Dynasty Warriors 6

Publisher: KOEI

Developer: Omega Force

This sixth installment of the Dynasty Warriors (Shin Sangoku Musou) series has 41 playable characters and the new Renbu system and stage targets. It also features the Skill Tree where players can choose which skills to use when upgrading the characters.

It tells the story of the Three Kingdoms period at the time when the Han Dynasty lost its power. It all started with the uprising of the Yellow Turbans. People who sought power saw this as an opportunity. Three states rose to quell the chaos in ancient China: Wei (or Cao Wei), Shu (or Shu Han) and Wu (or Dong Wu). The previous games also included the factions from Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, Meng Huo and Yuan Shao. Wei is led by Cao Cao, Shu by Liu Bei and Wu by Sun Jian. This period in China has been adapted in many forms including this video game series. I'm glad they included Sima Yi in Musou Mode because it tells how he was able to manipulate everyone in the end.

Most of the characters' outfits and weapons have been altered. A lot of characters have similar movesets however and it is disappointing that they did not put a lot of effort into them. Only seventeen characters have Musou Modes too but it has allowed a lot of room for character development. I also noticed the subtle change in Xiahou Dun's attitude towards Cao Cao, and I don't like it at all.

Players would also notice that the characters can now climb and swim. Such skills will be useful in later stages especially in siege attacks. What I liked about the game are the stage targets. This will force players to put a little effort in thinking of a strategy rather than hack and slash their way into winning a stage. I don't have complaints with the weapons and the characteristics usually found in them for certain characters. The type of skills given to some officers however needs a lot of improvement. I cannot understand why officers that are supposed to have better defense skills have less points compared to some female characters. Eliminating units and smaller troops is a lot easier too. If it were not for stage targets and more complicated maps, this would be a very easy game.

I hope in the next installment of this series, there will be more variety in the movesets and they should level up the difficulty in defeating individual enemy units. I also hope they do not have to bring back characters who have no bearing in the story at all. I have noticed some fans who want to include more female characters in the game and clearly they have no idea what the story of the Three Kingdoms is all about. 

I'm giving this game a 6 out of 10 rating.