The Dynasty Warriors series takes place in ancient China, during the Han Dynasty in the 2nd and 3rd century. Dynasty Warriors is a very loose rendition of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms epic, which was written 600 some odd years ago. Of course, game developer Omega Force, took the extremely mythical approach when creating the Dynasty Warriors series, as opposed to the more historical approach, which can be found in other series published by KOEI.

Dynasty Warriors 4 has had a significant bump in the graphics department. The player models are more detailed and fluid; also the backgrounds have more life and detail to them. The animations for the character models are top notch, little things like mounting your horse in the middle of combat look incredibly stylish and fluid. The enemies in Dynasty Warriors 4 no longer just appear out of thin air like they did in the previous installments of the Dynasty Warriors series. Rather they can be seen from a distance, which can factor in what route you wish to take to get to your objective. Also, the multiplayer mode in DW4 takes advantage of this upgraded engine; because unlike previous attempts, the multiplayer mode hardly suffers from any slowdown whatsoever.

Gameplay wise, Dynasty Warriors 4 is rock solid. The camera is almost never a hindrance; and the controls are simple enough that you shouldn’t feel overwhelmed by them at all. At a glance, Dynasty Warriors 4 appears to be just a hack and slash event, not that there is any lack of hacking and slashing in DW4; however that is far from the truth. Dynasty Warriors has much more to offer than just mindless killing. Dynasty Warriors 4 has a wide variety of missions, all with multiple objectives. Also you get to level up your general’s weapon and acquire items to make your character much more powerful as the game progresses.

One the new features added to DW4 was the implementation of general duels. The duels directly affect the morale of your army and the opposing army, also the duels are a quick way to gain experience for your weapons. This is a very dramatic touch, one-on-one battles, generals calling each other out in the middle of a heated war; this gives DW4 a feeling of the honor, and the greatness that these heroes of legend possessed. Not only do you get to play as the heroes of possibly the greatest Chinese story ever, but you can also custom make a General to partake in this epic classic. However, there is still a bit of randomness to this process. When making a character, you don’t have complete control of what abilities and powers your created character will have. This was a play balance issue; every new character created will have strengths and weaknesses to maintain a level playing field.

All in all, it looks like game developer Omega Force, has gotten it right in their fourth attempt to bring the legends from the Han Dynasty to life. With the exception of some minor A.I. issues, specifically with your troops and the enemy units staring into each others eyes until you get close enough for them to start combat. Dynasty Warriors 4 is a near flawless game, with airtight controls and beautiful graphics. Also, one of the greatest tales ever for its backdrop makes this installment of Dynasty Warriors the complete package. Fans of the old games will be delighted with all of the new features and the graphical facelift that DW4 received. And gamers just craving a fast-paced title with plenty of action and depth should not hesitate to pick up a copy of Dynasty Warriors 4 today.