Review
Release Date: 01.15.2003
Platform:
PlayStation 2Developer:
KOEI Co., Ltd.Publisher:
KOEI CorporationReviewed by
Wade Monnig on 5.2.2003
| Review Rating: 7/10 | User Rating: 7/10 |
I have to admit, I am a sucker for add-on/expansion discs. I figure that a little more of a good thing is never enough. Dynasty Warriors 3 Xtreme Legends is an expansion disc for the original Dynasty Warriors 3 that can actually be played without benefit of the original game. While it provides enough improvements that you’ll never want to revert to playing Dynasty Warriors 3 without it, a few flaws in the import system work against the dedicated Dynasty Warriors 3 player.
The first time you boot up Dynasty Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends it searches your memory card to an original Dynasty Warriors 3 game save and imports the information contained therein into Dynasty Warriors 3 Xtreme Legends. Actually, this is my biggest problem with the title, it imports MOST of the information from Dynasty Warriors 3; it carries over any weapons you collected, any items you found and the clear data (denoting that you finished Musou mode with a particular character). What it doesn’t carry over is the levels you attainted with each character. Every character reverts to their beginning stats. This may not be a big deal if you completed DW3 with one or two characters. It is certainly easy enough to uses the level 3 or 4 weapons you earned and blaze through their scenario in a few hours to reacquire those levels. But Xtreme Legends is for the dedicated Dynasty Warriors Fan, right? What if, like me, you completed the game with 10 or more characters? Not having those characters leveled up is a major flaw and, while replaying those characters will give you a chance to unlock many of the new items and weapons, it feels like restarting an RPG that you have already completed with level 1 characters.
One of the additions in Xtreme Legends is the ability to use famous officers as bodyguards or to create and manage the advancement of personal bodyguard units. It finally turns bodyguards into real offensive and defensive assets instead of unruly children that you have to babysit in order to assure they aren’t slaughtered. You can also acquire special bodyguard weapons similar to the type you find for your main character. Moreover, any officer can use these bodyguards. So, if you spend the time to level up bodyguards while going through the storyline with one officer, they will have any levels and weapons they attained if you select them for a New Musou or Free Mode adventure with a different general.
Using an officer as a bodyguard allows you to engage the new “Double Musou” attack, which is visually and technically impressive. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen nearly enough in single player mode (you can only enable it after each 100 kills). I was also hoping that I could use a fully powered up Xaihou Dun (with his level 4 weapon) to fight along side Three Kingdom’s bad-ass Lu Bu. However, while any officer you select will still have the levels he attainted (which, one again, makes the non-level import system sting a little worse), you cannot equip them any weapons or items you have earned for that character. You also cannot give orders to your officer bodyguard (which sort of makes sense, since you are both officers) and they tend to stray much father than the “constantly by your hip” traditional bodyguards. Still, it is a great option and a fun addition that I only wish was implemented in a better fashion.
Along this vein, the two-player mode allows you to use the “Double Musou” attack much more often and to use all weapons and items with both characters, but it also suffers from the awful enemy pop-up/fade in problem that was also found in DW3. While this doesn’t ruin the experience entirely, it has obviously not been improved over the two-player mode in DW3.
Besides the memory card import, Dynasty Warriors 3 Xtreme Legends also lets you play every level and character found in DW3 without having to unlock them first. The system works like this: You select original mode and you are then prompted to insert the Dynasty Warriors 3 disc. After swapping the disc, Xtreme Legends reads the information from the disc, prompts you to re-insert Xtreme Legends and viola! You now have access to everything from DW3 until you power off your PS2. It takes a grand total of about 1 minute and is a good system since that single swap is all that is needed.
Playing the Xtreme Legends version of the missions found in DW3 adds a new level of difficulty (Very Hard), new items, unique 5th weapons that be attained and body guard additions I mentioned above. It also means you’ll never want to go back and play DW3 without the Xtreme Legends add-on disc. The only disappointment in these additions is the 5th weapon for each character. You have to play on Very Hard mode in order to unlock them and, trust me; it is very challenging to get them. Unfortunately, most of them don’t really feel like they are “worth” it. They are more alternatives to the invaluable 4th weapons instead of a whole new “level” of weapon.
As for truly new character additions, those playable without DW3, you have 7 “Xtreme Musou” characters, each with their own storylines. They are: Diao Chan, Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Zhang Jiao, Meng Huo, Zhu Rong and Lu Bu. Anyone who played the Dynasty Warriors titles knows what Lu Bu is capable of. He is without equal in this game and a quick trip over to Koei’s website to scour the “Challenge Mode” rankings shows this. This is the equivalent of being able to play as the Boss from any number of traditional fighting games.
Even though it is an Expansion Disc; the seven selectable characters, a host of improvements over Dynasty Warriors 3 and a discounted price point (29.99 U.S.) means that Xtreme Legends could actually be a good stepping on point for any gamers who haven’t played the series before. At “worst,” it will make them want to go out and pick up Dynasty Warriors 3 in order to unlock everything.
