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The Dynasty Warriors series is something of a meal ticket for KOEI – they've been pumping out franchise titles for a decade now. Every year or so, a new iteration comes out, and fans immediately line up for their copies and head back out onto ancient Chinese battlefields. Of course, when the latest version of the game, entitled Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 for the PSP, showed up on my doorstep, I let out a quizzical grunt. You see, despite a somewhat arrogant view of myself as a diverse gamer, I'd never played a second of a DW title. So, it was with a mix of happiness and trepidation I set out to discover for myself what everyone else had been doing for so long.
I immediately found that, like many other franchises with yearly releases, Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 kind of assumes that by now no one would be picking one up for the first time. Add to that the fact that my reviewable copy had no manual, and I was left a bit to my own devices. Normally, this isn't such a bad scenario, but in this case it led to my initial exposure being a combination of searing frustration interspersed with moments of fun, divided by an overall level of confusion – and I hate being confused.
Enough about me, though. The heart of the game – Musuo mode – takes place in the midst of an ancient Chinese civil war. Various factions are vying for power and control, and many of these warriors are available for you to explore their particular place in history. I lost count of the available generals to choose from, but trust me – there are tons (18 initially, with more unlockables after that). Once you've selected a hero, his or her tale unfolds in the form of text-based cutscenes that provide the backdrop for the upcoming carnage. After that, battle lines are (literally) drawn, as your tasks unfold on a grid-based map that serves as the hub of each series of combat. This works very well for the on-the-go PSP set, as the clashes are split up into bite-size chunks of battle as you navigate to victory or defeat.
Ultimately, Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 is a competent brawler with an element of turn-based strategy and an absolute boatload of content.
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Prior to hitting the ground with your troops, you get to choose four assistant generals to help you wage war. Each of them has differing skills, levels, and associated weapons. While ostensibly these choices are important to what happens in the heat of battle, I wasn't able to discern any difference, since my selected character would battle hordes of enemy minions seemingly on their own. Not only that, but there is no command feature – so your hand-picked generals seem to do whatever the hell they want to once the battle is joined.
Speaking of battle, as you'd likely expect, the combat is lead-pipe heavy on the hack-n-slash formula. You run around, press a few buttons for combos, and slaughter a wave of enemies who rarely defend themself. Most of them will literally stand and wait for you to end their existence with nary a whimper or tactic of self-defense. About the only people that will give you trouble are the high-level bosses, which are sprinkled throughout the grid; more often than not, their ultimate defeat is the victory scenario for the chapter. Aside from a few variations on the theme – jumping to slash for multiple combo hits, supercharged spearhead dashes into crowds, or using a musuo power for a brief series of hacks – there is not a lot of thought behind the fighting; you'll find yourself mashing buttons repeatedly at a furious pace.
Eventually, I (think that I) determined the only way to move from one spot to another (other than, naturally, losing) is to track down all of the officers and associated muckity-mucks and take them out. Generally speaking, once that's accomplished, the remaining soldiers will lose morale and flee the area, transferring ownership to you. Some of the time these areas are simply open fields, but other times they are critical points such as defense forts, supply depots, and assorted villages that will give you much-needed supplies, morale, and health.
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