Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires

by Omega Force

Product Features

• All the combat action that made the original Dynasty Warriors great -- from single-player hacking and slashing to massive troop movements across wide-open battlefields
• New Empre Mode - Pick a region, select an officer proposal and build a kingdom of your own
• Conquer and defend 25 regions on never-before-seen battlegrounds
• Set up battlefield strongholds to influence troop morale and strength
• Powerful new Officer abilities, from powerful new Charge attacks to taunting Challenges

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001Y73WI
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 15, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,026 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #20 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Strategy
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires introduces a new stage and strategy system to the series' frenetic battlefield action. In the new system, the game opens with a map of Ancient China, fractured into 24 different regions. Players start with one region, and then choose another region to invade or defend. Officers will recommend a strategy or policy, and then combat begins. Victory goes to the first warrior who unifies all 24 regions under a single kingdom.

Along with the three most influential kingdoms of Wu, Wei, and Shu, Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires includes smaller kingdoms not seen in any previous Dynasty Warriors titles. The game also combines the multiplayer action of Dynasty Warriors 4's VS and Challenge Modes into one furious VS Mode. In the revamped mode, players can send attacking soldiers to the opposing player's screen by knocking-out enemies with a Musou attack.

Redesigned based on user requests, the advanced Character Edit mode triples the number of character models and voices players can use to create their own warrior, plus player-created warriors can use any weapon in the game. There are also new playable warriors and more officer abilities--from powerful new Charge attacks to taunting "Challenges."

Product Description

Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires is the next phase in the amazing game saga. The warriors return with more epic battles and scenarios, devastating Musou attacks, and new modes of play. Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires will rewrite the rules of Tactical Action -- this time, the empire you build will be your own! New two-player Vs. Mode and Tactics system Three new character models and voice sets, for creating a custom character that leads your army to victory

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun slasher game, March 25, 2005

By 

R. Weil "Forsaken Rogue" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires (Video Game)

_Okay. So I bought this game mainly on the basis of my friend's recommendation. I was extremely happy with it, and surprised by the sheer fun of this game. Kill hundreds of enemy soldiers using many many unique weapons and styles of combat, and conquor China. I won't go into every specific detail about gameplay, but I will say this was a very well made game. I'll break it down in an attempt to overview important buying info.

-Graphics: Good. Not great, but good. Game experiances phantom slowdowns every once in a while though. Not -often- but so far three times in the time I've played it. I've beaten the game once, and I'm halfway through it again.

-Music: To be honest I've never noticed the in-game music. Too busy slaughtering unworthy minions. I really like the menu backround music though. Catchy.

-Gameplay: It's been said in other reviews that you will encounter enemy officers so absurdly cheap that they will juggle you from full health to nothing without you ever hitting the ground. I bought this game assuming it was an exaggeration by frustrated gamers. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE :( Okay, with that out of the way, comes the other incredibly annoying point in gameplay. Archers/sourcers. Ranged attacks that will range from knocking you back (stopping your momentum), to knocking you straight on your butt. Absurdly cheap and annoying and they appear in large groups. Good news is that they don't deal any appreciable amount of damage and can be disposed of quickly enough. Bad news is that they tend to appear alongside cheap officers.
__Okay, those points made, comes the good news. Officers are (keywords here) *not commonly* that cheap. The game makes it however so you have to be just as cheap in defeating them to stand any chance. But it's possible. Take note that charged attack combos are your friends. And for fair warning, I just went around, killed 820 minions in a battle (took 25 minutes), then got double-teamed by two such cheap officers.
___My last issue with gameplay is arrows. You get a bow and can use it at will. Aiming and firing is quite simple, and it does a decent amount of damage. The main use for it is hitting distant archers or dismounting people riding on war elephants. (you get to ride elephants and horses in this game, yes). What's my beef? You get a very limited number of arrows to begin with, and finding them in battle is rare. I don't see any point in making a rarely used weapon even more worthless. It'd be *balanced* if you had unlimited, since I can take out literally 40 enemies for the time it takes to kill one via bow and arrow. So they really limited something already limited.

-Controls: Almost everything you'd want or need. Except the gaurd button. You are given a button that gaurds you against pretty much all attacks from the front. One would assume this would mean from just the very front, but apparently not. Enemy officers can block attacks even from the sides. You however, can only block attacks from the few pixels in the center of the screen. In other words, does not work 99% of the time. This would be a most negligible point since I've only ever needed to block against officers. Namely, the cheap ones. However, they can block with almost invernerability, while you can't ever block their attacks. Makes those cheap guys even more frustrating.
__Last point on controls however, you do get a taunt! Very funny, especially when you kill two or three people by taunting. In this catagory I'll list that the camera is of course in third person, and it works well. Gaurd button also functions to reorient the camera behind you, which you will need to do from time to time.

-Replay: A game's true value will always boil down to it's replay value. I think the replay value is high. You can always start a new conquoring campaign. And campaigns will always be different every time. The other empires struggling for control will do different things each time, form different alliances, invade different areas and all that. Plus...the campaign mode comes with a "fictional" mode, where you start a campaign with RANDOMLY placed enemies. That just makes it all so much more interesting.

-Edit character mode: The product hilight makes much mention of the character edit mode. It's slightly overrated however. The game gives you access to MANY, MANY unique weapons, which is a big plus. And any custom character can use any weapon. But when it comes down to making your stats, you get only 7 different pre-made sets to work with. Something I found out is that character's run speed, not listed in the stat sets, is also effected by what you choose. Anyway, when it comes to your character's model, the options you get for dressing them up is vastly limited. Definitely better than nothing, don't get me wrong. But for a system that supposedly has been upgraded from a previous game, couldn't they give me more than 3 different heads for my chosen body type?
__In basic, it's nice, but don't expect as much as you'd get from the latest Wrestlemania game.

-Multiplayer: Weak at best. Don't get this game expecting it to be a fantastic multiplayer game. You get four different verses battles, none of which is particularly exiting. Co-op story mode would have been very easily programmed in, and this game would have been fantastic with it. Oh well.

-Other notes: This is definitely a slaher game, but it has its strategy elements to it. Pick who you bring into battle, what political moves you make, manage your gold. How you use your leadership may make your life incredibly difficult or easy, depending on what you do and what sort of luck you have that game. Remember things are different each time, so choose your decisions wisely.

_I gave this a fun rating of 5, because I think it is, but overall is 4 due to cheap officer fights. A little bit of cheapness here and there wouldn't be aggrevating, but spending 25 minutes decimating close to a kilo of troops to be gang-raped by two cheap officers? That's just not cool. As I said before, luckily it doesn't happen often, but if you play through the campaign mode it will happen to you, no doubt.
_I would rate this title a definite buy. How it stands against other Dynasty games I do not know, as this is my first. If that is the information you seek, I'd advise reading articles posted by others who have played them. Standing alone, this is a very fun game however.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most fun games I own, June 3, 2005

By 

D. White "D-Rock" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires (Video Game)

Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires (DW4E) is one of the funnest if not the funnest PS2 game that I own. It takes a number of the characters from the Chinese book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and allows you to play them and fight out epic battles. The style of gameplay during battles in DW4E is the same as all of the games in the Dynasty Warriors series - hack n slash, meaning that you basically run around tapping your attack buttons and killing hordes of enemies and finding powerups on the battlefield. After each battle, depending on how many enemy soldiers you've killed and how many "worthy opponents"(opposing generals) you've defeated and how many casualties your force took your warrior will level up. Here is where DW4E is different than the rest: Outside of battle there is a map of ancient China and it is divided into territories controlled by different generals. From here you will choose which region to invade or defend and also your generals will present policies to you to act out. Policies range from healing armies, recruiting local generals, forming alliances, building new items, trading items, building smiths to improve your weapon levels and so on. One of the best features is that you can choose to play any of the generals in your force during battle, which means you can play every general in your force during every different battle or just stick to powering one up. The entire Empire element adds alot to the original DW4 and in my opinion, makes DW4E a better game entirely. There is also an advanced character edit mode -- you can create your own general using quite a few different models and fighting styles. Also, if you've played DW4 and have used the character edit option, you'll notice that your created character will only have a silouhette for a portrait. Not so in DW4E. The created characters look and act just like the real generals (although they don't have as cool of outfits as the real generals IMO). There is also a VS. mode allowing you to play head to head with a human or CPU player with 4 different modes (to be honest I haven't really played the VS. mode much). And like all Dynasty games there is an Archives that will allow you to view artwork and backgrounds of each general. If you are a fan of addicting hack n slash action with a mild strategic element involved (believe me it is MILD, not hard to figure out at all and DOES NOT affect gameplay if you're not one who likes that sort of thing), then pick this game up and give it a try. If you are a fan of the Dynasty Series, this is a must have!

Pros:
-Empires mode adds a whole new spin on gameplay
-Advanced character edit gives you more options and makes you feel more a part of the game due to character portraits
-Archive mode allows you to identify more with each General
-Replay value is high due to being able to conquer the map using lots of different combinations of Generals
-Graphics are good and the soundtrack is even better - never gets annoying and doesn't overpower the gameplay
-Play as any general in your force at any time - even the generic looking men (the ones you will most likely use as liutenats)
-Recruit your favorite generals to create an army full of favorites

Cons:
-Too many generic looking generals/liutenants - there are only 3 different character styles for the generic (not main) generals

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Killer game but lacks variety, September 6, 2004

By 

Bilbo Baggins "mighty hobbit" (Land of Dwarves and Hobbits) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires (Video Game)

I bought this game expecting it to be one of the best games I had ever played based on what I had heard about it but I was somewhat let down. Firstly, there is a serious lack of gameplay modes. Granted, it is only a thirty dollar game but even so, DW4: XL had at least two game modes; Legend mode and Xtreme mode. This game only has one main mode and that is the empires mode which is killer but I crave more.

Secondly, there is no option that allows you to play empires mode with a second player. The two player co op mode was what interested me in the dynasty warrior series to begin with. There's just something about teaming up with a pal to conquer China. The closest thing you can get to this sort of two player hack and slash fun is the versus mode though it's not as fun because I end up losing more often than not. Co op I like; versus, uh, not so much. The game should have included a 2p co op free mode or something so I don't have to change videogames everytime I want to indulge in two player beat downs. Also, you never really get the sense that your guys are improving. In the original DW4 half the fun was powering up your character so that he could go back and kick the crap out of all the characters he had trouble with before ie Lu Bu but in this game once you beat the game all the improvements made to your charcter are wiped clean.

But getting back to the positive, the empires mode is really cool. It is like the Xtreme mode from XL only much more developed. You are able to play as kingdoms and characters you never could before. Kick (...) as Ma Teng or Liu Zhang(even if they are just generic looking officers) When you beat the empires mode you will be treated to an interesting ending with plenty of Japanese rock music to keep you entertained. Gotta love it! Also the chacter edit is much better, which was my only real beef with the first two versions. Your officer actually looks like a real charcter and not a cheap generic loser with an empty sihlouette(sic? probably) for a charcter model.

Anyway, I would have to say this game is definitely a keeper for the Dynasty warriors fan, although all of the hardcore fans probably already have it by now. As a stand alone one player game it is probably better than Xtreme legends but I can't give a five star rating to a game with no co op story mode. To paraphrase the soup nazi from Seinfeld, NO FIVE STAR RATING FOR YOU!!!