Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires Preview

“What can a warrior like me do in this chaos … Perhaps I will create my own kingdom.”

The land is fractured into numerous kingdoms. But what good is a kingdom unless it can expand its borders.

KOEI and Omega Force have teamed up for the next in the tactical combat simulations, Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires. KOEI has taken the next step in the realm of combat, combining the elements of strategy sims with action-packed combat to tantalize those who like to build an empire, but also like to get down and dirty with twitch-factor gaming.

In DW4: Empires, you can choose a kingdom, manage the general policies of it by choosing a leader and the strategy that leader represents, then choose an adjacent area to attack or defend. There are 24 zones in the game and the game is won by conquering them all. Don’t expect your opposing empires to sit idly by and wait for you. As aggressive as you are, so too can the enemy be. And each battle you undertake is played out on a good-sized map, with numerous skirmishes as you progress into the enemy strongholds.

Once you go past the strategy phase, have picked a region to attack or defend, then you move into the battle phase. You control one leader and can throw out some rudimentary orders, but most of the battle will fall to you.

In the Yuan Shu Army versus Yellow Turban scenario, you will confront an enemy with a mounted leader. Take the leader from the horse and proceed to beat him down mercilessly. Then take on his army.

The action is from the third-person perspective and the animation is remarkable. While the camera is fixed, and you cannot always see all around you, this is about moving quickly, attacking fiercely and knowing when to advance across the richly texture terrains and when to fall back.

Some cursory battlefield information is fed to you, but not enough to really evolve the game’s course, or recall you to quick decisions.

The game has four game modes in the title – Empire, Versus, Archives and Edit. The Empire mode challenges you to take over the mapboard. In Versus, you go head-to-head with another player. This is actually a new feature to the franchise. There are four maps to battle on, and this is actually a combination of the versus and challenge modes of previous titles. The Edit feature allows you to edit a player character.

By far the most intriguing is the Empire mode. In Empire you begin by choosing a game scenario and a difficulty setting. You can begin a game in either historical or fictional settings, with three difficulty settings. If you encounter and defeat an enemy general, he will join your side. Capturing strongholds will also improve the moral of your troops. The battles are timed.

The sound of this game mixes some Asian influences with contemporary rock for a stellar musical score. The vocal acting also does a solid job. The graphics are wonderful, from the special attack effects, to the environments and animation.

The player interface is easy to use and many players can affect a solid presence quickly in the game, while becoming familiar with the controls will add in creating more devastating attacks.

DW4: Empires is fun, challenging and looks great to boot. If you like soft strategic-empire sims laced with great third-person combat, this will be a welcomed addition to your library of games.