PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
, created by the game development company
Koei
Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...
. This game was released as a launch title in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
on December 16, 2004 and as a launch title on March 16, 2005 in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
The gameplay expands on the '' Dynasty Warriors'' series by adding new characters, new modes to play and an archive library which features a gallery of the character artworks as well as game movies.
Similar to the previous ''Dynasty Warriors'' predecessor, the objective of each stage in ''Dynasty Warriors'' is to conquer the land by invading and defeating the enemy commander. The player must take control of an officer making their way through each individual stage defeating enemy soldiers and officers, while trying to keep their own commander alive. As well as defeating hundreds of soldiers in each stage, there are also specific secondary tasks for the players to complete that can further aid the players in a later stage. These secondary tasks can also enable the players to unlock new features including items, clothing, bodyguards, skills and weapons. Each of the playable officers and commanders have their own unique skills, weapons and superhuman abilities. These superhuman abilities can be activated through a combinations systems allowing the player to create their own style of fighting with different chains of attack put together.
The story mode or campaign mode in the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series is known as the Musou Mode. In the Musou Mode, the players begins the campaign choosing an officer or commander from the Three Kingdoms of Shu, Wei, and Wu. There are initially nine available characters to play as from the Three Kingdoms. This includes:Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu for the
Shu Han
Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu (; pinyin: ''shŭ'' <
Cao Cao
Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate Grand chancellor (China), grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the End of ...
Sun Jian
Sun Jian () () (155–191?), courtesy name Wentai, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He allied himself with Yuan Shu in 190 when warlords from eastern China formed a ...
,
Sun Shang Xiang
Lady Sun (180s - 211), also known as Sun Ren in the 14th-century historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' and Sun Shangxiang in Chinese opera and contemporary culture, was a Chinese noblewoman who lived during the late Eastern Han dyna ...
, and Huang Gai for the Wu Kingdom. New characters can also be unlocked through performing special events or through encounters during battles. There are a total of 42 playable characters that could be earned throughout the campaign based on the book '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' from the Han Dynasty.
Each of the playable characters have their own special unique abilities and weapons to equip. Some weapons and items for each individual character can be earned and obtained through defeating generals and lieutenants from different stages. While other specialty weapons and items require the player to complete a specific task or goal in the game with the settings put on "Hard" difficulty. There are two specific types of items throughout the game normal items and red items. These items can be equipped to your characters before the battle begins and can increase the player's statistics. Players can also equip themselves with horses and elephants depending on the terrain at the beginning of the stage allowing for better traveling ability.
In the game players can expect features including gigantic battlefields, enormous number of enemy soldiers and officers to defeat, and multiple events that can occur on each stage depending on the situation. The game also includes new features added to the series of new siege engine. These new siege equipment's include catapults, mechanical bridge layers, arbalest machines, and
battering rams
A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, heavy log carried by ...
. Although it is not required to use all these siege equipment, they can be useful for the players towards completing the stages. There are also a number of items that players can obtain throughout the battles in games that can increase health level, attack and defense power, and movement speed. These in-game items can be found in different locations during the gameplay. Players can retrieve their health level in game by consuming alcoholic beverages like wine or beer and Chinese meat buns that can be often found or dropped by defeated enemy soldiers or in enemy strongholds.
On the battlefield, the player traverse small areas where they must fight until one side loses all of its morale. A new level up system has been implemented, and the player will gain upgraded weapons for each level. The characters from '' Dynasty Warriors 4'' are present. Occasionally in the game, players may be confronted by an enemy officer or lieutenant challenging them into a one vs. one duel. If the player accepts the offer, they would be then transported into a small stadium away from the battlefield where the player and the enemy officer can have a one vs. one fight to the death or until the time runs out. If the player declines the offer, the players’ army's moral rate will drop. If the player is able to defeat the enemy officer within the time frame, the enemy officer will be removed from the battlefield.
Unlike other ''Dynasty Warriors'' games, Koei now allows the player to have up to four officers to control during battle. These warriors grow in strength along with the player, gain linked Musou attacks, and can only be deployed if you have enough command points. Though, if the officer appears in the stage, the player cannot select the officer to command.
Reception
The game was met with mixed reception upon release;
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
gave it a score of 64%, while Metacritic gave it 62 out of 100.