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Dynasty Warriors 4
by Jolex Del Pilar
Tuesday, September 2 2003
With better A.I, this version of Koei's hack and slash title improves while still entertaining.
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Title:
Dynasty Warriors 4
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Platform:
Xbox
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Publisher:
Koei |
Developer:
Koei |
#
of Players: 1 - 2 |
Genre:
Action
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Origin:
Japan
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Expected
Release:
September 5, 2003 |
Grapevine:
This game might not be historically accurate but it is fun. |
As you may all probably know, Dynasty Warriors is a straight-forward hack-n-slash-a-ton. Hundreds, it not thousands, of enemies storm after you in each mission and it your job to kick each and everyone of their sorry asses. Of course there is more to it than that. There is a lot of strategy involved in each mission which most of the time consists of taking down the enemy leader. The enemy won’t let you just walk on in and take them out, they’ll fight ‘till the very end. You have to choose your weapons and men wisely and be prepared for all out war. The beauty of the Dynasty Warriors series is that it never gets old. The premise if basically the same but it the fun factor that makes these games so enjoyable and a huge sales success.
With a new game in the series comes new improvements. The most note-worthy being smarter enemies. They are more aware than Dynasty Warriors 3 and will put up a greater fight.
Controls in Dynasty Warriors 4 are pretty straight-forward. Use the Left Thumbstick to move your character while you control the camera with the Right Thumbstick. The face buttons are used to attack.
Visually, Dynasty Warriors 4 is an improvement over Dynasty Warriors 3 but I must say that it is about time for the Dynasty Warriors series to undergo a complete graphical overhaul. I sure hope the same engine isn’t used in Dynasty Warriors 5, because that would be milking the cow dry. What’s here is good though. Textures are improved, character animation is done fairly well considering there are tons of characters on screen at one time. Which leads to slowdown, but it doesn’t happen as often as you would imagine. Occasionally due to the sheer number of things going on at the same time, you’ll notice a slight stutter here and there. Nothing serious enough to make you want to throw your copy of DW4 out the window though, unlike other games that were plagued with slowdown, cough* Serious Sam *cough.
As far as sound goes, Dynasty Warriors 4 doesn’t really shine. Voice acting is pretty bad. Seriously, I don’t know anyone who speaks like that in real life. Is it that hard to find people with normal English speaking voices? Hey KOEI, call me! As far as in-game sounds, they are there, nothing special though. You got your everyday clink and clank. The only part that shines, depending on your taste in music, is the game’s soundtrack. Rockers will love it as it is a full on electric guitar-fest with fast beats and tempo.
Overall, Dynasty Warriors 4 gives us more of what we loved in Dynasty Warriors 3 but it would have been nice if we got more from KOEI. Fun to play and not hard to look at, Dynasty Warriors 4 is great for the fans of the series. If you are new, rent it first to see if you like it.
--- Hector Cortez
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