed those of any other handheld action game, making slowdown a forgivable foible. Another downside is the controls, which seem especially unresponsive when you try to move and attack at the same time.
Issues aside, it's still amazing to see the action of Dynasty Warriors transplanted onto a handheld. Those who can't stomach another medieval Chinese button mash would be better off passing on this one, but rabid fans of the series would probably still want to add the PSP version to their collection.
