Developed by: Omega Force & KoeiReleased: 2002 on PS2 & Xbox
Dynasty Warriors 3 is hack and slash video game which sends you into large battlefield stages alongside your superhuman warriors.
On starting the game, I was greeted by a character selection window which instantly
made me cringe – I am completely incompetent when it comes to martial arts
games. However, a map lit my eyes-up as I soon realized this was actually going
to be a large battle with a story line, opposed to a ‘me versus someone’ massacre.
After a short cut scene with old fashioned-dubbed voice acting, the match
started.
On first
impressions, I found myself confused why a PSone game was released on the PS2. The
graphics looked very dated, from what I could see. The very short, foggy, draw
distance didn’t help the game as, looking at the map, it was evident that a lot
of the PS2’s power was being used to constantly compute the entire battle
across a large area – this did impress me somewhat. What did frustrate me was
that objects and buildings would load through the fog, leaving soldiers in
battle to load last as you approached – this was confusing when looking for a
good fight. Beyond the draw distance, models were clean but quite basic,
leaving details to flat textures. This may sound bad but the optimization
between models and textures has been done very well.
While playing
the game, the camera is very smooth and steady as it follows the character in a
relaxed fashion: Just because your character decides to spin around like Dougal
from the magic round about, doesn’t mean your camera must too. Another neat
camera feature was that any objects between you and your character would become
transparent, I haven’t seen this since MGS3 and I wish other games would follow
suit instead of pushing your face into the cheeks of your character – not you,
Tomb Raider.
So far,
through this review, you may be confused whether I like this game or not. So
far everything seems fair on the scales of justice. However, if you closed your
eyes while playing, you’d picture Samurais grunting and whacking each other
with long pointy sticks. This isn't far from the impression you’d get keeping
your eyes open, except the bit about not wearing any clothes. Dynasty warriors
3 has dreadful sound effects, to the point where you’d feel uncomfortable
playing it at your Mum’s house. Even being in ear-shot is painful as it is so
repetitive and annoying. The noises remind me of Metal Gear Online, which I was
banned from playing for this same reason. The music however, sets a great tone
adds to the ridiculous voice acting, which adds to the comedy factor and
actually gives the game character.
Ignoring the
other details, this is a game after all, is it fun to play? The character’s
movement feels fluid and the controls don’t frustrate me as I attempt to score
combos. There is quite a bit of travel trying to find small groups of enemies
to slaughter but it’s nice to be de-railed now and again. I do like how
repetitive onslaughts are broken up by a commentator and story cut scenes
rather than QTE events which only frustratingly prolong deaths.
Definitely a
concept more advanced than its platform but it is still very enjoyable with
some likable quirks. We need more game innovation in this direction rather than
graphics – keep an eye on this franchise.
6.6
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