Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Complete Edition brings the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story to the next generation of consoles. Visually stunning, this often-criticized franchise is a good fit for supporters of the games, lovers of historical fiction and fans of the beat’em up genre.
Dynasty Warriors 8 takes full advantage of the new hardware; the game is simply beautiful. With intricately detailed models, DW8 gives each general a distinctive look that identifies them easily on the battlefield. Once I was on the battlefield, my awe turned towards the draw distance and how many characters were rendered and active on the screen. It is easy to identify individual enemies in the distance. Those enemies are still visible even if you are already in a swarm of enemies and allies directly in front of you. The best part of playing DW on the more powerful machine is the distinct lack of frame rate drop when you are in a large cluster of characters on the screen.
Not having played a Dynasty Warriors game since Dynasty Warriors 4, I found the combat to be much improved. In DW4, the combat was extremely repetitive, especially if you wanted to be efficient and lethal. You would press Square, Square, Square, Triangle and rinse and repeat that for 30 minutes to get through a battle. In Dynasty Warriors 8, the different combinations of square and triangle give more than just variety, it gives you a reason to use different combinations in battle. With each character having multiple “EX moves,” I found myself utilizing different combinations of moves to accomplish my goals. This afforded me the chance to spice up the combat to prevent me from falling into a trance while playing.
The game has a few different modes you can play to extend your experience. Story mode, which gives you the opportunity to play out the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story through the heroes you begin to love. Free mode allows you to play the Story mode missions without being tied down. Ambition mode has a building aspect where you work through small battles to gain experience, allies and building materials to entice the Emperor to side with you and your allies. Lastly is Challenge mode, which puts certain conditions on battles to offer more replayability. Personally, I stick to the Story mode as I find the history part of the game particularly fascinating.
Included in the functionality outside of the game, tied into the PS4, are the sharing and remote play features. Using the DualShock 4 controller, it is easy to take screenshots, record videos and broadcast to an audience. The broadcasting through Twitch was extraordinarily fun and I really appreciate the few people who dropped by my stream during those nights I was on. I also tested the Remote Play functionality with my PlayStation Vita and I must say that the game translates well to the handheld device. The game still looks beautiful on the 5” OLED screen and the button-mapping worked well. The experience stayed true to form on the handheld device.
If I have any qualms about the game, it is mainly with the camera. After many iterations of this game, I still find myself struggling with the camera. I often find myself staring into a stone or wood wall while I’m trying to finish off a general I have finally cornered. My only other major complaint is that you do not have a large number of generals to choose from in each battle in the Story mode. Why can’t I be Wen Pin if I want to?
Overall, Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Complete Edition is a solid game with fantastic visuals on the PlayStation 4. This game is not for everyone. The combat can still feel repetitive and if you’re not into beating up a thousand guys using a set number of moves and weapons, this game is not for you. DW8 is right within my wheelhouse. It is a historical fiction piece that has just enough action and RPG elements to keep me returning for more. To those that level the “it’s just more Dynasty Warriors” attack, I say to you, yes it is and it’s beautiful.
Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Complete Edition Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZrNWcnsPbo