The Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends battlefield welcomes warriors ready to fight once again for control of the Three Kingdoms. Cao Cao, Liu Bei, or Lu Bu call the ranks of PS4, PS3, PS Vita, and PC to those who want to join their massive cause, that of free mamporro against enemy armies.
The charm of the Three Kingdoms novel has given much of itself over the past seventeen years, inspiring the creation of Dynasty Warriors, one of the most prolific sagas in history, to the point of going for its eighth numbered installment and becoming one of Koei Tecmo’s accessories along with Ninja Gaiden or Dead or Alive. Born on the first PlayStation in 1997, with the PS2 the pace of appearances accelerated and with the PS3 it consolidated.
As you might guess from the name, this is the final version of DW8, a title released in July 2013, for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is worth mentioning that the game has also been released on PS Vita, PS3, and PC.
Gameplay
The game is set in imperial China and offers us the chance to step into the shoes of various factions as they attempt to take control of the territory. As usual, there are several campaigns focused from different points of view, in which alliances and betrayals run like a river on the way to the sea.
Mass battles are the key to the game. Generally speaking, the development is that of a hack and slash, in which we have to conquer or defend various sites, for which hundreds of soldiers from three to four must be shot, who fall from a few shots, and, above all, to a series of officers who are usually placed in very specific locations and are a little more difficult to peel off.
There is a time limit to complete each mission, although this is usually not a big problem. Contrary to what happens in the vast majority of exponents of the genre, the advance is not linear, but it is necessary to go through huge scenarios depending on what happens in each battle, because behind us there is a whole series of troops acting on their own.
For example, it may happen that we have to move to a distant point on the map to get a squad that is about to succumb to trouble or that we have to eliminate a crew of archers so that our troops can pass through a gorge. If a key ally dies, it may be time to start over.
Combat
The combat system is very easy to internalize. There are two buttons to perform basic moves with which to chain combos, one button to cover, and one to jump. This is complemented by the Musou special attack (which has three variants) and a rage mode that can only be activated when the corresponding power bar is full.
In addition, during battles, when defeating enemies, items emerge that temporarily increase our abilities, such as speed, attack, or defense. We can even summon a horse, which, in addition to allowing faster movement on the battlefield, allows enemies to be overwhelmed.
Weapons
The arsenal of weapons to perform the moves is really varied: swords, axes, blades, whips, bows, claws, nunchaku, spears, maces, and boomerangs. There are even fans or mats, with the ability to carry two weapons and toggle freely between them. In addition, there are 82 characters in total, including five new ones (Lu Lingqi, Chen Gong, Zhu Ran, Yu Jin, and Fa Zheng), each with its own strengths.
Attacks
Constantly, hordes of enemies get out of our way, which are easy enough to blow up. However, the officers are a bit harder to peel, especially if we play at the highest difficulty levels (there are six in all, with the “Ultimate” level included). Thankfully, there is a leveling system (now it is possible to exceed level 99) that can help reduce these officers. For example, if the rival is much inferior to us, even as an officer, we can unleash a storm of blows at the rate of bullet time.
That’s all good, but the truth is that the control is somewhat crude, compared to the greats of the hack-and-slash genre. We cannot roll to the sides and, after jumping, the character remains pinned for a millisecond. While not bad, the truth is that, as you play it, the mechanics become rather tedious, closer to a button-masher than a deep hack and slash.
Game Modes
Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends: Complete Edition features a payload of game modes large enough to spend dozens of hours biting the dust of thousands of enemies. There are four modalities: Story, Free Mode, Ambition, and Challenge. In addition, there is a gallery with collectible items to unlock (characters, weapons, animals, videos, events, wallpapers, statistics) and a complete encyclopedia to consult everything about the history of Three Kingdoms (in perfect English, yes).
Story Mode
Story Mode It is subdivided into six campaigns, which can be played independently, each focusing on a faction: Wei, Wu, Shu, Jin, Others, and Lu Bu. The latter is unpublished concerning the game that appeared in July 2013 and dives into the power of the cruel Lu Bu as well as the figures of his strategist Chen Gong or his daughter Lu Lingqi.
Besides the main story of these campaigns, if we achieve certain objectives in some of the missions, side missions and other alternatives are unlocked that wonder what would have happened if a certain event had occurred. Thus, counting all the campaigns, there are 140 missions (88 recovered from the original and 52 new ones).
Free Mode
Free Mode, for its part, allows us to play loose missions, similar to those in Story Mode, but in which we are given a series of objectives in advance, as well as a final score, based on factors such as time spent or number of deaths. There are a total of 88 scenarios, 43 of which are repeated from the original and 35 new.
Ambition Mode
The Ambition mode invites us to develop a camp to gradually build a kingdom and thus attract the emperor to our side. Based on participation in battles, the objective is to obtain three types of resources: fame, materials to construct buildings, and allies so that they accompany us on the battlefield, take charge of these buildings, or even control them ourselves.
By playing, we also acquire experience, gold, or weapons. To give it a more challenging tone and move faster through camp construction, an interesting system is included that links rewards and difficulty directly in proportion. Thus, at the end of a mission, we have the option of returning to the camp and redeeming the reward or, on the contrary, continuing to play successive missions in which the difficulty increases, in exchange for obtaining juicier prizes, we risk losing them (the missions begin with the health bar and time we will have just at the end of the previous mission).
Every two or three battles, a special type of event called Duel jumps out, allowing you to recruit the most powerful characters in the game. This is the most strategic way, since we can also send troops to the battlefield to give us revenue.
Challenge Mode
Finally, there is the Challenge mode which makes its debut in this Complete Edition (or Expansion, in the case of PS3, PS4, and PC) and whose approach is much appreciated.
We find five different tests, in which we have to score the best possible score, which depends on factors such as time spent or the number of enemies defeated, as the case may be. To bite us, there are online classifications.
The first event, Unleash, urges us to eliminate as many enemies as we can within a ten-minute limit. The default record is 2,500 victims, so you can get an idea of the caliber of the pickles.
Secondly, it is Bridge Melee, in which the objective is to shoot as many enemies as possible from a bridge, without falling in the attempt ourselves and with a ten-minute limit.
Thirdly, we find Saber, where we must defeat as many officers as we can within thirty minutes, knowing that enemies appear two by two.
The other two Challenge mode events play with the stopwatch. On the one hand, it’s a Speed Race, where we have to get from one point on the map to another in the shortest possible time. The key is to avoid unnecessary confrontations found along the way (eliminating certain rivals is non-negotiable, opening certain doors) or avoid traps that are scattered around, such as fire-breathing gargoyles or fans that throw you against spiked walls.
On the other hand, it’s Inferno, where we have to annihilate as soon as possible all the enemies swarming across a medium-sized map.
All the modes mentioned admit two-player co-op, both online and offline (on a split screen). In the case of Ambition mode, we can also visit other users’ camps and buy items there. Concerning Challenge mode, there is an aspect of online classifications that considers cooperative games.
Graphics
Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends is a game released on multiple platforms, to save its development, which also goes back, to a large extent, to last year, when the standard version appeared. The game’s playable development and technical skeleton are therefore the same on PS4, PS3, and PC. Of course, in the next-generation console, it looks better, because it couldn’t be less.
Despite the accumulation of elements on the screen, with dozens and dozens of enemies, the action flows fairly smoothly, with little slowdown. Particularly noteworthy is the use of Musou attacks, which add an extra component of light beams and explosions that are a delight to the eye.
Similarly, the PlayStation 4 version has managed to mitigate an inherent saga evil such as “popping,” so that we almost never see a spontaneous generation of soldiers as we progress. Or, this improvement is, to some extent, a device, since it has been achieved through a misty filter that greatly appeals to the whole.
The overall level of detail and textures don’t particularly catch the eye, nor do the scenarios, which, despite their large size, don’t impress in terms of design although they are quite varied.
The enemies are not worthy of the new generation either. The saga’s focus on massive hordes makes the rival army appear straight out of Star Wars Clone Wars, with dozens of faces identical to the millimeter. To this we must add that common enemies seem to have embraced the faith of dontancredismo: many remain as pasmarotes waiting for us to give them a good somanta of sticks.
Although only a curiosity, the Omega Force studio experimented with Dualshock 4 capabilities. Thus, almost all dialogue that occurs during battles is heard through the controller’s speaker, leaving the screen for effects and soundtrack, which is more than compliant.
That said, it’s worth noting that the game comes with English voices and no other languages subtitles. Considering that there are quite a few dialogues and messages, it is necessary to have a minimal knowledge of the language of Shakespeare.
PS3 Version Extension
Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends is also on sale on PlayStation 3 in physical format, but this is not a game in use, but an expansion to the title that appeared in July 2013. Of course, it’s an extension that can be played independently, without having to have the original.
Now, if we have a saved game from it on the hard drive, we can import it and unlock all the original content. So, what we have accessible are “only” the 52 new Story Mode scenarios and the 35 new Free Mode events, as well as the Ambition and Challenge modes, which are “series.”
As for the technical performance of this version, it is a little inferior to that of the PS4, notably due to the presence of more pronounced “popping.” In return, there is no trace of the mist trap used in the new generation. On the other hand, the “cross-save” option has been introduced, in order to share the game between different versions.
Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends: A game to try
Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends is a remarkable game in terms of the number of options and content. It’s not a particularly deep combat system, but seeing how the combo meter and casualty counter pull up to century-old characters is pretty rewarding.
The transition from the Three Kingdoms to the next generation has only taken its first steps, for now, taking advantage of the fact that the PS4 was going through Japan.
