The original
Dynasty Warriors was a Soul Edge-style 3D fighting game for Playstation, and
starred the characters from the series it spun off from, Romance of the Three
Kingdoms. Dynasty Warriors 2 was the series’ first appearance on PS2, and
evolved the gameplay to more closely resemble a supercharged version of the
beat-em-ups of old, such as Double Dragon: as a General in ancient China, the
player wandered the battlefield, killing reams of opponents with a single sword
swipe, single-handedly decimating enemy armies. Since then, there have been
over fifteen installments of the series across virtually every system available,
making it one of the most prolific series of the last five years. Fighter’s
Battle marks the series’ first appearance on Nintendo DS, and it’s really pretty
similar to the versions available on home consoles—and that’s not entirely a
good thing.
After choosing one
of three characters to control, in classic beat-em-up style (one fast but weak
guy, one slow but powerful guy, and a well-rounded guy), players proceed from
stage to stage, wiping out enemy combatants and capturing enemy bases, on the
way to the enemy’s home base. Meanwhile, the enemy general is trying to do the
same to you; capture his base before he captures yours to win. Before battles,
you can equip collected cards to summon characters from the series to join the
battle as your lieutenants, defending your bases.
During combat,
you’ve got a decent array of moves at your disposal, from simple sword strikes
all the way to screen-clearing magical “Musou” attacks, but the lack of
variation in the enemies you face (it’s pretty much an endless stream of
identical guys) can make things get repetitive pretty quick. Once you get over
the thrill of killing a truly ridiculous number of enemy soldiers (it’s pretty
easy to kill several thousand per stage), the game tends to become an exercise
in tapping the attack button while steadily advancing. While there is some
depth to be had in regards to the card collecting (there are over 100 to find,
each granting a different character), the main game doesn’t really show you
anything new after about the fifteen-minute mark.
The game’s got
problems technically, too. 3D environments look fine, but all characters are 2D
sprites that barely animate, making the whole thing look kind of jerky and
unpolished. The game’s music is repetitive and bland, though not really bad;
sword-clashing sound effects drown it out most of the time, anyway. Controls
are decently responsive, although I kinda wish they included stylus control as
an option.
While the game’s
single-player element wears thin almost immediately, get some friends together
and the game picks up. Although it is almost identical to the single-player
campaign, killing your friend’s generic horde, stealing his bases, and besting
him in one-on-one combat is infinitely more fun than doing those things to an AI
opponent. Granted, it’s still probably going to get old before long, but there
is some fun to be had in this mode.
On consoles, the
most common criticisms of the Dynasty Warriors series are their repetitive
nature and the very minor changes made between installments; both these
criticisms hold true for Fighter’s Battle, as well–there’s nothing here that’s
going to blow anyone’s socks off. Still, though, there’s something to be said
for a game that lets you single-handedly decimate an entire army. Fans of the
series will appreciate having a handheld version that’s relatively similar to
the game they know and love on consoles. For everyone else, pick this one up
when you’re having buddies over, or not at all.
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Gameplay: 5.9
Rack up truly
impressive body counts in ancient China, over and over again, for several
hours. Although there is some skill required, the skill that will be most
tested is your willingness to press the attack button ad nauseum.
Graphics: 5.2
3D environments
look fine, but the overall look is ruined by the poorly animated 2D sprite-based
characters. It also doesn’t help that there is but a handful of enemy models,
cloned hundreds of times.
Sound: 5.4
Nothing that’s
going to grate on your nerves, but you won’t even remember how the music went
five minutes later. Actually, I take that back; the special-attack voice-overs
very well might grate on your nerves.
Difficulty:
Easy
As long as you
continue to press the attack button, you’ll make it through the single-player
campaign in an afternoon, no sweat.
Concept: 6.5
The basic idea of
the series (Ancient Chinese generals killing the heck out of everybody in sight)
has always been a pretty good idea. Doing it in such a repetitive way isn’t.
Multiplayer:
7.1
The game’s saving
grace. Multiplayer was the only real fun I had with this title.
Overall: 6.2
Take this little
quiz. Question 1: Are you a Dynasty Warriors fan? Question 2: Do you have a
couple of buddies with DSs? The results of this quiz should pretty much let you
know whether or not you’ll enjoy Dynasty Warriors DS. Answer “no” to both and
you probably don’t have much of a reason to play this.
