Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires is my first experience with this type of game, and it was fun, for awhile.
And this brings up a big problem in this game, quantity over quality. Yes you have over two hundred different playable characters, but most are just the same model with a different name and no matter who you use it does not change the fighting at all. Open and large maps, which you have to run around in, and if you’re unlucky enough to not have a horse, this gets tedious. Hundreds of enemies on screen at once, the grunt soldiers come across as more decoration than actually threatening. And the A.I. on the ranked characters are just stupid. I’m fighting in the enemies main base against their leader, I’m low on energy, so all I have to do is run out of the base he will follow me, once he is out, I capture his base, no need to capture him. At least a hundred in-game items to use, again you’ll only use a few, and some you will never use, unless you want to try it out. Graphics are bland and muddy; there are some nice lighting effects. Sound and voice acting is mediocre, the menus take away from the game. You’ll see the same cut scene over and over only with whomever you are using at the moment. The difficulty seems random, some enemies are hard at times other times their not. Each and every fight is the same; every one's combos are the same as in X, Y, is the combo to knock your enemy in the air, for everyone. Simple and plain, it is a distraction for a little while, if I didn’t get all the achievements on it, my playtime would have been a lot shorter. In the end it’s just not worth the price, even at 29.99 I still would not recommend the game.