Gaming Warlords

Hello! Welcome to Gaming Warlords!

This website is all about the Dynasty Warriors series by Koei. We are obsessed with everything that goes with this series, and that includes delving into the history of the Three Kingdoms era, on which the aforementioned series is based upon. Please feel free to look around, and sign our guestbook before you go! We would like to hear what you think of this, whether it's positive or negative comments!

All of the links below are internal links to pages on our website. Each include my personal review of each game and, where possible, a number of screenshots.

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Last Updated: 7.7.2003

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Dynasty Warriors 4

Here is the review of Dynasty Warriors 4. I must confess I've been really busy lately getting the site all uploaded and working properly, as well as playing DW4 myself, so this review has taken longer to get written than previously expected. Nevertheless, here it is!

The game eventually came out on 27th June 2003 in the UK, and we at Gaming Warlords were queuing up for it outside the store, we were desperate to get our hands on it! I doubt anyone who's played it needs me to tell them it's the best version EVER, the rest of this article will explain why.

But first, you may have seen my preview page on DW4, which was live before this page was created. On that page, I stated the things I would like to see changed/added, and what should be removed/altered. I am happy to report that the things I did not want changed were left as they were in DW3 and DW3 - XL. These things were:

1. The multiplayer aspect was not messed around with much, instead it was made better. In Kingdom mode (the new Musou mode - more on it later), players can change their characters after every stage, which might sound daft but in practise it works quite well, as it makes for less repetitiveness. Versus mode was made much more interesting too (see further down the article for details).
2. The addictibility of the game has remained, DW4 perhaps being more addictive than any of the other versions!
3. Progression through the levels themselves hasn't really changed. OK, some gates are unopenable from one side, but there's always another route to get to the other side of it. I actually prefer this method, as it encourages you to look around the level and find and defeat all of the enemy.

OK, that detailed the things I mentioned in the preview that shouldn't be changed. As you can see, some things were modified a bit, but everything is still intact. Right then, below are the things I wanted changed:

1. The graphics wanted a look at, I said. Koei have answered my dreams and improved the graphics big time. There is much less slowdown in DW4 than in DW3/DW3 - XL. The levels look a lot better, and the characters look brilliant. The menu graphics have improved big style, too.
2. I suggested sixth weapons, and decent ones at that for DW4. Koei didn't do this, but what they did instead was genius. The weapons now use a experience points system (more about it in detail later), these points giving you better weapons as you go along. Of course, there is the final level weapon with special requirements, but I don't know these requirements yet. Thank you Koei for this improved weapon system!
3. I asked for more items. In a way I didn't get them, but what we got was much better. The basic items are the same, except they now have various levels up to 20 (more on item levels and so forth later). Some of the special items from DW3 - XL have been removed, but what we have instead are actually quite good. The best items have been taken from XL, with the poorer items left behind.
4. The thing I used to hate on the menus relating to the stats of the characters is still there, but now I actually find it useful!
5. I mentioned in the preview about improved menu graphics and music. I got both of those. Or sort of. Yes, the menu graphics are much improved, but the music throughout the game sounds quite poor. It sounds too much like 80's guitar music! This is the only bad thing in the game, which is a shame, as the rest of the game is brilliant.
6. The one thing that couldn't be done is the one thing I would have loved to see. That was the four-player team match on Assault on Wu Territory. The two-player version in DW3 was incredibly good fun, and four-players would have made it more interesting. Still, I guess it's the hardware that would determine if it could be done, and I doubt it could on the PS2. Something to look forward to then in the first PS3 version then!

There's still no sign of the XBOX version yet. Rumours have it set for the final quarter of 2003.

Right then, to the actual review. Please not, I do not currently have any screenshots, as my camera is not functional right now. As soon as I get the pictures, I'll post them in the relevant places. For now, you'll have to trust me when I say it's graphically superior.

OK, to begin with, I was quite impressed with the opening FMV that played when I loaded up the game. We were impressed by the music in the background (which was the Dynasty Warriors theme tune, which we all want as a ringtone on our mobiles!), and the graphics were put to good use. We had seen the Japanese trailer for the game, but it was low-quality and so lacked the detail in the FMV. Once the FMV was over, we pressed Start to go to the main menu. Instantly we were impressed with this graphically, as the options scrolled down the screen until it reached Musou Mode. The weapons and the flames in the background make it look amazing. The only thing we didn't like here was the music (more on that later).

Naturally, we wanted to see what the game was like straight away, so we didn't bother with setting options. Musou Mode is still called the same on the menus, but it is actually very different to the Musou Mode of past games. Prior to the game's release, everyone was calling it Kingdom Mode, which is what it should be called. Anyway, we chose to start the game playing with Wei (it was the first option, so we chose it. That, and my fellow gamer loves starting every version with Xiahou Dun). After I had chose Cao Cao, and GW No.2 had selected Xiahou Dun, we were shown a screen with "Wei - Act I The alliance against Dong Zhuo" (I think). The music here was less irritating than the music anywhere else. We were given the pre-match menu, which looked a lot like the ones in DW3/DW3 - XL in terms of layout. The most obvious difference in this game that you see in the game is the levels all look very, very different to the ones of past games (one of the best bits of the series is that the levels always change in different numerical versions, so the re-telling of the Three Kingdoms story never gets old). The one new addition to the menu here was the Change Character option. This allows either player to change their character after each stage, so the game loses repetitiveness a bit.

OK, the options on the Personal menu have changed a lot. First of all, we will see when you go to Weapon that you have just the one weapon to choose from. Nothing different yet, but you'll also notice the fact that it has a level number, number of points, a Next Level (which tells you how many points you need for the next level of your weapon), Attack (how much attack power your weapon gives you) and Hits (I think - how many times you can press Square before it finishes one lot of attack). This is a completely new system to the series, and we personally welcome it with open arms.

If you then go to Item Equip, you will probably start with three bays for items. The first is for Harnesses (when you unlock them), the next for Orbs (these are very useful, more on them later), and the next one is for normal items. You won't be able to equip either a horse or an Orb until later in the game, when you unlock them. You don't start with any items, so you can't do anything here.

The Set Bodyguards option is similiar to the one in past versions. From here you select different bodyguard units, how many guards you wish to use in each unit, what sort of weapon they use and what colour their outfits are. DW3 - XL allowed the player to gain Growth Points for their bodyguards (see the DW3 - XL page for details). DW4 throws this system away, and goes back to the system used in DW3, with a few minor alterations of course. You still need to earn points for the guards, but the one difference is that the weapon your guards use will determine which stat grows more than the others. Also, their final title varies according to different objectives too (I'm not going to go into details here, as there are plenty of unofficial guides on the Internet already - have a look under Dynasty Warriors 4 on 25000cheats.com for the guide to getting everything. Indeed, it's the guide Gaming Warlords are using to unlock absolutely everything).

OK, the level itself varies here according to what level you chose to do after reading the background history. At this point, we chose Si Shui Gate, just to ensure we completed everything we could. Once the level loads, if you've played any of the other versions, you'll know exactly what to do here. First of all, check the objectives so that you know what you need to do to finish the level. This is usually defeat the enemy commander, but can vary considerably for different levels in different Musou modes. One thing to note here: when you defeat enemy officers, you will get Weapon Experience points. These are essential for getting better weapons. How many of these points you get will depend on your difficulty level, whether he/she was a sub-officer, normal officer or the Supreme Commander. You can also get a few experience points from using different Charge attacks (normal attacks and the pressing of Triangle at different times activate these). Oh yeah, and in the levels, you can get Speed Boots (these increase your speed for 30 seconds - very useful until you get the Red Hare), as well as a very special Imperial Seal (it will last for 60 seconds, although we have yet to find it)

When you finish the level (or die/get defeated), you get the normal review of the match. Assuming you won the match, you'll then see a screen detailing how many people you defeated, how many officers you defeated, your bonus points as well as points for Clear Time (how long you took to complete the level). These points are totalled up, then you are taken to the next screen, which will add your points to your current total. Every so often, you will go up a class, as well as earning extra outfits for your character and more item slots. The next screen will show you your current weapon, how many Weapon Experience points you got from the battle, which will be added to your current total. You may have been lucky enough to earn enough from the first battle to get your weapon up to Level 2. This will give you more attack power. When you get to Level 4 and 7, your weapon will change it's name, appearance, its attack power and its maximum number of hits. Later on, in certain matches when you clear special requirements, you will get your Level 10 weapon. These are amazing, and we recommend you get one for at least one character as soon as you can, as it will allow you to almost fly through the level on Easy and Normal. However, you have to be on Hard mode to get them. The final screen you'll see is the bodyguards screen, which will total up their points for the KO's they dealt, how many of them survived the battle and bonus points. They have a maximum level of 20, and the number of them you can have goes up every so often, assuming you got enough points. Everytime they go up a level, their stats go up. Unlike in other versions, bodyguards are actually strong enough to help you fight through battles.

Once you get to the Save screen (assuming you've got a Memory Card, which you do need to get very far in this game), you're in for a treat. In this version, you have 8 (or is it 9?) save slots. This allows you to have loads of Musou Modes on the go at once. Naturally, we have already filled all of ours up.

OK, so let's talk about the items now. I mentioned they have a bit, and some of them from DW3 - XL have now gone. Every normal item now has a level, starting at Level 1 and goes right up to Level 20. As you might be have guessed, the Level 20 items are very hard to find. Hard mode is the only way really of finding them, but you still need to be quite lucky, as the items are always generated randomly. The items that have been taken out are items such as the one that made an Imperial Seal (Musou bar full for 10 seconds) last double the normal time, as well as Marching Drum, Lightning Arrows and a couple of others. Something else that has changed in relation of items are the Saddles. No longer are these picked up in the same way as before. Yes you still need to clear objectives to get them, but they are very different objectives to ones from past games.

If I haven't mentioned already, there are Musou Modes (or rather, Kingdom Modes) for every kingdom. These are: Wei, Wu, Shu, Lu Bu, Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Zhang Jiao, Meng Huo and Zhu Rong. The unaligned officers having their own Kingdom/Musou modes is very cool, and adds more to the game. However, you no longer need to clear the game with every character, just one from each Kingdom. While this can be seen as a good thing, it leaves less excuse to finish the game properly.

Right then, that's enough for now. The only thing to do now is to summarise a bit, and to give the game a rating. So, this version is by far the best EVER. I hope I've given you enough reasons why above. Newcomers to the series may or may not like it, but for seasoned players, it is easily the best one Koei have done. The only thing we don't like is the music, which does sound too guitar-like to us. Anyway, to give the game a rating. We rated DW3 9/10, saying it was almost perfect with a few glitches. DW3 - XL got applause from us for having the bodyguard creator, as well as the Other Forces characters in Musou Mode, and received a 9.3/10 from us. We commented that this game still wasn't perfect because of the graphical glitches, but it was the closest effort we've seen so far. As for DW4, well there's the little thing about less Versus options now, which we aren't please about at all. Granted, the new options are good, but there's nothing like Assault on Wu Territory in Versus (play it in DW3 a few times and you'll see what we mean). So, we give this version a grand 9.5/10. It is no longer the perfect game we expected, but it is so close that DW5 is going to have to be special now to beat this (if Koei restore the Versus mode to what it was, then we're going to have a party here!). This game gets the Seal Of Approval.

Contact Details

Having problems with any pages here? Contact us at the address below:
pproblem@gamingwarlords.co.uk

Disagree with our giving a game/site a Seal Of Approval/Try It Out award? Contact us at the address below:
soa@gamingwarlords.co.uk

To give us your views on anything on this site, use the below address:
comments@gamingwarlords.co.uk

(Seal Of Approval is only given out to the games/sites we REALLY think deserve them. These games MUST score 9.0 or higher to get the SOA. Should we rate a game 8.0 - 8.9, then we will give them the Try It Out award. The games that get this award are very good, but not quite good enough in our opinion to be obsessed with (like us here at Gaming Warlords). Don't forget that this is our opinion, and if you think we were too generous with a rating, or too hard on a particular game, then email us at the address above, and tell us what you think briefly, what we missed out and what you would rate the game as. As for sites, these are a different matter and you should tell who made the site what is wrong with their site. However please tell us if a link to a site doesn't work or the site is offensive, so that we can look at it and decide what to do about it.)

Copyright JD Whitby, Gaming Warlord No.1, 2003.