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Perhaps early, but certain review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: July 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I know that one generally waits until the game has come out before reviewing, but I am so certain that Dynasty Warriors: Empires is going to be a great game that I am giving it 5 stars all the way down the board before I even play it. Every single Dynasty warriors game that I have ever played has been awesome. The KOEI company has never let me down and I have no doubt that this will be another battlefield-addictive addition to DW4. I will be buying this game on the first day that it comes out and I recommend that everyone do the same. Even if you have never played Dynasty warriors before, Buy the original DW4 and the Empires expansion. You'll be glad you did. I have never seen a more fun and expansive battlefield game and I would say to the KOEI company: "Keep up the God-like work."

The next in a great line

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: August 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have been waiting anxiously for the next installment in the Dynasty Warriors series for a long time now and I'm glad that my wait is almost over. From what I understand, DW4 Empires will be somewhat of a combination between a regular DW game and Dynasty Tactics. You will be able to chose where you want to move an army like in Dynasty Tactics and fight the battles like you would in Dynasty Warriors. You will also be able to form a treaty with whomever you like, and go to war with whomever you'd like as well, but with an overall objective. That's pretty much all that I know for sure, but I speculate that you could do everything else that you could do in Dynasty Tactics or Warriors. With the best of both worlds, this is a promissing game for DW fans and newcomers alike.

ANOTHER DW GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 11
Date: August 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I can't wait till this game comes out. My mom said she is already going to get me that game when it comes out. Keep up the good work KOEI.

Dynastywarriors4:empires

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: August 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the coolest Dynasty games I have ever seen.
Y ou cammand your own Empire and use Edited charactes in your empire.Overall its a great game, I just Pre-ordered it today.
The only downside is that you can only have two players in versus
mode.But that just means that Dynasty Warriors 5 will be even better.So even though co-op stinks,
B_U_Y_ T_H_I_S_ G_A_M_E_
Period..........................

FINALLY

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: August 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have been witing for a game like this since i started playing dynasty warriors, and dynasty tactics, and ROTK, and Kessen2.HOORAAAA!!!! I am going to buy this game the day it comes out.i have played all of the most recent koei games and i have never been this excited about one since ...ever! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!

Getting there is half the battle!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: September 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I never have been a HUGE fan of the Dynasty Warriors games but decided to pick up Dynasty Warriors 3, I liked it for a few days then lost interest. I then bypassed Dynasty 4 and the XL version. Then I read in a review about how Empires was half strategy and half old school dynasty. That sounded intriguing! I played it for awhile with a custom built character and then proceeded in building an army for battle. Now, the strategy side isnt as complex as you might think, its NOT a strict strategy game. It only is in the sense that it allows you to make decisions that give you more freedom to choose what to do and how things change. Anotherwards, you can decide to appease the peasants and some will help you in battle. You can ally with other lords at times and pretty much attack anyone close to your domain. You can trade items to other lords etc also, now the battle is the meat of the game here, have no fear it is JUST like Dynasty Warriors 3 battle system(As I mentioned I hadnt played 4). The strategy side really does enhance this new installment. It does it enough to make it stand apart from the other games in the series. Its simple - if you like the dynasty warrior games you'll like this one. It sets a different tone from the Dynasty Warriors "nothing new" formula, if it isn't broken dont fix it! Just add some refinement! so in closing, is it better than than the others? Almost! is it a GREAT game and revolutionary? Its getting there!, but it IS still Dynasty Warriors at its core so if you are a fan or enjoy a LITTLE dash of strategy in with killing hundreds of men at once then this is the game for you. It would be nice to have the bodyguard option again however and a two player coop, this is a GREAT price for ANY fan of the series or new fans wanting to try something new. I HIGHLY recommend this game!

Close to a five here! This game has ENDLESS replayability!!! You choose different options every time you play which makes the game different. Your allies and enemies change also!

Not quite the DW game I'd come to expect...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: September 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Since buying the PS2 just to play DW3, this is the first DW game where I felt a little jipped from. Let me just mention it's got all the same familiar characters, all the same action and some welcome additions. So why the disappointment? This game does not come with a 2 player co-op mode, at all.

What it does have is a more flexible officer edit mode where you can customize from 6 models, voices, tactical skill and use any weapon from any officer. There are still only 4 slots, and your custom officers show up in the empires mode game. You can import your DW4(XL) officers.

The empires mode is 1 player only. It's a cross between ROTK and DW. Of course the tactical side is very light compared to ROTK, and the battles are fought DW style. Of course I was expecting a 2 player co-op in empires mode, and I even hoped for a 2 player vs in empires mode. Sadly to say, this wasn't the case, therefore my disappointment.

If you are planning to buy this to play alone, this is a good game, highly recommended. For those of you who were thinking of buying this game for 2 players, I'm afraid 4 vs games which are all familiar from previous DW games with new twists will not be enough to get much enjoyment for very long.

Killer game but lacks variety

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 17
Date: September 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game expecting it to be one of the best games I had ever played based on what I had heard about it but I was somewhat let down. Firstly, there is a serious lack of gameplay modes. Granted, it is only a thirty dollar game but even so, DW4: XL had at least two game modes; Legend mode and Xtreme mode. This game only has one main mode and that is the empires mode which is killer but I crave more.

Secondly, there is no option that allows you to play empires mode with a second player. The two player co op mode was what interested me in the dynasty warrior series to begin with. There's just something about teaming up with a pal to conquer China. The closest thing you can get to this sort of two player hack and slash fun is the versus mode though it's not as fun because I end up losing more often than not. Co op I like; versus, uh, not so much. The game should have included a 2p co op free mode or something so I don't have to change videogames everytime I want to indulge in two player beat downs. Also, you never really get the sense that your guys are improving. In the original DW4 half the fun was powering up your character so that he could go back and kick the crap out of all the characters he had trouble with before ie Lu Bu but in this game once you beat the game all the improvements made to your charcter are wiped clean.

But getting back to the positive, the empires mode is really cool. It is like the Xtreme mode from XL only much more developed. You are able to play as kingdoms and characters you never could before. Kick (...) as Ma Teng or Liu Zhang(even if they are just generic looking officers) When you beat the empires mode you will be treated to an interesting ending with plenty of Japanese rock music to keep you entertained. Gotta love it! Also the chacter edit is much better, which was my only real beef with the first two versions. Your officer actually looks like a real charcter and not a cheap generic loser with an empty sihlouette(sic? probably) for a charcter model.

Anyway, I would have to say this game is definitely a keeper for the Dynasty warriors fan, although all of the hardcore fans probably already have it by now. As a stand alone one player game it is probably better than Xtreme legends but I can't give a five star rating to a game with no co op story mode. To paraphrase the soup nazi from Seinfeld, NO FIVE STAR RATING FOR YOU!!!

ROTK+DW4

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: September 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When you add the two together you should come up with one heck of a game. What happened here is that the strategic, political and conscript aspects from ROTK were summarized into pairs, and issued to you as suggestions by your leaders. You can refuse their ideas, and save your gold, which you need to hire captured enemy generals. The map is a bit smaller than ROTK and with far less provinces. Despite this, the game is incredible. If you have ever wanted to fight a la DW while you were playing ROTK, this is it... You make your plans, hire men, whatever, then choose to attack or perhaps you sit and watch this turn unfold, saving money and manpower. Unlike DW though, the gates are everywhere, and they are now strongholds, which you must take to gain the edge. Also, generals can die 3 times in one battle. Oh yeah, they come back 3 times, and get harder each time. In a normal battle you might have to kill 15 generals... Actually only 5 but you did it 3 times each. They re-appear out of nowhere with a portion of their original force. Kind of annoying. A cool aspect of this is... For once you can finally be the only general on the screen, if you want that is. Send yourself in alone against 50000 enemy troops. The weapons and items are the same but harder to come by. Your provinces give you certain items, that you can only use once every 5 turns. Be carefull what you use. Your weapon gets stronger based on your level, just like DW. The number of men under your command is based on your achievements like in ROTK. Form alliances and help defend other lords. You gain rewards for this. During battle your AI generals can use their "skills" once per battle like in ROTK. Create an officer is better but nothing to get excited about. You can choose from a few different looks but the bottom line is you still look stupid. Oh, and I have yet to see any of the trademark Bodyguards. I miss that. Basically, Koei has taken good parts of each game and put it together. What more could you want? Oh yeah, no two player co-op, so I guess that is one thing you could want.

All the worst features of Dynasty Warriors 4, amplified.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 35
Date: September 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

What could the game designers have been thinking? I've been ambivalent about Dynasty Warriors 4 to begin with, but I'd learned to accept its shortcomings. But in this installment in the series, it's almost like the shortcomings are the only things left. They took the least fun and most annoying features of Dynasty Warriors 4 and made it the sole purpose for Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires, and the result is a supremely monotonous and charmless game.

First of all, it's as if they felt that the old enemies weren't powerful enough, with their dozens of archers interrupting your every move, ally soldiers who love standing around watching you get pummeled, unlimited Musou (special) attacks for enemy generals, and overlarge maps that take forever to navigate. Now to add to your misery you have:

- Enemy generals who respawn indefinitely;
- Enemy troops no longer have to emerge at a gate; they can literally materialize beside you from thin air;
- Enemy commanders can pull one six-hit combo that takes half your health;
- The player can be infinitely juggled so that you can lose your entire life bar if you fall down just once. If the computer opponent happens to be behind you, you may as well kiss the fight goodbye;
- There's a new type of enemy, the Sorceress, who can shoot endless flame/ice/lightning at you so that you won't be able to get up for about a minute straight;
- Special items aren't available every turn; you have to wait for some kind of production schedule;
- There's a low limit as to how many generals you can have in your roster;
- And no, your characters, items and achievements from Dynasty Warriors 4 don't carry over.

The game mechanics have been altered so that now the emphasis isn't on fighting (uh, isn't this a fighting game?), but capturing these annoying "strongholds". And to do that, you have to kill every single enemy within a large radius. So if one enemy troop hides in a nook from you, you'll have to run around looking for him. Also, you now have to run from place to place and ignore enemy generals just to capture these strongholds fast enough that your allies don't screw you up in your other locations. Level after level of this -- it's amazingly dreary. You can forget about using some of your more eccentric generals; the only characters that matter now are ones with a very long weapon range and crowd-control abilities. I may have 10 characters available, but the fighting mechanics (and super-cheap computer opponents) mean that I only use two, Xu Huang and Lu Bu. They may as well have gotten rid of all the other available characters, because trying to use Zhang Jiao or Meng Huo in this game is suicide.

The gaming equivalent of an eternal root canal. Save your money.

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