Amazon.com: Dynasty Warriors 3: Playstation 2: KOEI: Video Games

104 Reviews

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
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4.7 out of 5 stars (104 customer reviews)

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36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yeah, I know, I've already reviewed this game but I'm back., November 23, 2001

A Kid's Review

Some would claim that Koei's Dynasty Warriors 3 doesn't advance all that far beyond its predecessor. They point to the similar action-oriented gameplay, and graphical presentation that's fairly familiar. I dismiss their arguments with a wave of my hand, pointing my finger firmly toward the sight of Liu Bei striking down the ranks of his foes atop an elephant. Yes, you can now ride elephants in Dynasty Warriors. This is extremely cool.

There are more additions to go along with that, naturally, although the overwhelming coolness of the elephants dwarfs most other improvements -- even the new two-player split-screen mode. There are new characters, including Meng Huo and Princess Zhen (who is looking exceedingly fine, thank you), and much longer combo strings for taking out large groups of enemies. Basic combos now stretch out to as many as six hits, and you can chain the triangle-button charge attacks into regular combos for as many as eight or more. Other special attacks include passive maneuvers (indirect defensive attacks like the back-elbow in Double Dragon), and the "Power Guard" technique, which responds to attacks with a strong riposte. The key to victory is still teamwork, though, relying on support troops to back you up as you charge through the bad guys.

The environments are more varied and interactive in the sequel, to go along with the improved graphics. Textures and effects are brighter, especially when heroes finish off combos with big special moves (Zhen cuts loose an explosive energy halo), and the new attacks mean a wider variety of character animations. The battlefields are presumably bigger, although that kind of scale is difficult to judge, and there's much more variation in terms of scenery and elevation levels. There are more constructions like walls and bridges, trees and other background elements filling space, and more different landscape themes -- the effect is to provide both greater variation in strategies and more interesting backgrounds to look at.

The new split-screen multiplayer mode allows cooperative play in the main Musou mode and the kill-everything-that-stands Free Mode, as well as a variety of one-on-one Vs. modes. The Musou mode has also been spruced up with a variety of character development elements, whereby players can earn new items and weaponry for their characters. Defeat an enemy general who wields a famous sword and you can take it for your own, earning an attack bonus in future battles. Other items improve speed, defense, and the like. Items can also evidently effect your luck in finding and using a mount, be it equine or pachyderm.

New characters take the field as part of an entirely new army, although it will take someone with a bit more familiarity with the Three Kingdoms cast to peg them precisely. Sun Shang Xiang is one of them, though, and like the other characters, she's sporting at least two different costumes and weapons options (in this case, a long sword to go along with her old weapons from Dynasty Warriors 2).

The cast is likely to greatly exceed the original game, and there will be plenty of fighting to set them all to, especially in the multiplayer mode. Dynasty Warriors is still about the kind of fun you can have as a one-man army -- or perhaps a one man, one elephant army. Later this year, we'll be sure to make some time for a little more stomping across the battlefields of third-century China.

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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of fighting and a little strategy, December 23, 2001

By	J. Leigh "jleigh7" (chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Basically it's like Gauntlet/Jedi Power Battles/Command and Conquer, all rolled into one. You fight epic battles where you pretty much single-handedly demolish hundreds of enemy troops- that's why you're a hero- heroes do that you know! But unlike games like Gauntlet, you can chose where on the battle map you want to concentrate your attention, fighting. For example, if one of your ally generals is about to fall, he will issue a warning, and you can either allow him to get slaughtered or you can rush to his aid. Allowing him to die results in the diminishing of the overall moral of the troops, which in term translates to a reduction in fighting ability.

Fighting is with very simple button sequences, which are pretty much the same with every character. During the course of the game you collect items that improve your character's performance.

The plot in the game is based on The Three Kingdoms (also availabe on Amazon), a well known Chinese novel. I think this is the first time a video game might actually encourage someone to read a book! (Actually Kessen is also based on the same story- surprise, Koei also makes the Kessen game!) Unfortunately whatever the story is amongst these kingdoms, it's completely incomprehnsible in the game. But that's really not important anyway, as jumping in and killing lots of people pretty much gets you through all the game campaigns.

Pros:

- simple controls to master
- provides light strategy that is manageable in the thick of a battle
- can switch to Japanese mode so the characters speak Japanese. Sounds cooler at least.
- graphics are good

Cons:

- game gets a bit repetitive
- major hand pain from stabbing the game controller buttons for too long. A campaign can last as long as 40 minutes!
- awefully stilted English voice acting
- rock sound track does not really fit with the theme of the game. Needs more of a Gladiator or Lord of the Rings soundtrack in the game.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Games Ever!, December 3, 2002

By A Customer

First of all, this game deserves more than five stars. It is a fun, highly addictive game. It is literally possible to play it for very long amounts of time without realizing it.

Anyways, enough about the fact that it is good, let's get into why. If you've played Dynasty Warriors 2, nothing major has changed, it has only gotten better. For those of you that haven't played it, I will try my best to describe the game. This is a game where you enter battle in campagin (Musou) or one mission at a time (Free) modes then you choose from a list of historical generals from China's Three Kingdom era.

Before entering battle you can choose what your bodyguards are equipped with and you can equip your general with better weapons and items that increase have special effects, including raising your stats.

During the real-time battles, on a variety of battlefields, you fight hundreds, or if you choose, thousands of enemies with your primary weapon, bow, and special move. Your special move has a bar below your health that charges when you grab items, defeat enemies, and get damaged yourself. When you defeat gate captains (enemies who allow an infinite amount of enemies to spawn until they are killed) and enemy generals, you can gather objects that turn out to be weapons, equipable items, objects that permanently raise your attack, defense, max health, and max musou.

After battle your general calculates the experience he gained increasing the number and strengths of your bodyguards.

Other interesting points to this games including new additions from the previous include: you can ride a horse and an elephant, a new multiplayer function, more generals and if you use a memory card with old DW2 saved games, it transfers over some of your unlocked generals. The last good thing about the game I am going to say is that it is virtually only violence.

The bad parts about the game are small. First and foremost it starts harder than DW2, almost impossible, even on easy difficulty. Once you get better weapons it becomes easier. Another downside is you can only unlock generals and best weapons on hard mode. This can take hours, for hard is nearly impossible, even with maxed out characters.