Once you've organised your Generals, arranged your stats and prepared for battle, it's time for the real deal. You can invade other areas, but you will also have to watch out for those invading you. If you successfully take down an area where the enemy Ruler resides, you control everything they previously had, which is a quick way to victory.
That is, if the clever sods didn't shove themselves in the very corner of the country, making it an uphill struggle of several battles to slog through. Ah, to be a warlord these days, eh? Some people just don't want to get their hands dirty.
It's in playing a battle where you see that clever strategy is mixed with pure, unadulterated hack n' slash action. After setting up preliminary options, you control the main General leading his men into battle. The aim is to conquer the enemy's main base, but in order to do so; you need to break down other enemy lines.
There can be up to three or four CPU controlled Generals to aid you in your battle, and you can control their behaviour using the D-Pad. You can either get them to defend bases, charge for the attack, regroup at your position or have the freedom of doing whatever they like (hopefully not involving the line "Dammit! Why is nobody guarding that base?").
As for yourself, how you play the battle will determine how high the morale of your men is - strictly speaking you do not see your men physically for the most part (a confusing concept at first because SPOnG first thought our 2,000 men all committed mass mutiny!) but how strategic and powerful you are will also result in how many men you end up losing. Once an outcome is decided, your collected items and points will tally up, and you will return to the strategy map, to repeat the process over and over until you conquer the land. From this description you might think the game could get very tedious very fast, so someone please tell us why it is so addictive!
Fine, we shall attempt to explain it then, what with it being our job and all. Koei has done a great job at balancing two different genres here, and while the strategy aspect will entice those looking for a bit of brain in their game, the key surely lies within its mindless hack n' slash sections. It's rare these days that we get a video game that relies on almost pure arcade action for entertainment, and Koei have found a mix that pretty much fills a void left open from the NES and SNES era, where hardcore shooting/platforming action was the order of the day.
Needless to say, Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires can be cranked up to a considerably difficult degree. However, later levels will test you even with the easier settings. This is best played with a mate though, as the 2-player Empire mode will have you playing into the early hours of the morning without even realising it, while the Edit function will allow a basic but quaint customisable General to play in your name. Other features such as a movie theatre and Encyclopaedia are added extras, but are subordinate and can pretty much be ignored, as you'll be too busy getting stuck into the intense battling action within the main modes.
SPOnG Score: B
While on the surface Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires offers nothing more than a brainless hack and slash, spend some time with it and you will be hooked into a world where strategy meets action. Such a mix of gaming genres is Koei's speciality and has served this series well. If you've played DW4: Empires you'll know just what you're getting into though, and while there's not a lot to differentiate between the two 'Empires' games, this latest title still remains a very polished and very playable update.
