Koei returns with another helping of button-mashing historical warfare for the PlayStation 2. Dynasty Warriors 3 gives fans of the previous installment more of everything they enjoyed—and even things they didn’t, like overly repetitive action. The chaos of sword meeting sword on the field of battle can be hard to convey in a game, but Dynasty Warriors 3 comes close. Each of the characters are nicely detailed, which is all the more amazing considering that the screen can be filled with dozens upon dozens of soldiers at any one time. The mayhem comes at a price, however, as the environments are mostly bland and there’s slowdown in the later levels. The voice-overs are well done, and the option of hearing them in Japanese or English is great—although it would make a bit more sense if the characters spoke Chinese. The sounds of battle are also appropriately dense, but there just isn’t a lot of variety. New combo attacks add much needed depth to the arsenal, and the various characters control well. But even with the various combos, the action quickly gets dull, and handling horses and elephants requires more effort than necessary. It could take weeks to unlock all the game’s hidden characters and levels, making Dynasty Warriors 3 quite a bargain for your gaming dollar. Unfortunately, there’s very little aside from aesthetics and mild changes in story to distinguish the characters from each other, giving you little reward for the effort. A deeper RPG-like approach to character development would really go a long way to elevate Dynasty Warriors from a niche franchise to a true classic. As it is, Dynasty Warriors 3 is strictly for gamers who like their mindless action mixed with Chinese historical events.
