The Story

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms story has been recycled by Koei so many times that the plot is now nearly 100% recycled (no, really). There isn't anything story-wise in Dynasty Warriors 3 that you won't find in at least one of their other games. If you haven't played any other Koei games (What was wrong with you?) here it is: It's 3rd century China and the three kingdoms of Wu, Shu, and Wei are battling for who will rule the country. There's all sorts of political back-stabbing and whatnot that goes on during the game, but that really isn't the point. It's all about getting out there and kicking as much red-shirt butt as possible.

The Characters

There are 40 playable characters, though not all of them can be used in Musou mode. I'll only list the main guys that you should keep an eye out for. Dynasty Warriors 3 includes a database with profiles on all the named characters, which are a lot more than the 40 you can play with.

Cao Cao was the leader of the Wei kingdom. He was an ambitious man, not to mention a not so nice one. Xiahou Dun, one of his generals, is among of the first characters you can play with and one of the most impressive overall.

Liu Bei was the charismatic leader of the Shu kingdom. He swore a vow of brotherhood with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. That oath between these three powerful men makes for a formidable force.

Sun Quan of Wu is the underdog of the three leaders. He doesn't have Cao Cao's army, not Liu Bei's resources. He does have some interesting warriors on his side like Gan Ning and Sun Shang Xiang.

Lu Bu is, well, Lu Bu. He is easily the most powerful character in the game. He also holds no loyalty to anyone. He's easily identifiable because he's the guy on the cover of the game and he has the silly twin antenna sticking out of his head (though I wouldn't recommend getting close enough to tell him that).

Game Play

The basic idea of run around the slash as many people as possible remains the same in this sequel to Dynasty Warriors 2. The main reason to pick up 3 is because of the two-player mode. Being able to run around the levels with a buddy backing you up has added a tremendous amount of play value to this already great game. The two-player execution isn't flawless, mind you. More of the red-shirts drop out of view because of how crowded the split screen can get when you're both waist keep in enemy forces. Also, whenever one of you does a Musou attack, it pauses the game for the other player. After the first few times of that happening I got used to it, but it can be ill-timed if you're in the middle of beating down an enemy officer.

Another improvement that really helped the game was better control over the bodyguards. You can now select if they're attacking or defending, and there are five different weapons for them to use. (In my opinion it's all about having a flock of crossbowmen covering your back). You can also find and win items in the level that can improve your stats and abilities when equipped before battle (up to five items can be equipped).

Overall

As I mentioned earlier, Dynasty Warriors 3 is not a flawless game. I take serious issue with having the Start + Select be the soft reset combination when just Start by itself takes you into the field map. I can't count the number of times I've accidentally reset my game mid-level because I hit both buttons at once.

But on the other hand, quibbles like that one are offset by some of the other improvements they've made. You can now save anywhere within the level and resume from that spot. I also can't express how much of an improvement adding the two-player feature was. It's easily the most often played multi-player game that I own. It's a great to have a friend backing you up when on a conquest of ancient China!

Reviewed by Greenbeans on August 5th, 2002