Who cares that this game didn't make history, it's still fun and still defined what hack and slash was and would be
Game play:
Seeing as how this game defined the hack and slash genre, this explanation will be quick and basic. Run to random enemy, mash square and triangle buttons until enemy is dead, run to next enemy, repeat about 300-700 times per battle. Some gamers may ask "But where's the strategy?" The truth is, there isn't much, the only time it comes in is when the player is fighting another general, at that point, they block until they stop attacking, then the player mashes square and triangle buttons, maybe even throw a circle in there until the general's dead, strategy ends here! "Oh, but what about your allies?" the player asks, well, unless the character chosen is doing good, the allies will do good too, if the character is getting smacked around by the most basic infantry unit, the enemy can't kill the allied forces fast enough, so the player really can't rely on their allies to get them out of a jam.
This brings the controls up for review, overall the controls are fairly good and quite easy to learn, but unfortunately there really isn't a learning curve as each character starts out with the same moves that they will have during their final mission, and there just isn't much variety to them. If the player needs to hit their enemy into the air, S + T, if they need to stun the enemy, S + S + T, if they need to clear a group of enemies, T or S + S + S + T, which while it's easy to pick up, it can feel a bit tedious when the same combo is performed a few hundred times in the same battle. Then again there is the musou attack which is performed by hitting circle which both juggles and clears crowds, but the only work needed to be done by the player is how long they want to hold the circle button for so overall, the controls feel a tad simplistic and players looking for challenging controls may be turned away at it's simple and repetitive nature.
There is a good variety of characters to select, from the powerful but slow Zhang Fei to the speedy Lu Xun, players are bound to find a character that fits their playing style. Originally, players start with 9 characters to choose from but by completing musou modes for characters and by completing special objectives in certain stages, (*cough* Lu Bu *cough*), a total of 28 warriors can be chosen. The way these characters grow in stats is throughout battle by picking up drops by gate captains and enemy generals, so odds are if players want to get really good, they will be slaughtering every gate captain with a 20 hit combo just to get that Defense + 2 drop every time. The only bad thing is that character growth seems a little slow at times depending on the level being played so it could feel like a grind to get a maxed out character, unless the player chooses to fight the allied forces, then it's a breeze. Once a character is maxed out, that's it. There's no bonus or reward, it's done for the sake of doing it which can leave a player feeling hollow and empty for spending 20+ hours slaughtering countless thousands of troops to max out Sun Shang Xiang, then they realize that they could have grown much faster by fighting the allied forces.
Graphics:
Considering this game was a PS2 launch title, at the time, the graphics were incredible. One warrior battling a couple dozen enemy soldiers at a time hadn't really been seen before so it's difficult to compare the graphics to another game, but Kessen (another Koei title) came out a few months later with similar graphics, however, DW2's graphics exceed what Kessen presented so overall the graphics look very nice. However, the only real complaint that is present is sometimes, lag occurs when too many enemies (or allies) fill the screen, but considering this came out during launch and occurs when 50+ (rough approximation) characters are on screen, we can forgive this and hope it gets fixed in the sequel.
Sound:
Overall the sound is good, the music is catchy and the background noise does sound like armies are shouting rallying cries to psyche themselves up for their next big clash with an opposing army. The only complaint present is that the weapons hitting an enemy don't exactly sound like a weapon hitting armor or going through flesh, but then again this game is a hybrid of historic battles and arcade-style button mashing so it's to be expected that the game isn't going to be 100% authentic in every aspect. Also, another complaint is a lack of voice work during the battle, for example, when the player sees Dong Zhuo for the first time, a small cut scene takes place where he waves his sword around and his mouth moves up and down, with the text "I will bathe in your blood!" appearing below. Now this would have been a lot more menacing if the player actually heard a voice saying it, the language wouldn't even have to be in English, Japanese would have sufficed, (I am aware the game takes place in China, but since Koei is in Japan, they throw in Japanese voiceovers.) But again, since this is their first attempt, this can be overlooked.
Story:
The story is, for the most part, based on the actual historical battles themselves as well as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" novel so if players have brushed up on their Chinese history or read the novel, they'll know what to expect from Musou mode. That being said, the story isn't that bad, but sadly the game doesn't really go into inter-character development, for example, it's unexplained why Zhao Yun serves Liu Bei, and the player is just expected to accept it. Also, every character starts with the same two stages, which can feel quite repetitive in nature and can make the game drag on at times, but overall the story does grip the player and is fairly enjoyable. However, a plus is that each character's musou mode is only 5 missions long so players can go through a character's story without feeling like they have to grind for several hours.
Longevity:
As was mentioned in the Story paragraph, every character starts out with "The Yellow Turban Rebellion" and "The Battle of Hu Lao Gate" then the stages swap depending on the force chosen. This makes the game a tad predictable and may drain on the longevity of this title. Also, as each character has a total of 11 different attacks, there really isn't a lot of variety in character attacks, which can also drain the longevity of the game. Overall, diehards of this game can find ways to play it for hours while new players to the game may put it down after a few hours, so the player will be able to determine what group they belong to within the first half hour of play.
In summary, Dynasty Warriors 2 is an enjoyable game that could hold it's own against many other PS2 launch titles with its easy learning curve, variety of characters and non-grinding musou mode. Unfortunately, most players won't find themselves playing it too long as the combat and story feels repetitive in nature, so it won't go through history as the greatest launch title ever, (oddly enough, Halo will probably keep that crown forever.) But after all, who cares that this game didn't make history, it's still fun and still defined what hack and slash was and would be, so if players still have this game in their collection, pop it in your PS2 (or PS3 if it's backwards compatible) and have some fun.
Quick Review:
Pros:
- Innovative combat engine
- Many characters with different looks and weapons
- Musou mode doesn't overstay its welcome by having too many missions
Cons:
- Musou mode gets repetitive
- Not enough variety in combos
- Little voiceover work
- Slow character growth in beginning of game