When the PlayStation 2 launched one of the best games available was Dynasty Warrior 2. This game had it all: an awesome commander that had all the power needed to take on hordes of enemies. To make the gameplay even better players could choose between many different characters that each had its own set of moves and special attacks. The game was a huge hit and has spawned numerous sequels as well as special versions. Last year KOEI released a new Dynasty Warriors series entitled Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, which took all of the frantic action of Dynasty Warriors and mixed it in the Gundam universe. The game proved to be pretty good and it was only a matter of time before a sequel was released. The problem is that there has been no real innovation since Dynasty Warrior 2 hit many years ago.
When players load the game for the first time they will have several modes to choose from: official, mission, versus, and online. In official mode, players will pick a pilot and they will play through numerous missions that stay close to the anime storylines they are in. In mission mode, players will again choose a pilot, but this time the missions are non linear and many characters from the various anime shows will appear in any of the missions. It is more of a freelance mode that will occupy most
of your time.
Someone has to provide the proper motivation
In versus mode there are several modes to choose from: war, sudden death, and hunting. In war mode the first player to earn 1000 points will be declared the winner. In sudden death the gamers with the most points before the time runs out is the winner. Hunting mode is a little different, each player will either be a hunter or a target, the hunter gets points for shooting the target, and the target gets points for evading the hunter. Online mode has two different matches; a ranked match (see who the best player in the world is) or a player match, which is just a casual match between players.
Like all the previous Dynasty Warrior games in the series, players will be very familiar with how the gameplay works. Once the game is loaded and the mission is selected they will be shown to the character select screen where they can
select a character and mobile suit to do battle in. Each mobile suit has its own special attacks as fighting moves, but in the end they are all very similar. Players will then follow the story of that particular pilot, learning their motivations, until they reach the conclusion. After gamers beat the missions, usually a new pilot/mobile suit will be unlocked and players will be able to start the whole process over again.
Not very many have been shot down
This would be fine, but the main problem is that the gameplay is the exact same throughout the entire game. Once a mobile suite is selected, players are thrust into a battlefield where they must defeat/route off numerous enemies. Players will just have to keep pressing the same buttons over and over again to hack and slash all enemies in their way until they get to the boss of that level. They will then do battle with the boss, which consists of using the same buttons to hack and slash at them until they are defeated. Each mission is setup like this and it gets old real fast.
The graphics for Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 are very poor. This game does not even try to push the Xbox 360 graphics in any way. Everything has a very PlayStation 2 look and feel to it. Even though this is to be expected when the Xbox 360 first launched, nearly four years later it does not "fly" anymore. The character models and the environments are decent, just the detail is not quite what players would expect it to be. The game tries to look like the various anime shows that it is based on, but it fails. The textures in particular are murky and look very bad on a HDTV screen. The only good thing about the graphics is the particle effects, which are pretty to look at, but a game cannot depend on particle effects alone.
Guard!
The sound effects and music
are decent, and what players will expect from a science fiction game that takes place in space. The problem is that it sounds really generic and to make matters worse sounds like it is borrowing from the music library the game used last year. One of the biggest disappointments is lack of Japanese voiceovers. Many gamers would have loved to hear the original voiceovers while playing this game. Instead players are left with the English voice actors, that do a decent job, but do not make the characters come alive like their Japanese counterparts.
The main problem is that there has been no overall innovation in the game for a very long time. I have played numerous Dynasty Warrior franchise games over the past decade and they are all practically the same game with very minor improvements. Everyone understands that it is a good thing to find a hit series because everyone loves a sequel to a good game, but when the game is practically the same game with different skins, it starts to wear thin. It is my hope that the next Dynasty Warriors game will change some elements in their gameplay to help freshen it up in order to stay current with the times.
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is rated
Teen.
Review Scoring Details for Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 |
Gameplay: 5.3
If gamers have played any Dynasty Warrior game released in the past decade they will know exactly what to expect: a lot of hacking and slashing of numerous enemies.
Graphics: 5.1
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 does not push the Xbox 360 hardware at all.
Sound: 5.2
The sound effects and music sound pretty much like last year’s game with very little new additions. What is sad is the lack of Japanese voiceovers. Instead player’s will be stuck listening to the English voices, which are decent, but not great.
Difficulty: Easy
There is no real challenge here. The boss battles are few and far in between.
Concept: 2.0
There has been no real innovation to this series since Dynasty Warriors 2 was released. It is the same old stuff with a Gundam facelift.
Multiplayer: 4.5
The multiplayer modes are really weak, just like the single player modes. Players do have the option to play online or on a single Xbox 360.
Overall: 5.2
The Dynasty Warriors franchise needs a major reboot in order to stay with the times. I have played many games released in the series and they all play the same, with little or no innovation between each sequel and series. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is a decent game that players will enjoy if they are fans of the Gundam or Dynasty Warriors series, but in order to stay up with the times the entire franchise should be retooled from the graphics to the actual gameplay to stay current in this day and age.
