Wait . . .what?! *sigh . . .
Now, I'm not here to delve into my opinion of the series, but rather my opinion of DW 6, but something must be said of its predecessors. Many would tell you this game hasn't evolved much, and to an extent, they are right. DW 6's newest features include climbing ladders and swimming. Oooooh, swimming, now THAT'S innovation, right? Of course not. But each game has seemed to do something new.
But the problem is that these features never stay around. Earlier games let make your own general. Some let you make your own bodyguard that leveled up and had their own weapons. Some let you customize stats and abilities of your own weapon. The DW Empire games let you give simple commands to your generals in battle. Why can't all these features stay around and add to each game?
DW 6 manages to drop all worthwhile features and leave you with nothing. No create your own general, weapon, or bodyguard. No unit control, no online play, nothing. Gone are 4th (and 5th) weapons. No items or accessories to equip. No elephants or tigers to ride. Even numerous characters have been cut from the roster, such as Zhu Rong and Meng Huo and to make matters worse, they have even made cosmetic changes to a number of characters. One of my personal favorites, Wei Yan, a savage draped in bones and tribal attire, has been robbed of one of the coolest weapons I've seen in a game. Wei Yan always wielded a double voulge and had a unique way of fighting with it that was all his own. Now he weilds a ginormous hammer and plays just like Huang Gai, Xu Chu, or Dong Zhou. Crap.
This game is a complete disaster if you don't count the updated graphics. Even on the 360, DW 5 Empires at best, looked like a PS2 game. DW 6 looks like an Xbox game. Not an Xbox 360 game. An Xbox game. Evolving in leaps and bounds, let me tell ya. And the voice acting? About as good as it's been since the first game. At least they finally learned how to pronounce Cao Cao's name [tsao tsao, not cow cow].
Normally, I love these games. Simply because of it's premise, it's simplicity, and sheer amount of cool characters with even cooler weapons. But DW 6 has taken a complete step backwards, and for the first time, really let me down. Hopefully DW 6 Empires fixes some issues, but I'm not holding my breath.