Dynasty
Warriors Advance is the long-awaited handheld conversion KOEI’s PlayStation 2
action game. The series is known for being the first game to cram more than a
dozen fighters onto one screen at the same time. Few games have been able to
compete or top that number since.
Converting
an adventure like this to the small screen meant that a few changes would have
to be made. For starters, the polygons have got to go. Game Boy Advance can
push a few polygons, not several hundred thousand. Second, the third-person
view that the series is known for had to be changed. GBA is good at doing
top-down adventure games like Zelda so you might as well apply that as your
new view. Third, the constant battling can be very chaotic on PS2. That could
be left alone for this version, but another change could make the experience
more interesting, giving players a new Dynasty Warriors challenge.
And just
like that Dynasty Warriors Advance was born. Built like a turn-based strategy
game (though including very few strategic elements), DWA separates battles
with an interactive map screen. Players can navigate the map by moving to
designated places, which are indicated by red circles and a thin line that
connects them to your current location. It’s the most basic turn-based
strategy setup possible. The battle begins when you land on a circle that’s
being occupied by an enemy. If more than one enemy is on the circle then you
have the option of choosing which one to fight (picking the weaker of the
bunch is not a bad idea during your first few battles).
Defying the
words of love songs that tell us two become one, in DWA one becomes many. The
enemy you decide to challenge is just a marking point. Battles are fought away
from the map screen, occurring on special areas that differ by location. The
enemy you saw on the map joins up with several others to attack from multiple
locations. Ah-ha! Dynasty Warriors play mechanics.
To defend,
button mash! Or learn the ropes and within a minute or two you’ll be whipping
out easy combos that rely on the depression of one or two different buttons.
That sounds (and is) a bit simplistic, but no one said this would a complex
game.
Battles come
down to who can move and attack the fastest. They’re not particularly hard,
though they can be quite frustrating. It looks and sounds like Dynasty
Warriors, but it isn’t quite the same. Graphically and musically it shares the
series characteristics. Several of the DW characters have been brought to the
small screen, and things along those lines.
The core
gameplay, however, is not a perfect match. Battles are extremely repetitive. I
know I’m saying that as if this was the first time repetition struck the
series. The whole world knows that’s not the case. But for DWA they hoped that
if they broke up the battles via a map selection screen, the tiresome act of
pressing two buttons wouldn’t seem so bad. Maybe it wouldn’t even appear to be
tiresome at all. In a perfect world that would’ve been the case; in DWA it’s
just a distraction; a little something extra to do in between enemy attacks
and button taps.
Another
apparent battle distraction is item searching. Players will watch their health
die pretty quickly, and without an inventory of healing items to get you back
on your feet, death is ready to take a soul. Scary thought indeed, but there’s
a way out. Instead of advancing to circles where enemies await, use your turn
to explore the area for items. You’ll be transported to the same locations
where you first lost your health: the battle arenas. During an item search
these locations are free of pesky enemies, allowing you to search openly for a
limited time. Items are typically found in boxes and other destructible items.
Once you’re healthy again, leave the premises and wait for your next turn.
As with the
wait in between battles, the wait in between searches is too long. There
should be a skip button that lets you bypass the "enemy turn" nonsense. Do we
really need to know that he/she is in the process of moving? I think it goes
without saying that when I’m not moving and my ally’s not taking a turn, my
enemy is. Truthfully the ally data is also unnecessary. If the game must it
can say it, but always let us skip it.
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Gameplay: 6.9
Hack-n-slash
madness. “Madness” meaning “it’s a shame my Game Boy doesn’t have an auto
feature.” You’ll press the same buttons repeatedly to defeat the same enemies
in the same generic fashion. Amazingly this repetitive experience can be
entertaining, but not to the point where its repetition is forgotten and all
is well in the land of warriors. Proceed with caution. Even the most loyal
Dynasty Warriors fans should be weary.
Graphics: 6.5
Average 2D
animation with few special effects. The map screen isn’t very pretty, and the
battle arena lacks the visual details that made other GBA games stand out.
Sound: 7.5
Dynasty
Warriors-style music and sound effects that have been taken down a few notches
to run on the GBA’s sound processor. Mostly good, but not even close to the
phenomenal sounds of Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, and other GBA strategy games.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Button mashing
isn’t going to get you great success, grasshopper. Though I’m sure you’ll end
up doing it anyway since there aren’t enough combos to keep things
interesting.
Concept: 8
The hack-n-slash
hit that saw countless sequels on PlayStation 2 is now a Game Boy Advance
game. Top-down 2D gameplay replaces the 3D interaction; a turn-based setup has
players select where to go and who to fight before each battle begins.
Overall: 6.9
In spurts Dynasty
Warriors Advance is a decent time-killer. I enjoy the game for five minutes
here and there, 30 at most. It is not enjoyable to play if I force
myself to stick around for any time period longer than that. The developers
didn’t have many options with a game like this, one that’s so dependent on
technology. But if you hate the thought of putting a game down because it
might get boring, it doesn’t matter what you think of technology and how it’s
implemented because you won’t like this game.
