Reviewed on: PS3
Omega Force
Koei
Available Now
Hack-n-slash
PS4, PS3, PC, PS Vita
Score: 3 / 5
I first stumbled upon the Dynasty Warriors series way back in the early 2000s with Dynasty Warriors 2, a chaotic hack-n-slash title, which told the epic tale about a battle between three Chinese Kingdoms during the Han Dynasty period based on the fourteenth Century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Sadly not much has changed since I first played it. Yes, there are a few extra modes thrown in, a myriad of new characters and weapons to experiment with and an obvious graphical upgrade but despite all that it still feels very similar to the games humble beginnings. That is not entirely a bad thing as I remember really enjoying these games back when I was younger and I still enjoy them to this day. Sticking with a formula that works is something that we see a lot in the video game industry.
Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends is an expansion to last years Dynasty Warriors 8, adding in new quests and new playable characters which you can create, for this you can get the best eso builds that will help you with this. Personally I did not play through the original Dynasty Warriors 8, so I will be reviewing this game as a standalone product and I will not be comparing it to the earlier release. Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends does come with the ability to import your save from Dynasty Warriors 8 for those who did play through the original game.
If you have ever played through a Dynasty Warriors game you will know the infamous Lu Bu and the incredible strength that he holds. For those who haven’t witnessed Lu Bu before, he was a feared warrior in the great Han Dynasty period and was known for his great power and his lack of loyalty. In Xtreme Legends you are granted the ability to step into his shoes with a whole new side story, plotting the movements of Lu Bu throughout the Han Dynasty period.
Each quest in Dynasty Warriors throws you in a huge open battleground; pitting giant armies in a battle to defeat one another by defeating officers and overthrowing key points on the map. Each army has a number of officers who have small battalions with them, and defeating these officers is an important part in overcoming the enemy and winning the battle. Each battle is fought on huge battlefields filled with a large variety of open landscapes, mountainous regions, and massive castles.
During each battle you will have objectives such as take down an officer, take over a certain area or protect your comrades and during this time you will lay waste to hundreds upon hundreds of enemies. After small armies rush towards you, they will all stand around doing not much until you destroy them with a flurry of attacks. The only real enemies who offer much of a threat come in the form of the enemy officers. Most of these officers will do their best to take you down, although ultimately a lot of them end up just trying to block your every move in order to survive for a little bit longer.
There are a few different game modes in Dynasty Warriors 8 that offer new challenges to the repetitive nature of the gameplay. The main story campaign consists of the same story we have been told over and over again with the addition of the Xtreme Legends side stories. On top of that are: Ambition Mode, which will have you building a base of operations, completing missions to collect resources for your base and building relationships with your fellow officers; Challenge Mode, which will have you completing time and skill bases missions; and Free Mode which will give you the option to play through different battles any way you want. Combining all of these options gives you enough content to keep you occupied for a huge amount of time.
Xtreme Legends also includes both a Gallery and an Encyclopedia. With the huge amount of characters and weapons in Xtreme Legends it is pretty cool to get a close up look at them all in the Gallery, and the Encyclopedia can be a valuable asset in understanding the game’s setting. The story of the Han Dynasty can be a fairly confusing one at times so if you were ever a bit confused about it and wanted to learn more about the Battle of the Three Kingdoms, the Encyclopedia has extensive descriptions on every character and battle in the game, as well as a helpful timeline stating everything that happened during the Han Dynasty.
The combat in the Dynasty Warriors games hasn’t changed much over the years. Each character and weapon you use will have a different set of moves with a wide variety of light and heavy attacks, this gives you a huge variety when deciding how you would like to dispatch your foes. As you mow down enemies with your mighty attacks you will fill your Musou gauge which when full, can be used to exert a devastating and powerful attack on your enemies. Scattered throughout the maps there are power ups that will raise your defense, attack or speed for short periods of time. These power ups can help you immensely when you are taking on the few tough enemies in combat.
Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends like those that came before it is a fun, chaotic, adventure that has an absolute huge amount of content for newcomers. The problem with these games is that there isn’t a huge amount of new content for people that have played them before. I did have a good experience with my time with Xtreme Legends as I went through the litany of different modes, although sadly it was short lived due to it growing stale over the years.
