Get the match up correct from the start and you can trigger a new Storm Rush combo, or switch mid button mash and you can trigger a smaller combo or counter. You carry two weapons at once (the major innovation of the last game) but now you have to match the right one against the right kind of enemy, in a rock-paper-scissors style relationship. This new game does nothing to address the first issue, in fact the story mode is worse than usual with endlessly repetitive missions that seem to drag on forever.īut there are signs that developer Omega Force has finally realised that mindlessly mashing the same two buttons for two hours at a time is no longer the pinnacle of interactive entertainment. In terms of gameplay Dynasty Warriors has two main problems: the endless repetition of the story mode and the utter shallowness of the combat.

The visuals themselves are slightly better, but the game is now subject to brief but crippling slowdown at seemingly random points of the game. There’s actually a new graphics engine being used in Dynasty Warriors 8 but it only makes things worse. The novelty wore off more than a decade ago though and now you’re left to hack and slash through the mindless ranks of cannon fodder in what, through the slow passage of time, has gone from state-of-the-art tech demo to embarrassingly primitive cash grab. The franchise’s real claim to fame is that there are always dozens of enemies onscreen at once, a technical feat that was hugely impressive when the series’ first emerged in the early days of the PlayStation 2. There have always been vague attempts to pretend the game has a strategic element, but outside of the Empires spin-offs they’ve never been any more complex than making sure you’re in the right area of the map at the right time. If you’re not familiar with the Dynasty Warriors franchise the closet point of comparison is probably a 3D version of old school scrolling beat ‘em-ups like Final Fight.

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