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Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires Review (PS4)

It's been nearly a month since Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires launched and only now do I feel that I have given the game enough time to consider writing a review on it. This is a sheer testament to the quality and scope of this game.

For those of you that don't know, Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires is a hack and slash game set in ancient China where you must carve your own path through a series of scenarios. How exactly you decide to approach your goals is entirely up to you, but ultimately, you aim to unite the land.

The different ways in which you can approach playing the game really do change the entire method you adopt in order to achieve domination. You can decide to be a Vagabond unit, travelling freely throughout the land and causing mayhem for warlords, completing quests and joining battles as you please. You can choose to serve another officer in a variety of roles, from a common officer, all the way up to their right hand advisors in the form of Marshals and Strategists, providing you with certain levels of responsibility and power across the region. You can also head out and become your very own ruler, seizing lands and expanding your territory as you recruit officers and develop your empire.

Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires really takes the series to the next level when it comes to customization, offering literally thousands of different combinations for your custom officers, soldiers, banners and even your own warhorses. They really have spent a large amount of time ensuring that this game is one that you can mold your own way, providing the player with the tools to really create the character that they want to play. Entering a battle as a custom character leading an army of midget soldiers is incredibly satisfying, no matter what kind of player you are.

Stratagems also feature in this game and are essentially abilities that you can use to influence battles. From taunting enemies so they abandon their posts, to setting enemy bases on fire and healing your own troops, there is a large emphasis on Stratagems and how they can turn a battle around for you. The stratagems aren't already unlocked from the beginning of the game either, so you must work in order to obtain them all and build the perfect battle strategy.

Graphically, I feel as though the game is deceiving. At first, the graphics look great and polished, with clean animations and smooth textures, however the more you play, the more you start to see cracks appear. The game is plagued with invisible walls around the map, so some spaces that look like you can easily walk through become impenetrable.

If I'm honest, despite all of the positive points this game has, if you aren't already a fan of this massive series then this game won't be the game to swing you onto it. For real hardcore fans of the Dynasty Warriors universe, you will easily spend hundreds of hours playing through the scenarios in all of the different ways possible. Ultimately, I think this game is an excellent game to play and having already clocked up around 200 hours on it I can safely say there is plenty of gameplay for your money. Head out to your local store, pick this up and build, survive and conquer your way to uniting the Three Kingdoms!

4/5

The Digital Gamer

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