military and historical

A fantasy-type action and strategy game based on the incredible Chinese war epic "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Dynasty Warriors allows you to play as one of 2 dozen generals representing three warring kingdoms. In action mode it's like a third-person slasher, where you wield an awesome-looking weapon to chop your enemies into pieces (although the "Mousou" attack mode -- Japanese for unequalled -- seems quite silly). But there's more. You need to think about the overall battle strategy, and when hashing your way around the throngs of enemy officers and foot soldiers, you need to watch out for other battles happening at the same time and respond accordingly.

The Xbox version offers enhanced graphics (e.g., fog!) and sound over the one-year-old PS2 version. The difference in graphics is actually quite noticeable: when I played the PS2 version earlier this year, I was frustrated with the inadequate graphics which made some battle scenes difficult to play. The Xbox version is much smoother and easier on the eyes... something you'll appreciate when surrounded by dozens of enemies at a time.

The one downside to the game is its replay value: even though you can play as many characters, the number of battles is rather small, and some of them are so tough that you just wouldn't want to play a second time.

I can tell that most of the people reviewing this game have not played it all through. To straighten things out there are 21 stages (20 availible in Free Mode), there are over 40 characters(I think there is about 43). Each character has 4 weapons. Mousou mode has 7-10 levels in it, so anyone who has only played it with one character will not see all of them. Although there are 21 levels it is like having 42, because there are two sides in each level which is a whole different expirience. The game is 1 or 2 players and they can go VS. 1 on 1, and things like that or you can do a coopertive mission together. The game has really great cut scenes that you want to watch, and has pretty good gameplay graphics. When you do 2 player missions there is a little slowdown when you do special attacks, but in 1 player there is no noticeable slow down. There is a ton of value! You start with 9 characters and you beat the game or meet certain conditions in the game to unlock over 40 characters. The voice actiong could have been better for in game cut scenes but is fine for normal cut scenes. The graphics could have been better because it is an XBOX game, but they are still pretty good for the amount of action going on at one time. I would highly reccomend this game, if you think you might not like it then I would rent it first, I did not rent it and I bought it and I think it is probably one of the best games for XBOX.

After playing Dynasty Warrior 3, I now truly understand the fun of a real action games that involves very little strategy yet keeps you playing. Dynasty Warrior's story line is based on Chinese Han dynasty story translated 3 Kingdoms which are represented by the main characters in this game. The game covers major events, but does not satisfy itself compare to strategy versions of Three Kingdoms. Gameplay is okay, you basically walk or get on a horse and wack everyone around you, and when you get a special (Musuo) you go on a rampage and wack 10 or 15 ppl or however many are around you. The downside is that your "bodyguards" barely fights, they stand around and the enemy first stand around too. They face off for 5 second and then start whacking. AI of enemy is okay, they surround you and then attack you one at a time which sometimes knocks you silly(you can't move) thats how you mainly get killed. Sound is done okay, nothing worth mentioning, nothing bad either. Replay value is highly moderate because in order to get more characters you have to beat the game with original characters, and in order to get special weapon for certain characters you would also have to replay the missions, but thats not really bad because the missions are fun and you make people fly around all over the place. Overall, this game is great, I play it alot, and I find it satisfying enough for my taste so I find this game cheaper thrill than Dynasty Warrior 4 (which includes 1 or 2 more new characters or new features.)

Graphics: 8.5
Gameplay:8.5
Story: 7.5
Replay Value: 8.5
Sound: 7.0
Overall: 8.0