Dynasty Warriors 8: XL Complete Edition Review

Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition is a game that firmly believes in quantity over quality. The title of the game itself is a perfect example of the game’s philosophy: using a lot of words to say very little. That’s not to say there aren’t any redeeming qualities to the game, but it sure can get downright boring at times.

 

There are many different modes to choose from in DW8:XL Complete Edition, but they all share the same basic game play mechanics. In each mode you play one of the many characters in a battle you are trying to win, while your allies tell you what your objectives are in real time. The objectives are usually something like trying to escape from a battle you are losing, defeating the leader of the opposing army you are facing, or some other variations of the two. Depending on what mode you are playing, there are different presentations of this basic mechanic, but it’s generally what you do in the game.

The hack & slash gameplay of Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition is quite fun and has an arcade-esque pick-up-and-play quality to it. Fighting through the overwhelming number of enemies can be quite fun and makes the player feel almost godlike at times.  The controls for all the characters are tight and never get in the way of fighting, though I did find it frustrating that you cannot reset the camera by clicking the right stick of the controller. At times, I would find myself getting attacked by enemies because I couldn’t see them and wasn’t able to turn the camera around fast enough.

 

The characters in the game are another strange case. Some of them seem very overpowered and can easily get through the various missions in the game with ease, while others seem very underpowered and struggle in even the simplest of missions. This becomes very frustrating in the story mode of the game as the character selection becomes very limited at times and forces players to control these underpowered characters.

 

Graphically the game looks on par with its PlayStation 3 counterpart. It runs smooth and has an excellent frame rate considering all the enemies on screen at once. The music in the game is also really great and fits the mood of the game perfectly as you plow through enemies after enemies. Speaking of those, the one glitch I encountered was a strange case of enemies disappearing from sight and then reappearing a few feet away from the player character. It was very strange and happened quite often, but did not deter from the gameplay in a significant way.

There are several modes in the game with most feeling more like an afterthought than a well thought idea. The main mode is story mode, which has you playing through six campaigns that follow a different set of characters and their storyline. Some of the storylines are interesting, mainly because of the characters, while others seem disorganized and have no real direction. The voice acting is fairly decent ranging from over the top to just right for the characters. Some big names in voice acting are involved and do the best they can with the material they were given. During the story mode you are given options to customize your character with different weapons, but with the constant changing of characters it makes it seem a bit unnecessary unless you’re having trouble getting through the mission. There is also a co-op mode, which does make the story mode a lot more fun to play with another player.

The other modes in the game, as mentioned, have very little entertaining value to them. Free mode is basically story mode without the limitations of who you can play as, but can only be unlocked for each campaign once you have completed the story mode for that campaign. Ambition mode is the most interesting of all the other modes.

The goal for ambition mode is to try to attract Emperor Xian back to his people by building a social structure to house peasants that is called Tongquetai Tower. This is done by going back out into battle to complete sub-objectives consisting of gathering supplies and materials. It essentially boils down to a series of fetch quests, and gets a bit boring after a few hours.

 

Challenge mode, as the name implies, presents the player with a series of challenges to complete using any of the characters from the game. The challenges range from defeating as many enemies as possible within a time limit to arena fighting all of the officers from the game. This mode is perfect for someone who has little time to play any of the other modes and wants a quick round of DW8: XL Complete Edition.

Rounding out Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition are the excellent extras the game carries. Gallery is a section of the extras that has all of the bonus content of the game. In-game model viewers for weapons, characters, and animals are available and allow you to see different aspects of them. Movies and in game cutscenes are here as well, with the ability to manipulate the costume selection of the characters for the in game cutscenes.

The last part of the gallery consists of wallpapers for the menus, as well as the player’s stats from the game. The other extra section is encyclopedia, which contains detailed descriptions of the history surrounding the events of the game. This includes officer bios, details of various battles, a glossary, and a timeline. All in all, a very nice collection of extras.