Story mode is initially entertaining but altogether unimaginative, with a mixture of scenarios that bounce between historically accurate and embarrassingly falsified. Apparently Omega Force believes a staggering roster of over 70 blandly composed Chinese wartime officers is more important than finally making a Dynasty Warriors game that artfully depicts the chronicled Asian provinces it uses as its backdrop. Sadly, the game’s only visually exciting features are indeed its battle animations character and environmental designs are generally flat and lifeless. Weapon switching has been retained, and the affinity system is another highlight, thriving by way of a proven rock-paper-scissors altercation gambit, which requires players to occasionally think ahead in tight situations, rather than charging into the fray absent any kind of calculated plan of assault. Rage Awakening takes the series’s signature Musou attacks to the highest stylistic level possible, providing your soldiers with a sort of hyperactive special maneuver that effectually bulldozes any and all pawn-ranked annoyances in the immediate vicinity. Switch Counter, in combination with Storm Rush, offers an effective parry/lock-on stratagem that adds some variation to the often tedious hack-and-slash mechanics that imbibers of Dynasty Warriors Haterade take pride in repeatedly lambasting. Omega Force seems to have chosen a response that incorporates aspects of both approaches with Dynasty Warriors 8, easily the deepest Dynasty Warriors experience in quite some time, but still a brawler that’s plagued with a number of glaring issues that stop the game from attracting the interest of anyone who isn’t already wholeheartedly devoted to Koei’s long-running history-skewing beat ‘em up.Ĭombat still consists primarily of frantic button-mashing tactics, but thankfully Dynasty Warriors 8 implements a few fresh ways of massacring multitudes of oncoming enemies designed to arouse the curiosity of the uninitiated. With each new installment of a successful video-game series, the developers likely ask themselves if they should continue to do the same things that have earned them a dedicated fanbase, only slightly better, or opt to risk losing the support of loyalists who find comfort in repetition by revising the established formula.

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