Tactically, there are a number of things to choose from that can determine how successful or unsuccessful your attack will be. For example focusing your attack on your enemy’s supply lines can help exhaust the defending forces much quicker and with less of a cost of your own men. There are also various types of objects that can change the course of a battle as well as your performance throughout. Items can be found in enemy bases as well as dropped by enemy officers from time to time. They are divided into Recovery Items, Experience Items, and Temporary Items and have effects that range from healing a certain amount of life points to rewarding you with a number of XP.
Certainly one of the best features to be included in Empires is the ability to create your own characters for use in battle. Physically there are a number of things you can edit including gender, voice, body shape and clothing and armor. Beyond that there are a whole host of skills and abilities to customize your fighter with. Skills can increase attributes like Attack, Speed, Max Life and Max Musou. Your choice of weapon and how you customize it can also be the difference between winning and losing. There are different Effects that can be purchased which will increase your attack radius, cause elemental damage, deflect arrows by attacking, etc. Finally you can select up to 4 Special Skills to equip with your weapon. These will restore life, release a wave of fire, temporarily increase your movement speed, and so forth. Regardless of what we’re talking about, all these customizable options come with a price tag so be weary of how you spend your gold.
As much as I like all the strategic additions and the character creation options, it does bring me to my one problem. Once you actually get to the battle itself, you kind of come to understand why people are so bored with the Dynasty Warriors franchise. For all the tactics and strategy, a lot of it boils down to simple button mashing and racking up a triple digit kill count. It’s fun for a little while but there’s definitely a been there, done that feel which hampers the experience.
Thankfully there are a lot of things to unlock in Empires. The Encyclopaedia is filled with all sorts of facts and information about the historical Three Kingdoms and the officers that appear in the game. The Archives also features unlockable game movies and officer graphics. Bonus points earned in Empire Mode can be used to unlock wallpaper, outfits, etc.
I guess at this point if you’re still playing Dynasty Warriors then nothing is going to really change your decision. Don’t get me wrong, they aren't terrible games, but there’s just been so little that’s changed over the years that it gets a little hard to justify buying each new game. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires definitely suffers from repetitive gameplay, but being an Empires title means there’s a ton of strategy that comes into play. How you approach each battle can be crucial to your chances of conquering all of China. Unfortunately there aren't any extra modes outside of Empire Mode. No challenges or free play or anything like that. There is a trade-off however as there’s so much to do and so much to unlock in Empire Mode. Throw in the character creation mode and you’ll probably be playing for quite a while.
