If you love mindless beat-'em ups or Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, you'll love Dynasty Warriors 5:Empires.
User Rating: 8 | Shin Sangoku Musou 4 Empires X360
This was my first foray with the Dynasty Warriors series. I'm a fan of Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms titles so I decided I'd finally give this series a try. I was mildly surprised with my first play-through. The game had more of a strategy feel to it than what I initially thought and was led to believe from sources I had read on the series. Being a fan of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the strategy element of that series is something I love playing around with; so this facet of Dynasty Warriors was indeed welcome. You can quickly jump into the game and start playing. The learning curve is not that deep. There are some elements that you'll need to read the manual to master. The game can be played without those maneuvers/elements, but to truly master the game and have an easier time playing and finishing; you'll need to utilize all the abilities and skills available. The game gives you the ability to choose different time periods and rulers in the Three Kingdoms lore. My personal favorite is Ma Teng which led to the discovery of one of the most powerful generals in the game, Ma Chao! This man is a beast and is another reason why the game grew on me so much. If you find someone that you particularly enjoy playing with/as, you're time spent with the game will definitely be well spent and time will fly by as you kill hordes of enemy soldiers. The graphics are nothing special and don't utilize on the graphics power of the 360. While there are large groups of enemies on the screen, you'll see that a lot of the character models are repeated and only the enemy generals are really unique in their appearance. There are some instances of slow down when the action is particularly intense with a large amount of characters onscreen. Some generals and their abilities are carbon copies of each other. Some generals are extremely underpowered, while others are total monsters on the battlefield. I guess this is to simulate the superior war-like abilities some generals have over others. Once you find a general like I did, you'll probably play the majority of your battles with that character. The enemy AI is not particularly smart. Some of the generals will disregard being attacked by your fellow generals and soldiers to team up on defeating you. Situations like this prove to be particularly hairy but somewhat unrealistic. If you find yourself in a situation where the computer generals are ganging up on you; no matter how powerful your player character is, you'll probably have to reload your last save. The generals under your command sometimes fail to follow the commands you assign to them. You tell them to guard a specific base and they head off in another direction. You want them to gang up on a specific general or unit and they sometimes have their own agenda to follow. Situations likethat can provide for some frustrating battles when the key to victory hinges on one of your units providing support in a crucial time frame. Even with situations like that, the game never really made me want to quit or hindered my ability to enjoy the game. With this title being available for a while now, so you can get it for a bargain price. If you considered playing this game in the past, I'd have to give it a hearty recommendation. You could play this game over an extended weekend if renting is your thing, but the game provides a lot of replayability in that you can choose to play through with multiple generals/factions and time periods.
