"Rent if your a DW fan. But this one does not impress"

I really enjoyed DW4 Empires. But i found this one to be very disappointing. Koei claimed there was going to be more strategy in this one. Well there is.... "more strategy" if you call strategy making the game more redundant and even more repetitive than it already is.

Example:

Now, when you want to upgrade your weapons, you have to get upgrade the smith level 5 times. You always have the smiths no matter what territory you occupy. This is nothing more than a cheap trick Koei has used to "add more to the game". adding nothing more than frustration and redundancy. And you now have to manually produce items which will cost you a turn. Very stupid. Some of the micromanaging is useful, like alliances, but most of it is just plain stupid and a waste of time.

Game play divided into 2 categories:
In battle: 8
Out of battle strategy 1

Still good game play when in battle. The AI is much more improved although still very stupid at times. Often they enemy will have 4 generals just completely leave the main base unguarded. And you don't have to beat a ruler in order to win a war anymore, you can take over the main base without even having to fight him.

But the cheap "strategy" almost makes this game unplayable. There is just to many things to keep track of and most of them are not worth the time anyway. Has anybody figured out what the defence of an area even does yet? Koei might wanna start make a more in depth manual for these games.

Graphics. 8
Nothing much to say really. If you played Dw5 they are the same. Except some mild slowdown in this one. I didn't particularly like the cube them used in this either. Im all about ambiance and feeling and computerized cubes just don't belong in the background while your playing a game set in ancient China.

Sound 10/10
Saving grace of the game. Some of the officers have killer lines. The taunts are great, and even the generic generals sounds like they have a personality now. Also, the game includes a big play list from all the past DW games.

Overall 5 out of 10. I know that is not an average of the numbers but the out of battle strategy is such a big part of this game and has so much pull that it brings the overall down to a 4 despite the good rating of all the other parts. The only way to play this game and get some kind go enjoyment out of it is to not care what you do strategy wise. And ultimately, what you do really doesn't matter. You will 90% of your decisions restoring troops to your officers and trying to find a break somewhere to upgrade your smiths.

Definitely rent this before you buy it. Even if you loved DW4 Empires, which i enjoyed allot more than this one.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 04/12/06