In the past, I’ve always been keen when it came to passing on Dynasty Warriors games. The last one I reviewed was the first edition of their Gundam cross-over (I want to say that was a PS3 launch title, but my memory is not as dependable as it used to be). I remember the tiring, ongoing fighting that ensued in that title, only rivaled by the fighting out of the second and third Matrix movies (fighting can get tiring, folks). It’s fun to hack/slash, but there has to be some substance to it to make it less mind-numbing.
Before you decide to move on to the next DW8:XL review and write me off, just know that the time between the last review of Dynasty Warriors and this review has shaken that snobbiness off. I found a lot of fun within Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends – Complete Edition than I thought was possible. There’s enough beef here to keep me occupied and amused for many months to come, so in other words I have changed my mind and feelings about this series because of this particular game.
Speaking of the game, let me stop chattering and get you right to what you care about.
Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends – Complete Edition features more than a few gameplay modes. The first up is the story mode. I could spend forever in the story mode because it has some major replay value in it. You get multiple conflicts within the story mode that seamlessly go from one to another. When I say ‘seamlessly’, I mean that it will take you around 30-45 minutes to complete each mission — but the story does flow from one to another, which keeps it all nice and consistent. I spent an enormous amount of time in the story mode, specifically with the Wei clan and enjoyed every little minute of it. My favorite warrior of the bunch so far is the dual sword wielding Li Dian, who is just absolutely deadly to mounds and mounds of enemies when the time is right.
The story mode allows you to modify your character’s skills and weapons, which ups the ante when it comes to wiping out tons and tons of enemies. I found this aspect of the game particularly enjoyable, though there is a quick cap (150, I believe) that might slow down the fun just a bit when you reach it. Honestly speaking, you’re in it to kill as many people as possible, so I doubt maxing characters out is going to really kill the fun for you (no pun intended). Should you be ‘that guy/gal’ who does get down when maxed out, the game allows you to choose from various characters on each mission, depending on the storyline that’s floating over said mission. Therefore, you can play the same mission over and over and get a completely different fighting experience. I like that a bunch.
Anyway, the weapons and skills upgrades are what makes the story mode a treat, outside of the tons and tons of enemies you’re killing. You get to collect and equip new weapons as you push forward in the game. It helps bring some variety to each character and provides some good gameplay (and some bad gameplay, if you get the wrong combination of items) that keeps the game fun and interesting.
Within the story mode, you have the initial option (look at those words, think a bit) to choose between four clans in the game, which bring different stories to the gameplay. As you progress through each clan, you will unlock more and more stories to be played. It’s an ever-growing sort of process that will encourage to keep going and doing better.
Outside of the story mode, you also have free mode (guess what that allows you to do), challenge mode (which gives you special challenges to complete as well as new high scores to set), a gallery and an encyclopedia for your nerdy pleasure. The game gives you plenty of options if you need a break from the story mode, and one in particular really brings the goods. The only other mode initially available from the start is the ambition mode.
The ambition mode is pretty deep, as it’s kind of like a sim mixed with role-playing elements with action iced on the top. You go to small skirmishes within the ambition mode that help you to build your army, facilities and allies as you go through and conquer conflicts, lands and enemies. It reminds me a lot of Dragon Force (Saturn game), but not so much with that turn-based element — just kind of that conquering sort of fun element added to it. Ambition mode allows you to conquer, modify and build your empire, which is always darn good fun. This is a mode that I’m still very much playing and using and one that makes this package definitely worth the price of admission.
Now, with all this goodness here in front of you, where does the game stumble a bit? The big stumbling block for me, and it’s not huge in the grand scheme of things, is how jumpy the camera and controls can be at times. I have had to fight with that free-floating camera in the game like it stole money from me. When you’re not twirling the camera around, it tends to want to crane up and is constantly needing re-adjustment during gameplay like a pitcher on a mound in the MLB. It’s rather annoying, but a good gamer can push through such an annoyance. It does tend to make fighting difficult at times, but not so much that you won’t enjoy the battles. There were times where I would find myself pinned against a wall and the camera would adjust to let me see the enemies — the wall was preventing it from moving around. Again, annoying, but not so much that it kills the gameplay experience.
The other gripe I have about this game is the ally A.I.. I cannot begin to express how useless your allies can become in the heat of battle. This complaint is doubled when you get to boss battles and you end up pretty much taking the boss down by your lonesome, even though your allies are following you in the fight. That is rather annoying.
Gameplay aside, let’s discuss some presentation value because that’s a good reason to get the PlayStation 4 version.
In the category of presentation in regards to DW8:XL, I’m a bit torn. I think visually the game looks pretty darn good when compared to past DW games. There is a lot of room for growth in terms of making the environments a bit less bland and bit more pretty, but that will come in time as the developers learn a bit more about the PS4 hardware. As it stands, this version is certainly prettier than the PS3 version of the title and it adds some great models/details in regards to the characters. The armor and clarity of the models/costumes is really quite nice. I’m particularly impressed with how the enemies actually have pained expressions on their faces as you kick their asses. It’s that noticeable in the game and that, boys and girls, is worth a shoutout. Honestly, it’s the little things that make this look good, and the details in the characters makes this better than what you’ve seen in previous generations.
I also found the environments to be particularly deep. While I still think that Omega Force can make the walls, outside world, structures and whatnot a bit more lively in terms of texture details, the fact that there isn’t pop-up or rendering going on is great when you’re trying to get into the game. Seeing a large kingdom unfold in front of you makes you really get into the action. I’ve always been a fan of good environments in games and DW8:XL definitely impresses in that category, but again the environments need a bit more detail to their textures.
The one thing that was disappointing about DW8 is the slowdown when there are too many enemies on the screen at once. With the amount of visual upgrades given in the game, as well as the endless environments, I’m not sure Omega Force has figured out a way to have its cake and eat it too. The framerate and the movement drops off considerably when you’ve got more than 70+ fighters in the heat of battle around you on the screen at once. It’s incredibly noticeable when it happens and harkens back to the old SNES days when too much was going on at once and the games start to slow down to compensate for the computation needed to complete the actions. I’m shocked that a lot of reviewers haven’t picked up on this, but with reviewing these days (which is sometimes overnight — not us) I can see why they missed it. It does happen and Omega Force really needs to figure it out for the next DW title. I have faith that they will.
So what about the game? Is it fun? Is it worth the price of admission? If you’re a Dynasty Warrior fan then no doubt you want to add this one to your collection — even if you own it on the PS3. Its visual upgrades, added modes, added difficulty and a bit more does make this truly a ‘complete edition’. It certainly packs a punch and allows for a more flexible time with the game and characters in it. This is coming from someone who isn’t a huge fan of the series to begin with, so take that into account as you decide after reading this review.
