Since Dynasty Warriors 4, it became a trend to see an Empires equivalent come next.. Its basically the improved version of it with more characters and most importantly, it involves strategic gameplay. The goal once again is to participate in the War of the Three Kingdoms and conquering all the land. You may do that by selecting a character of your choosing.
Unlike the normal series, Empires provides the player a number of different modes to choose from; and the single player mode is divided into different campaigns and factions that are related to the characters of the game.
Once you start the single player, a map of China will be presented. Its going to be divided into different territories to be conquered using diplomacy or the hard way… War. Depending on your character’s rank, you will be allowed to have different interactions with nearby kingdoms.
The goal of all this is to get all the territories in an attempt to rule as the dominant faction. Different of events that occur in the game might get in your way; some of them require making difficult decisions like sacrificing your men to gain an overall advantage or making different agreements with other military leaders.
Technically speaking the game engine is the same engine that was used in Dynasty Warriors 7. The models of the main characters in game are not really different, as well as their animation you don’t feel like there is anything new in that regards. Furthermore, the action remains the same as all the old Dynasty Warriors just improved with new combos and moves (I don’t mind because that how I’m used to playing it.
The gameplay is all taken from Dynasty Warriors 7, along with the ability to switch between two set of weapons at will and changing them depending on what you are facing. The Square button is used to perform quick attacks, the Triangle for the powerful and the Circle will unleash the power of the u techniques Musou, useful to kill a lot of enemies at once.
One of the interesting things I found on Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires in the single player campaign is that, depending on the situations in the kingdom such as political problems the choices you make in the management phase will have an effect on the battlefield, perhaps even changing the number of troops available on the battlefield with you.
Because of such situations you are going to face armies sometimes three times larger than yours, this normally happens when the management of the troops is neglected . Even your character as strong as he may be won’t be able to finish the whole mission alone.
Another awesome thing is that you can overcome this situation using the cards of Stragems, which will give you different bonuses like bringing down a rain of arrows on your enemies at the right time and different maneuvers that also may help.
During the game you will get to make different decisions which will earn you prestige points, or get valuable comrades and loyal wives that will strengthen your ties with the different factions.
A great addition to Dynasty Warriors 7 :Empires was the editor of characters which allows you to share different generals created by you with your friend in their multiplayer campaign (kind of reminds me of Dragons Dogma).
Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires is a good alternative to Dynasty Warrior 7, able to grant the fans hours of enjoyment. The addition of being able to create different characters and sharing between friends which from that you can change you classical general to a randomly created character would be fun. If you are a fan of the series I do recommend getting it.
Story: 6
Gameplay: 6
Visuals: 5
Sound: 7
