Dynasty Warriors 6 may not be "revolutionary," but there are many tweaks to the gameplay that make it a decent entry to the series and, in general, a fun and enjoyable game.
The new Renbu fighting system is the best modification to the gameplay. Previous installments of the series had highly canned attacks combinations that were always composed of anywhere from 1 to 6 light attacks followed by a charge attack. As a result, it was previously typical for gameplay to consist of doing nothing more than constantly repeating the pattern of 5 light attacks, charge, 5 light attacks, charge, etc.
The new Renbu system makes the use of the charge attack much more strategic. Light attacks will now infinitely string together, which allows the player to string together some insanely long combos. While a simple-minded player will do nothing more than spam the light attack to take advantage of this (which incidentally will work just fine on easier difficulty levels), the more advanced player will realize that this is not entirely effective, as the AI will block your attacks unless you mix up the action. This is especially the case with enemy Generals, Lieutenants, Guard Captains, shielded peons, etc.
On harder difficulty levels, enemies will more effectively defend, coordinate their attacks, stay out of your weapon range, etc. This makes changes to the light attack spamming method absolutely necessary, and this is what makes the flexibility of the battle system shine. You are free to mix in a charge attack (or dodge, jump, etc.) at a time that is optimal, rather than arbitrarily at the end of your combo.
Additionally, as you get on a roll slashing enemies, your player will begin to amp up his or her Renbu level. As the player's Renbu level increases, the player's attacks will become quicker, more fluid, more varied, have extended range and will do more damage. At maximum Renbu, characters become an impressive offensive whirlwind. Since Renbu fades when the player is not landing attacks, the player has an incentive to move from location to location quickly, thus helping to push the player to enjoyably frenetic pace.
The addition of climbing and swimming allow for some neat shortcut opportunities and strategic endeavors. Dropping into a base from on overhanging cliff will potentially throw the base into confusion. Enemies will become highly vulnerable for a time, allowing you to take great advantage of your surprise attack. Enemies killed under confusion will also drop experience, giving the player further incentive to launch surprise raids on encampments, rather than just storming the front door every time.
Another great add is that players now have additional control over their development through the new skill tree system. Each level up gives the player a skill point to spend on their character, which they can use to unlock special characteristics or attribute bonuses. The skill tree is typically fairly simple, but it is an decent reward system for the player and has great potential should Koei want to create an even more extensive system in the future.
Players no longer solely drive towards a final objective, but now have "targets" which are subquests that the player can achieve during the course of the battle that give experience bonuses and unlock additional characters. This is a great way to give the player incentive to fully explore the map, nudge the player towards scripted story elements, and discourage speed-running the level by circumventing intermediate objectives. While it should be noted that the graphics have been improved over previous installments, several features are missing that folks may be expecting.
There is no Create-a-Character for example, however this was never terribly interesting in previous installments and is thus not exactly missed. Playing as a real legendary Chinese General with an epic background story has always been more compelling than playing as some fictitious scrub.
There are also no bodyguards. I'm glad these are gone too, as all they ever did in the past was steal your kills and potentially ruin your scores and experience opportunities.
Many folks used to enjoy pursuing the final, or "4th" weapon for a player, but sadly, this is now missing as well. I have to admit that it is a disappointment that each warrior does not have an "ultimate weapon" they can unlock. This was a great sidequest to pursue in previous installments, in addition to completing the Musou mode.
The most upsetting thing to be removed is that some characters beloved by some DW veterans no longer have their own Musou modes. Each Musou mode currently has all of their own cutscenes and script, so each Musou is more unique, but the number of total Musou modes has been decreased by about 7 characters. In my view, this was an opportunity for Koei to provide downloadable content, but it would seem that they do not care to do so.
Importantly, the fact that you still cannot play multiplayer over Xbox Live is a glaring oversight at this point. This game is ripe for multiplayer co-op action, and with games such as Frontlines putting 50 players in a game at the same time, there really is little excuse for this to still be missing from the series.
Overall, however, I'm having a good time with DW6. Despite the removal of some characters, there is still plenty of hack-and-slash enjoyment to be had. The new features in the game reward the player for playing more strategically, both in their attack methodologies at higher difficulty levels, as well as in their approach to different stages and in leveling their characters.
I would recommend Dynasty Warriors as a used buy, but I wouldn't say it's a must-have. The game is fun, but admittedly derivative. If you had fun before, you'll probably have fun again, but the changes are not so significant that it will give you a whole new gameplay experience.
3.0