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Brilliant. game, for those who like KOEIs games...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Kessen 2 is a game which suits me fine. Good graphics, Cool music and excellent gameplay. However, if you are not into ROTK stories and strategy / Epic battle games maybe you should avoid it as it can be somewhat tedious. The story is excellent and there are alot of cool characters and plots. I played it non-stop (Well, almost. I went to work in between the sessions) just because I wanted to know how the story would unfold. I still play it sometimes. It's one of my favourite moments in front of the Ps2.

A real-time / ground level vision of Three Kingdoms

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

As one of many players with a background in old-school strategy / war simulation games, I have played several installments of KOEI's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. So naturally, Kessen seemed worthy of further investigation.

What you probably already know is that the Kessen series covers the same historic period as the RTK series. And it has the same great personalities of all the Generals. So what makes it unique?

Kessen is different due to the ground-level view of events, as opposed to 3 Kingdom's very high-level views. Example, in RTK you fight battles by-the-numbers and the feel is like moving men on a chess board. The important decisions often happen before you ever enter battle, and have to do with logistics.

With Kessen you are in the trenches, controlling the body movements of individual generals, in real-time, as they engage the enemy. Logistical decisions still affect the battles, however, the complexity of managing resources has been wiped so that the game can focus on the fight. Decisions are very general and might be as simple as "Choose one to produce: Rice, Soldiers, or Weapons".

Is it worth it / fun to play? Yes, absolutely. KOEI did a great job on the execution and balance of the game. It can get a little bit button mashy, but thats OK, because you are enjoying watching the battle unfold and there's only so much a general can do at once anyway. Its a bargain to add to your colection.

EXCELLENT

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: March 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

OMG... U ppl dont just get it its not china, its japan and the reason i rate it the best is because it has samurais and ninjas plus funny parts but if they had more higher rates in kessen 3 i would have rated kessen 3 the best

Horrible!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: June 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game hoping for something as good as Dynasty Warriors 3, but it was pitiful! Bad graphics, gameplay, and storyline along with a long tutorial makes this game good enough for burning material and thats about it. If you really want to try it, rent it first.

Solid Game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I got Kessen 2 for christmas a long time ago, around when it came out. Since then it has kept me entertained. I dont play this game constantly, every once in a while I'll see it in my gaming library and decide to pick it up again. After you beat the game as Lui Bei, you can play through as Cao Cao and select the difficulty level for either campaign. This gives the game some replay value. Yet I don't feel that I need to think that much with this game. I just pick one of the battle plans, and follow it. And bassically units trimuph in battle because of the commander using a special ability that can cut a unit in half in 10 seconds. yet there is some thinking involved. Lately ive reliazed that Calvary advances faster than foot soliders, and that certain types of troops do better against certain other kinds of troops. So there is a little depth here but not much. But why three stars? Even though it has those features that i just listed, its still very simplistic. If they had made it a little more satergy based, i would have give it five stars, but its not. So if you want a game that will keep you entertained for a long time, check out Kessen 2. Excuse me, I have to go conquer China.

Much jabbering, little action

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am most likely not alone when I say I bought this game because it was on sale for around ten dollars. Koei has had quite a bit of sucess with the ROTK based games, but they seem to have slipped a little with this one.
The graphics are good for the most part, but the animation is, at times, choppy and un-fluid. But I can live with that.
The dubbing...oh the horror... Couldn't the US editors have tried at least a LITTLE bit better to time it right? Bleh, this is the kind of thing that really annoys me. I don't expect perfection, but I did kinda hope for more than this...
And the so-called "strategy" element? Eep. You can move your troops and perform actions in many different ways, but the gameplay is simplistic. This is definitely not for hard-core strategy gamers. (Don't even get me started on the "unable to enter" areas...)
And the story, the main reason I even glanced at the game...well, let's say I don't trust the packaging anymore...the story is the same one: Guy is in love with Girl, Girl is kidnapped by Guy's rival, Guy fights huge-ass war to save Girl, and then we see it from the other side. At least seeing it from the other side wasn't an ANCIENT idea... And why do these characters insist on telling you every little thing that runs through their tiny heads?
I'll have to give this game an mediocre 3 out of 5... (too much X-Play...)

An exciting game but....

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game because it featured characters from the romance of the three kingdoms series. That, and the fact that it was cheap. I got it on sale because it was used. Sometimes when I buy used games I take a moment and wonder why the individual sold it. I may never know for certain why the previous owner sold it but I think it may have something to do with the characters. All the characters look kinda, I don't know, off. It was like the designers wanted the characters to stand out and they do but not in a good way. Zhang Liao is wearing antlers on his head for goodness sake! Zhou Yu looks like a character from a Mercedes Lackey novel. Why does Liu Bei not have a beard? Why is he clean shaven? Why does he keep whining about Diao Chan? Zhang Fei is a drunken bufoon. Also, the voice acting is pretty weird with some hilariously bad lip synching. Watch Zhao Yun in particular.
But enough about the characters. Let's move on to the gameplay. This game is somewhere between Dynasty tactics and Dynasty warriors. There is some action involved. You basically ride around on your horse, whacking people upside the head with your weapon and occasionally you use special attacks that wipe out a whole bunch of people at once. The strategy isn't very deep. You basically have to find the quickest way to get your army to the enemy's commander and defeat him. It's too bad that you can't decide who to attack and when, although you sometimes
are allowed to choose between targets. Probably the best thing about this game are the cinematics. It is fun to unlock the various movies and what not. But the biggest downer is that you can't play as Sun Quan. As one of the rulers of the three kingdoms you would have though they could find a place in the story for him but he only has a small role to play. Think of all the potential that was missed? There could have been a scenario involving Sun Quan having to get Zhou Yu to stop hanging out with Firesong so he could plan out a decent strategy and if you didn't understand that one then I envy you.

Better than Kessen

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Once upon a time in China two warriors, Liu Bei and Cao Cao, made a pact to take down the evil Han empire. Unfortunately, C. Cao went all Dark Side on Liu and the two ended up fighting each other. Their epic struggle is the stuff of Chinese legend and is recorded in a famous tome called Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Veteran strategy gamers know that Koei and RTK are practically joined at the hip. So it's no surprise that after launching Kessen last year with an ancient Japanese scenario, Koei's returned to familiar territory for Kessen II. This historical PlayStation 2 strategy game's more show than go...but what a show! Kessen II's visuals are primarily a spectacular display of computer-generated cinematics. You witness titanic clashes between armies, awesome elemental magic attacks, stunning ninja fights, and ingenious Asian instruments of war. It's like watching the trailer for some awesome anime DVD! However, things trail off dramatically once you get into the gameplay. The workmanlike controls don't ask you to do much, but they enable you to adequately oversee 30 campaigns. You can easily select battle units and painstakingly move them into position with the overhead view contour map. The pacing here is very slow as you select and then move multiple units. It also takes several minutes for units to reach their positions, but at least you can watch some great movies as they charge forward.
Battles are mostly won and lost from this vantage point. You spend a lot of time just watching, but you also have the option of affecting the outcome by quickly zooming in on a particular battle to control an individual commander. A few simple button presses enable you to bust magic attacks and you can jam buttons to fight with weapons, but moving around with the joysticks is slow and imprecise. Kessen II gets pop from nicely synched music and dramatic dialogue that you must hear to advance through the game. However, since it's translated from Japanese and is so movie-like in its presentation, it occasionally suffers from stereotypically wacky dubbing. Some dialogue doesn't match lip movement and a few voices don't fit the look and feel of the characters-you hear ancient Chinese warriors talk with the hint of irritating Valley girl accent or a little stoner dude drawl. It's humorous and entertaining but probably unintentionally so.
This campaign comes off as unbalanced. It's a decent battlefield challenge that marches steadily along surrounded by major cinematic fireworks. But the difference between the sheer energy in the cinemas and the painstaking gameplay is so striking that it feels like you're fighting battles less to win them than to see the next visual treat.

If you are looking for a ROTK storyline, don't buy this one

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

After playing other games based on characters from Romance of Three Kingdoms (ROTK), I decided to try this one. I kinda sensed the non-ROTK storyline, but bought it any way. Instantly, I realized my spider sense had not tingled for some unknown reason. I'm not gonna go through the differences between ROTK and this game because there are too many.
BUT THAT'S OKAY! I still would recommend this game to casual strategy game players, but hardcore fans may find it quite simplistic. However, regardless of what anyone says, you CAN change the strategies that you are given. However, you can't change position of traps, etc.
Now, to the technicalities.
Graphics=5
This game has wonderful graphics. The characters hands don't pass through stuff(well every once and a while...).
Storyline=3
Guy falls in love with girl.
Guy loses girl to former "ally".
Guy fights big war to save girl and meet destiny.
Story viewpoint then switches to villan's war.
Villan kidnaps girl.
Villan fights against girls lover.
Villan eventually beats guy.
Girl is sad, very sad...
Sheesh, like I haven't heard *most* of that before...
Gameplay=4
Strategies are very simplistic and limited. VERY SIMPLISTIC AND VERY LIMITED!!!
You are always way outnumbered, unless you recruit troops all the time...
Overall Game= See rating above review
If you want a last resort for strat games, BUY IT. It's your money, not mine...

This is one of the worst games I have ever played.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: May 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

In a gaming career that spans nearly to the very beginning of console and/or pc gaming I have come across [bad ones] before. This one may very well hold the crown of the dumbest game I have ever had the misfortune of purchasing. The graphics, well actually they are pretty good. Too bad the only thing they show is the games characters which amount to various warlords surrounded by teenage girls... BTW these same girls half the time are officers in your armies despite their 12 year old voices and facial appearance. The warlords stand and make these bizarre gestures with their hands the ENTIRE TIME they talk. It looks [silly]. I have met many a person who "talks with their hands" and this is way, WAY beyond that. Now the heart and soul of the game is mass combat. Too bad it never really seems like you are doing anything. You will win when you think you are losing and lose when things seem to be going well. You then finally win a large engagement only to have the cutscenes inform you that your armies broke in a most cowardly manner and you really lost the fight. I mean c'mon!!! Yeah that really makes me care about a plot when it is arbitrarily decided for the games miserable excuse for a plot. Your girlfriend and bride to be has been kidnapped. WOW! I have never seen that one before. This is SO not romance of the three kingdoms and spending money on this game will infuriate you. It is foolish and juvenile in the worst ways with voice acting and plot so bad you are embarrased when someone sees you playing it and can actually hear what is being said... DO NOT BUY THIS.

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