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Monday, December 15, 2008

Dynasty Warriors 6 Special Review

Developer: Koei
Genre: Beat em up

So what's so special about Dynasty Warriors 6?
Well, you get 6 EXTRA characters to play with
AND
Its on the PS2, that's it
Also, dueling and swimming will be removed on this game.
Also since its ported from the PS2, you PS3 and X-360 people will be receiving DOWNGRADED GRAPHICS!!!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

Dynasty Warriors 6: Special is just a little addition to the original Dynasty Warriors 6 that has cut 7 characters from the last game and majorly changing the outfits, weaponry and features of the others. Like Obama said, we need CHANGE, however CHANGE is not always good. This implies to Koei.

Overall

The Good
Firstly, the maps and the graphics are very improved that it now has elevation into the mixture, unlike the past where you can just roam around on flat grounds, now you can climb ladders and hills just to get to your destination. Cinematics are great too. This game introduces a new Renbu system which as your level goes up due to fighting, the amount of moves you can pull also increases. This also adds the vision of Koei's that makes the player kill loads of people with one hit. Its a little more competitive with healing items are more scrace than ever and new units that pose as a threat. Moreover, animals might come into play and try to eat you.

The Bad
Your worst enemy is not Lu Bu when he is extremely pissed off, its your damn camera which can be confusing at times and a little distracting, its basically, just not good. The camera is actually better in the past games. Who needs enemies when you have cameras like these. Also, even in easy mode, the game can be damn hard too. The commanders are very powered up that a few hits can send you scrawling back to your bases for health. Story modes are only available for 23 out of 41 of the characters available, moreover, they have their own unique movesets. While the rest are available in free mode. With the sole exception of Xiao Qiao and Sun Ce who have a unique moveset but no Story Mode and Zhen Ji who shares movesets with Diao Chan, the other characters share movesets among them selves. For example, Xiahou Yuan and Huang Zhong share the same movesets with a large broadsword as their weapon of choice.

Now on a post a while ago, I commented on the appearance of the characters, now I am going to comment on their move sets.

Character and movesets

The Good

Lu Xun
Lu Xun is a brilliant young tactician who is great with fire attacks, from Wu, he is the BEST character in the game for me. His combos are sweet and I had a lot of fun with the fluidity of the motion. Definitely a plus to use him

Diao Chan/ Zhen Ji
Vicious yet delicious, the Chain whip on them can do some serious damage. Why so? Even if you down on the ground, you can play possum cause the whip will crash on the floor, slamming you even harder. Sometimes it so easy to defeat enemy officers by just tackling them down then use the same buttton to kill them all.

Cao Pi
Caop Pi like Lu Xun is fluid and fast, though he lacks the range and effectiveness Lu Xun has, his moveset makes him virtually unstoppable with quick strikes that kills the enemy in a matter of seconds. Real fast and real good.

Xiao Qiao
I still like the old Xiao Qiao but this one is okay, she can kick major ass but you really have to be a little more experienced first.

The Bad

Yue Ying
Yue Ying's bladed bow is a major disappointment due to the length if the weapon, there is not much good use about it. She has potential to be great but since I am new to the new fighting system, I think I rather out her at the side too.

Sima Yi
Oh dear, where do I begin? He slaps like a girl and shakes his ass when he fights I used him for 5 minutes and gave up


Xiahou Dun
Clumsy one, the club he swings is not effective. You would expect him to send everyone flying since he weilds a club rite? Well, you wrong, dead wrong. They are real weak and pathetic.

Overall: 2 out of 5
Recommended to fans of the game only.
Wait till Dynasty Warriors 7 come out
or till give Zhen Ji her flute back
or till they fix the camera angles and give Zhen Ji the fute back.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dynasty Warriors 6 Special/Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special is, in my opinion, better than the previous ones. I don't think the camera angle is the major problem here. It's adjustable unlike Capcom's Sengoku Basara series. You just have to learn to manouver your character while moving your right analog stick to adjust the camera. I find that the problems of this game are the uber small map when you play 2P mode, the horse that you bring along can sometimes go berserk for no reason when you call it by pressing Down on the D-Pad and the inconsistency of skill points given regardless of performance in the stage.

If you say that the game is too hard for you, then I guess you very much prefer the difficulty of Dynasty Warriors 5 or Samurai warriors 2, which to a more experienced DW/SW/WO player (I've played all the Musou/Warriors series stages from Normal to Extreme mode, mind you) is too easy that it bores me to death!

About the characters, I agree that Lu Xun is good (I've been using Lu Xun all my life, now), so is Diao Chan (though her evasion may somewhat be the death of her if you are not careful).
Fact: Cao Pi has a longer range than Lu Xun but he depends less on projectile attacks which makes it seem as though his range is shorter.
Da Qiao is better than Xiao Qiao as her techniques make her less exposed to enemy attacks (I've been using both of them all my life, too).
Yue Ying?! Even though her range is short, she makes up for it through her movements while attacking, which enables her to evade immediately or close in to the enemy while attacking.
Sima Yi is a great character. You just don't know how to use him, do you? Just because he slaps like a girl and so on doesn't mean he sucks. Try to use his hold down triangle attack. His musou is really effective when it comes to emergencies as it freezes people. You are just not patient enough with characters like him. Tip: The best way to use him is to keep him out of the crowd...
Xiahou Dun. Now, now... I'm not the type who goes for external impressions until I try him out. I think he's a great character. He hits everyone around him which allows him to survive very long and conceive his HP. He is more of a defensive character. He protects himself very well with his techniques.

Offensive characters may survive well if you are careful enough but I believe that defensive, agile and balance characters survive better.

Dynasty Warriors is not just about kicking ass, it's about how you survive in various situations with that one character you are using, that's why it is important to not only learn how to use the character but to know their weaknesses and overcome them. That's why every character is unique in their own way. No matter how lousy you think they are, they come in handy when you get their drift.

You know, half of the fun lies in the not-so-easy difficulty of this game. It makes you want to work harder. Take on the challenge.

I'm not really a fan of this game but I like it more than the previous ones. I buy the whole series because of the interesting array of characters and gameplay. You can say I've watched this series grow. I don't care about graphics (heck! Square-enix has great graphics but produce lousy action games [exclude Kingdom Hearts]). What I care about is content and Dynasty Warriors 6 has most of it.

Anonymous said...

I already have dynasty warriors 6 on the PS3, and I am not sure whether to get DW6 Special for PS2, seeing as the only new features are 6 new character movesets and no swimming. Can someone tell me if this is worth it or not???