Dynasty Warriors shrinks down for the handheld... and loses a lot in the transition.
When it comes to plot, the Dynasty Warrior games have been pretty straightforward in each edition: Play as ‘Character X’ and try to unite the territories of Ancient China under one of three banners. Repeating the same formula and graphical engine over four sequels and a good dozen-or-so spinoffs (DW Empires, Samurai Warriors, SW Empires and the PSP versions of them all) has earned Koei a reputation for being lazy. Recent games like Dynasty Warriors: Gundam have started to prove naysayers wrong…
…but this recent iteration just plain proves that Koei is pretty lazy.
One of the major draws of the series has always been the ability to interact with actual historical characters, like Gan Ning and Lady Sun Shang Xiang. However, this was tossed out the window for Dynasty Warriors: DS Fighter’s Battle; instead giving the player one of three original characters to choose from.
The three characters are well-designed on paper and can be told apart easily. They also differ drastically in form and play. ‘Dragon’ gives the player an insane level of speed, but at lowered attack and defense while carrying about a traditional sword. ‘Chimera’ is almost the opposite of Dragon, carrying a massive hammer. ‘Phoenix’ is the Well-Balanced fighter, having no weaknesses while he blows through using both his fists and sword. Each one plays differently, and each one is a somewhat unique experience to use.
It’s also worth noting here that all three characters are based off three of the four Gods in ancient Chinese literature. For some odd reason, Koei forgot the White Tiger to round out the cast. But, to be honest, the ‘traditional three’ style of characters works nicely enough.
While the setting remains the same as the console (and PSP) versions, there is a complete lack of story mode, much less a Free Mode. Those have been completely scrapped for something resembling the play style of Dynasty Warriors Advance and the Empires spinoff: Slowly take over China by fighting through large-scale battles chopped up into small segments.
In this only game mode, the player chooses their main character and goes up against his rival (always one of the two not chosen – like in Pokemon with the starter Pokemon). The battles will always vary in length and scope, stretching across 8 areas of China and taking place in the same areas as the major battles of the Three Kingdoms Era.
The battles themselves are pretty stereotypical, similar to the fights of the PSP and GBA installments of this series: The player’s character will charge out onto the battlefield and slaughter enemy grunts until he can find the Enemy Officers, taking them down as soon as possible. However, things are slightly different here.
With the limitations of the DS, it literally becomes one person against hundreds. Like the GBA version, only the enemy army will show up onscreen (not counting your character and your officers). And, also like the GBA and PSP versions, the player will be unable to leave a section of a battlefield without hitting a specific quota. This quota will either be a set enemy kill count, or it could be offing a few unnamed Grunt Officers (though you can retreat to the section you just left from).
Scattered about the map are fortresses for both the enemy and allies, which all must be taken down before the main enemy’s fortress can be torn down. Inside each fortress is an Enemy Officer, each one often stronger than the last. A few bonus neutral fortresses may also be on the map, either designated by a bread roll for rations (health increase and replenishment) or by a sword (attack increase). Bonuses from them will show up once the base is taken by either side. Also, defeating enemy officers will also increase your (or your opponent’s) character’s strengths for the duration of the battle.
Once the enemy’s main fortresses are down, it’s time for a final showdown with the appointed boss, whoever it may be. The fight itself is the same as with all the other officers, but it’s not the ‘rival’ character.
With a nice twist, you’re also fighting against the clock: it turns out your ‘rival’ is hitting your own bases as hard as you’re hitting his. If the two of you run into one another by inhabiting the same location, the game shifts gears by moving into a duel mode where only one escapes ‘alive.’
However, if you win, the enemy is only sent to one of a few retreat points on the map and will be back and fighting soon enough. The same also applies to yourself, so the only way you can really lose is if the enemy takes down your main base.
After beating a level, you’re often graded on your battle skills. A better fight will result in a better reward, and KO-ing your rival in the battle will give you a second one (beating it fast gives you a third, and I assume there are more hidden in there). However, the reward isn’t cash or gems…
…it’s cards. That’s right; this game features a card-based system.
Hey, hey!
Don’t leave yet! Let me explain it!
You see, this isn’t exactly your traditional ‘card game.’ Each of the four sides (Shu, Wu, Wei and ‘Other’) have at least one card per traditionally-used general; with those playable generals from the console games getting two cards. On each card is often one of two things: either stat bonuses or summoning spells, and these cards will become your Fortress Officers when used in battle.
The stat bonuses often add to your health, attack/defense and troop strengths. When combined with enough stats, you can easily thwomp on the hardest characters in the game. Meanwhile, the summoning spells are a little different.
At random when a certain event is hit (which I’ll go into in a bit), a random spell will be summoned up and activated when the player wishes. These can range from simply reversing the controls of the enemy to making the Earth quake to completely freezing the enemy in place for a minute to rallying your troops and do massive damage with a nonstop assault. Some of these are useless, such as the Dud, but others can literally save your skin in a close battle.
An interesting point with these cards is that more than one character can be on the battlefield at a time. Xiahou Dun, for example, appears as both a stat-card and a summon-card; both of which can be used to enhance your abilities and summons once placed onto the field. It gets weirder when the enemy also has a Xiahou Dun out on the field as well.
Finally, there are even rare cards that are BOTH stat-based and summon-based. These cards are insanely rare and are always worth fielding when you get the chance.
As for how the Summonings work, it’s rather simple:
When you go through the fights, enemies will often drop items (dumplings to heal, for example). One such item is the coin. Get five coins and a roulette will activate in the corner, using up all five coins in order to give you the chance to dish out something special. If you don’t use the roulette ability right away, it’s possible to store up to twelve coins in bonus for later roulette uses. It’s certainly a time saver.
The controls for this game are pretty simple, overall. B is the traditional hack-and-slash button, with the A button becoming the ‘charge’ button to vary up the combos. X unleashes the Musou attack (and no charging this time, guys), with Y unleashing your Summoned Spell. L, of course, blocks.
The R button switches the DS bottom screen between a full map and a detailed analysis of your opponent’s movements. This also means there’s no touch pad use, which is a little depressing.
Unfortunately, hit detection is more than slightly off; which makes it a little hard to control things properly, as well as movement. It’s pretty unfortunate, considering the potential this game actually has.
Certainly a 6 overall – the card dynamic is nice because it’s not shoved in our face and the controls are easy, but the flaws easily drag this down.
Now, because this is a handheld game, I wasn’t expecting any major graphical or sound improvements at all. Especially when compared to the massive PS2 games of the past. However, it’s not all that bad.
The way Koei went for this game was a pseudo-3D effect, with a polygon background and sprites for characters. The background is very impressive for the DS, though it won’t rival Mario 64x4 anytime soon. The sprites on the other hand, not so good. The nameless archers and swordsmen killed in endless droves by you all look the same, and sometimes barely resemble people sometimes. However, there is almost a complete lack of slowdown in this game. As much of a backhanded compliment as this is, it’s worth noting once you look at the older games of the Dynasty Warrior series.
The named characters, on the other hand, look nice and sharp for the style. The three main characters all look distinct and wonderful, while the Officers all have their own quirks here and there (though many of the lower named Generals are carbon-copies, much like in the console games).
The only real flaw with this graphical style is the fact that characters lying down, stunned, look awkward in the view and it can be hard to judge distances. However, this is only a minor one in the long run.
Definitely a 7. While there are flaws, this is a pretty good-looking game.
While the music itself is mostly forgettable for this game, as well as the effects, the fact that there is actually a good amount of vocal tracks here is noteworthy. However, much of it is limited to the cries of pain from the enemies and allies. But it’s worth keeping in mind that they’re no generic ones: each character has a unique voice completely.
While it doesn’t do much, the music and sound aren’t so forgettable or annoying that you want to turn them off – especially since a fair percentage of them come from the older versions of Dynasty Warriors. A 5 here.
When it comes to replay value in the long run… well, the single-player campaign is pretty much done in a few hours, and can be thrashed in a single sitting if you’re bored enough. This is perfect for a car trip or a plane flight, but you may regret the purchase if you bought it for too much. About the only thing to keep coming back for is to play as the other two mains, as well as collect all of the cards, really.
However, there’s an ad-hock multiplayer mode here as well, where up to three people can assault each other on a massive battlefield. However, this requires one copy of the game per person – which can be quite complicated, unless you know quite a few Warriors fanatics with a DS.
Since there’s about an average amount of replay here, it gets a 5.
As for my own feelings about the game… it’s a guilty pleasure. I like taking down whomever is in my path and recruiting a dream-team of people from the Three Kingdoms Era, regardless of which side they’re from. It’s certainly not the best game ever, and I recognize this, but it’s a fun diversion. A 7.
In the end, if you’re looking for a fun diversion and you don’t mind repeating the same 8 stages often enough (despite the ‘random’ shuffle for the layouts), there’s a game to be found here.
Just don’t be going about in paying full-price for this thing ($30 at Gamestop, for crying out loud), because it’s not worth THAT much.
Final Score:
6/10