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 Legends Mode features a series of one-shot missions that fill in small stories from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms saga that couldn't fit neatly into the epic tales that comprise DW5. This makes for fun in small does, especially when you can save at any time during a mission. As an added benefit, all the items and weapons normally acquired in DW5 can be picked up here, with a few new items thrown into the mix, making the missions as much a scavenger hunt as festival of bloodless carnage. Still, they end up playing too much like the missions from DW3, not to mention DW5, making me long for the variety of the other game modes.
There's also six different trials awaiting in Challenge Mode, but with nothing to earn and no ability to use created characters, these somewhat simplistic tests of skill don't seem worth the time. There's internet ranking for them via code, but that only makes me long for a true online mode, especially when split-screen isn't cutting it. While Legends and Extreme Modes can be played co-op, the loss in draw distance and the amount of slowdown that results ends up being something not really worthwhile.
Even on their fifth try, the game engine still needs more work
In single player though there's a real boost in the number of enemies on screen, with no more soldiers materializing right next to you and very little slowdown. The price, however, seems to be a broken camera that almost never points in the direction you want, and takes too long to manually realign. This comes as a crushing disappointment when DW3 and 4 had the best camera system to ever appear in an action game. Now it's far too easy to lose sight of enemy generals, and wind up getting repeatedly stabbed in the back. This wouldn't be too bad if there was some sort of evasion option to avoid being easily combo-ed from behind, but all you've got is a single block button that only works from the front, and only if you're standing completely still. While the DW5 engine is far more fluid than it's been in the past, with greater range of attack options, the fact that the first person bow still controls like a very early console FPS (unchanged from DW3) makes me wish they had chosen to improve what they've already have instead of piling on extras that are nice but aren't really needed.
Despite the problems, Dynasty Warriors 5: Extreme Legends is a smash-happy, semi-mindless action extravaganza with a rich historical / mythical setting that works well as a compliment to Dynasty Warriors 5, and even better as a standalone title. If they had only expanded on the modes presented here, and fixed the more glaring flaws in the game engine, then they would have something easily worth the price of a new game, but for $30 it offers a lot and demands only quick reflexes in return.
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