They killed it.
The Dynasty Warriors series is a well-known series for its kill limits and its amazing one on 10,000 battles. Over the years it has expanded from a fun game that you can pick up everynow and then, to the ridiculous as there are now 12 in the series. From tactics games to reincarnations for different consoles, the GBA just cant handle the action required for a fun dynasty warriors-ish experience.
Gameplay:
This is the part that ruins the game.
Firstly, the opening menu provides you with four "modes" to choose from. These being "Play", "Encyclopedia", "Tutorial" and "Game Settings". Play sends you to single player mode which i will discuss later. Encyclopedia is a section that contains descriptions for Officers,Items,Weapons and the game history although these could not be described as descriptions as they are only 39-50 words long. The next Tutorial is a tutorial and finally Game Settings is your basic options menu.
Inside Single Player (Play) mode you can choose from Musou,Free or Challenge Mode. In Challenge mode you have our basic challenges,Endurance,Time Attack and Battle Luck. Free mode allows you to retry any level with any character and Musou mode as usual is the main focus.
In musou mode you choose one of 9 characters, 3 from each kingdom and then you are off fighting through extremely boring battles.Ok, let me explain, the game is now like a strategy game. No longer can you run through the field taking lives as you please, you now are positioned on a giant board map and move from space to space. If you land on the same space as an enemy you fight them in what is a poor attempt at the Dynasty Warriors series. Its a 2d version of Dynasty Warriors with less freedom, less combos and less soldiers on the screen at a time. To make things worse soldiers now take longer to kill. So anyway, your goal is to protect your leader and at the same time kill the enemy leader who happens to be at the other end of the map. In normal Dynasty Warriors games this is easy because you can run as you please and get there with ease :) , but in the advance version you have to wait your turn. So your faced with some tough challenges but hey, at the end of the day (it rhymes!) you can always turn your GBA off :(. So anyway, to explain a bit more of the Single Player mode, you can also search the spot you are on for items which takes up a whole turn and if there are two groups of enemies on the same spot as yourself you can choose which to battle. There are also small conversations throughout the level between enemy troops and ally troops and all the lot.If your looking for a portable hack'n slash haven, then you'll be disappointed.
Story
Each of the three kingdoms gets their own stories although some levels can be the same for each. Thats the good part. The rest of the story is basically the same as the other Dynasty Warriors games and thats it. The big war between the three kingdoms Shu Wu and Wei with the other smaller groups that has been going on for 12 videogames. Pretty repetitive Id say.
Graphics
Well most of the characters look ok. Especially their portraits while others like Xu Zhu look horrible. The levels are alright but the menus are ugly and unimaginative.
Sound/Music
The GBA isnt a system you'd expect quality music from and DWA only has a limited amount of tunes. From what ive heard the same battle music is used for every battle.The music sort of reminds me of a Snes quality game. As for the sound the game has got a slight bit of voice in it which is good. Phrases like "i defeated an officer" are in it but thats about all.
Buy/rent:
I would say rent to everyone because even after reading this review you will still be tempted to buy it like we all are over a game with nice cover art. Rent it so you dont waste your money on buying it. This game is a disappointment to the Dynasty warriors series and i really hope it ends soon.