The Dynasty Warriors series is one of gaming's most misunderstood franchises.
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It's adored in Japan, where its combination of hack-and-slash action and Eastern history proves a compellingly cathartic release for hard-working salarymen. At the kết thúc of a tough day, there's no series quite like Dynasty Warriors lớn take your frustrations out on. In what other trò chơi can you take apart 1000 enemies within a few minutes? In the west, meanwhile, it enjoys cult success among fans that vigorously defend it against accusations that it's nothing more than a simplistic, repetitive button-masher. To lớn a degree that's true – assuming you only play the trò chơi for a few levels on Easy mode. But such criticisms fashionssories.comore the tactical depth of the higher difficulties, where split-second decisions can sfashionssories.comificantly alter the course of battle. Save a character in trouble và he'll fight alongside you. But leave him struggling while you protect a carriage & he might abandon the battlefield. Convince a powerful warrior khổng lồ join you & his very presence can lower enemy morale, but if doing so means you let a messenger inform a rival captain of your presence, they'll have a stronger garrison by the time you arrive. On đứng đầu of all that, there's a wide range of combat options mở cửa to players who dig deeper into the game's systems, buying and upgrading new weapons và using seals & titles khổng lồ buff their character's abilities. It's not nearly as shallow as it first seems. All that said, Dynasty Warriors' vast and complex narrative and intricate web of character relationships can make the franchise feel impenetrable khổng lồ the casual player. For all that its mechanics are easy khổng lồ learn, its plot can prove hard to lớn follow – not least because the player can periodically pick sides, never mind the twists and turns that mean you often over up fighting an opponent that was an ally two levels before. Dynasty Warriors 7 Xtreme Legends makes no attempt khổng lồ appeal lớn newcomers. This, it seems, is one for the fans. Yet it assumes they're prepared khổng lồ pay just under full price for what is essentially an expansion pack. So, while it's probably the best Dynasty Warriors trò chơi to date, the lack of genuinely new nội dung combined with its unwillingness lớn cater khổng lồ those who are fresh lớn the franchise make it hard to lớn wholeheartedly recommend. Even so, the new way the game is structured perhaps makes it easier to lớn forgive Koei for not releasing this as DLC in the west (it's more understandable in Japan, where downloadable nội dung is still a relatively unpopular method of distribution). Rather than the restrictive story mode of DW7, where your character choice was predetermined, the new Legend mode allows you khổng lồ change officer at any time. As you complete stages, the dilapidated castle town that is your hub gradually comes khổng lồ life, filling with villagers & key assistants, from a strategist whose war manuals boost your character's stats to lớn a seal-crafting blacksmith & eventually a merchant who can be sent to lớn trade with other provinces for treasure & new weapons. It's a pleasing sfashionssories.com of the progress you're making, even if your interactions are fairly limited there. The already heaving roster boasts three new characters from the Wei dynasty. Guo Jia is probably the pick of the bunch, a young man with an orb & sceptre that offers a powerful EX attack & two of the best Musou moves in the game: one temporarily sucks all enemies (and allies) into a large sphere of energy, almost lượt thích a floating Katamari, và the effect is quite comical. The other, activated when you jump, is lượt thích playing airborne billiards with your foes as a large orb ricochets at tốc độ across the battlefield. Guo is particularly deadly when equipped with claws or twin swords, & his optimistic demeanour makes him a very likeable addition. Cover star Wang Yi, meanwhile, wields a pair of trishula, three-pronged blades that cut a swathe through groups of soldiers with incredible speed and surprising power, making her another good choice. However, the final new character, Pang De, is a disappointment, carrying the same twin axes favoured by Zhang Liao – and his base offensive and defensive stats are lower, to boot. Another disappointment is the lack of new stages. A number of battlefields have simply been transposed from Dynasty Warriors 7, while the rest are comprised of campafashionssories.coms from past titles. A few may well be delighted to lớn see the Battle of Hefei from Dynasty Warriors 5 or 6's Battle of Hulao Gate, for example, but others will roll their eyes at the constant recycling. Elsewhere, Challenge mode offers a range of score-chasing activities, from Arena battles where the objective is to lớn defeat as many officers as possible, to lớn Bridge Melee, which sees you attempt to lớn knock enemies off a series of narrow platforms before either time runs out or you are dislodged. Those who miss being pursued by Lu Bu, as in the early stages of DW7, will be delighted to lớn learn that tốc độ Run mode has him hot on your tail as you try khổng lồ run this gauntlet of encounters as fast as you can. Finally, if you've retained your Dynasty Warriors 7 disc, you can use the Remix option to import the original trò chơi modes, albeit updated with the new options và features provided here. Otherwise, Xtreme Legends has the same strengths và weaknesses of the trò chơi that came before it. Though it's a shame to lớn see so many assets reused, the kích hoạt still moves smoothly & at a fast pace, filling its arenas with combatants almost khổng lồ a fault – when you pick up several tốc độ boosts and start hacking through troops lượt thích a combine harvester, it can be hard lớn see where you are in the midst of all the chaos và flying bodies. A few minor changes improve the flow of the action – no longer vị projectiles take such huge chunks out of your health meter – & a few of the new weapons are well worth experimenting with. (It's a pity Koei didn't take some more time to update its ngân hàng of speech samples. If we never hear the line "I shall return - remember that, for yours is the first head I shall seek" again it'll be too soon.)