Game: Dynasty Warriors 6

First, let me get one thing clear. I like the Dynasty Warriors series. Yes, they are repetitive and have had little innovation over the past five years. The characters have had very few updates, and the attacks that the characters use have had little change in the past...oh...ten or so versions of the games in which these ancient Chinese warriors have appeared in. Finally, though, the folks over at Koei decided that its about time that they take the franchise and give it a bit of a face lift. New character models, new weapons, totally new attack system...this game is very different from the Dynasty Warriors of yonder year.

This is Dynasty Warriors 6. And in some ways, its much better than its predecessors...and in others, not so much.

The game takes place during an actual historical period of China around the 2nd century and the fall of the Han Dynasty. Then again, anyone who is reading this review probably has played the previous versions of the game and thus knows the story well. The versions of the characters seen are based on the way they were presented in the epic "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which shapes up these men and women to be the superheroes and super villains of their age, complete with super strength and all. Your job is to use whatever warrior you choose to cut a nice wide swath in the soldiers around you...sounds easy, sometimes IS easy, sometimes turns out to be a total pain in the butt.

The first thing that fans of the franchise will notice is that every character has gotten a MAJOR overhaul. This is also the first Dynasty Warriors game to come out with fewer characters than its preceding version. Some removals are alright, but a few staple characters of the franchise have also been erased, which is sure to put off some players.

Koei decided that it was time to do away with the control system of the old games. Now, a new "Renbu" system is in place to dictate how strong your character is in battle. Basically, the more people you kill in a row, the more powerful your attacks become and the more versions of an attack you can perform. Attacks are now separated into three categories. The "Normal" attack is, as expected, what you'll be using most of the time. Instead of being able to attack a set number of times as in previous installments, DW6 decided that you should never stop attacking.......ever. If you keep pressing the normal attack button, you're going to keep attacking....and attacking...aaaand attacking. Now this makes sense in that you're going to be able to sweep through enemies in a much more kung-fu esque movement style, but there is a catch. The old "press X so many times and then Y to unleash a cool attack" system, the staple of the series, is gone.

Yep, its gone.

Now, the "Charge attacks" are split into 2 forms. Both also depend on the Renbu system. First is what I call a "Solo Charge", where you keep pressing the Charge button in order to link a stronger combo, depending on your Renbu level. It is surprisingly interesting and intriguing to level up a character to see what their entire combo system is like, and since most of the moves actually seem realistic now, it looks very fluid and pretty to the eyes. There is also a "Crowd Charge", which is done by holding down the Charge button. This unleashes a single, usually sweeping attack meant to give yourself a little bit of breathing room. Again, this move really matters when Renbu is high.

As expected, the rocking, guitar heavy soundtrack has returned, as well as the absolutely atrocious English dub of the character's voices (and the creators DIDN'T include the Japanese audio track for some reason..they always should). Still, its cheesiness is funny and adds to the game's character. Overall, the best you can say about it is that...well...it works.

Score: 7.0 out of 10. It may just be my opinion, but I REALLY miss the old Charge attack system the game had. Sure, give everyone new weapons and new looks, but the fighting system is what really made the games. That isn't to say that this fighting system doesnt work, because it does, it just doesn't feel very...Dynasty Warriors-ish. The saving grace is that there are MANY more characters on screen at once than in previous versions and some of the weapons look really cool, not to mention the characters holding them. Still, the graphics should be better than this now that we are in 2008, and much of the sense of individual "power" felt in the previous versions has been diminished. I'm still sure that I'm going to play this game for a while to come, I just wont be as enthused about it as I thought I would be.

Game: Warhawk

Since PS3 sales seem to have been skyrocketing over the past 2 months, I decided that I should brush the dust off of my own and pick up a new game in hopes that there would be a good number of online players to compete against. In light of this, the game that I decided to get is Multiplayer only, and also a bit of an Unreal Tournament clone minus the huge amounts of blood, but still has its great moments nonetheless.

"Warhawk" somehow managed to slip under my radar upon its initial release this past August, but after a recommendation from a friend of mine I picked it up. From what I have played, the plot of the game is...well...nonexistent. There are two sides, a good handful of weapons and vehicles to choose from, and stuff that can go boom, so why not go to war? "Warhawk" works because there are so many ways to play that anyone who is at all interested in this type of frantic, multiplayer action will find their niche in the gameplay and is sure to have a blast.

In every match you have the decision to remain an infantry soldier, get into a truck or tank, or take to the skies in a helecopter/fighterjet hybrid. While it seems like the aerial combat is emphasized as the main portion of the game, being an infantryman or a tank driver can be a surprise left hook that can completely screw up the enemy team's strategies. As I said before, the tank driving and flying portions feel oddly reminiscent of a game like "Unreal Tournament", but that definitely is not a bad thing.

The weapons one can choose as an infantryman in the game are pretty bare bones and expected. You've got your starting pistol, a knife, a machine gun, a homing rocket launcher; nothing that will blow you away, but at the same time everything packs enough of a punch to get you from point A to point B. The real perk for being an infantryman are the immense turrets that they can hop into to wreak havoc upon any nearby vehicle, especially the flyers. At the same time, Tanks are particularly mean against infantrymen, as they can blow up a turret or a person in a moment's notice, but a truck with a turret on it can run circles around a tank. Then again, an infantryman with a mine or rocket can take out the truck in a snap. The ground battle is pretty well balanced, but the air battles are heavily air-to-air combat based, but this portion of the game has the best control and is the most polished.

Sound-wise the game is pretty typical explosions and gunshots, but it sure is cool with surround sound to hear one of the fighter jets give your head a buzz cut at full speed as an infantryman. The main songs are only heard in the menus and are trying really hard to get an epic feel to them, but its almost overkill with how loud the songs are compared to the majority of the gameplay. The menus are well polished, although it took me a few plays before I realized that I could customize what my character looked like in game. The ground areas sometimes look cheap and the character models move in an awkward way that is unpleasant to the eye. Overall, though, this game has accomplished a great feat; I have actually started playing my PS3 again.

Score: 8.3 out of 10. A fine, fun game, but lack of a single player campaign and somewhat limited choices in how to fight really draws away from the score. One of the better games in the PS3's lineup as of now, and at least it takes a stand for multiplayer games outside of the first person shooter genre.