Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires Preview

You know how it begins: an evil warlord threatens to take control of everything and everyone. He's growing more powerful by the minute, while your own army is small and thus viewed as inferior. That's when a great general rises above the rest, unifying the nation in the battle against evil. Thousands of warriors align themselves with whichever side they view as the strongest. An enormous, hand-to-hand, weapon-to-weapon battle breaks out in the middle of China, causing damage to many of the country's structures. Gates are breached, and lives will inevitably be lost.

By participating in several battle scenarios, players can take a homemade general from no-name status to become the greatest warrior China has ever seen. The character edit mode lets you change the shape, size, and appearance of your character, either by choosing pre-made aesthetics (face, hairstyle, etc.) or by manually tweaking the character's weight. It isn't as deep as the creation modes found in sports games, where a slim stomach can be turned into realistic flab in a matter of seconds. But overall the selections are pretty decent. 

I chose to create a female character, and at the end of that process I was given the chance to apply an attack style (referred to as "motion") and give her a unique voice. Several motions were available, each providing the warrior with a different weapon and attack set. It was pretty amusing to see a small woman fighting with oversized claws, but I ultimately chose to give her a boomerang.

Combat is virtually identical to every other Dynasty Warriors game released for PlayStation 2. The worlds are large, with mountains and man-made structures filling out the areas that aren't flooded with enemies. Certain areas are covered by water, preventing you from invading or escaping quickly. Attacks are still based on a three-button system: press square to attack, press triangle for the secondary attack, and hold circle to charge the Musou meter.

Musou is that wonderful, magical power all Dynasty Warriors seem to have. When completely charged, either manually or by repeatedly kicking the polygons out of enemies, Musou power can be used to unleash a powerful attack that kills and/or damages multiple enemies. It's an impressive site to see, watching your warrior swing her weapon with ease, wiping out 12 enemies like they were action figures sitting on a shelf. Rarely can you be struck while unleashing Musou power. Rarely will an enemy want to be anywhere near you at that time. 

When your health meter has fallen into the red, the Musou meter charges automatically. This is a self-protection feature that helps new generals stay alive in a time of need, but don't rely on it to win every battle. The number of times you utilize your Musou power doesn't matter. There are so many enemies that they will eventually get the chance to strike as soon as the Musou attack finishes – after which you cannot block or immediately run away. That vulnerability could be your demise. Clearly the series never intends to stop keeping us on our toes.

Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires goes beyond the battlefield by allowing the player to decide how they choose to battle, and with who. Besides homemade generals you may also choose your own officers. You can choose to play as different rulers of different areas, and in one of the first scenarios (titled A Gathering of Heroes) you can select any officer for any area.

During the policy phase players have the opportunity to implement political strategies. This can be done through personal selection, by consulting officers to see what their ideal policies are, or by delegating the power of decision to a particular officer. That officer would then be able to make all policy decisions and would do so automatically.

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that the graphics haven't changed much since the last iteration. This isn't a straight sequel, and it's being released on a system that is almost six years old (can you believe we've had PS2 that long?). That said, I'm still somewhat impressed by the number of enemies the game shoves onto one screen. Their detail, animation – the lack of pop-up and pixelation – it's all very eye-catching, regardless of how many times the series has pulled off these graphical techniques. The camera is still lacking in that it cannot be fully manipulated by the player, but if you've played the series before chances you've gotten used to that annoyance. 

Ready to slice and dice March 29th, Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires will give fans of the series and hack-n-slash lovers everywhere another excuse to stay glued to their PlayStation 2. More missions, more battles, new adversaries, and a slightly darker mood could make this the best DW semi-sequel yet. An Xbox 360 version is also on the way, hopefully giving us a taste of how KOEI plans to bring the series into the next generation.