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News: Tom Morello stars in Guitar Hero III
Activision has announced that Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, will guest star as a boss character in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Click here to read the article.
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Dynasty Warriors 3
Imagine yourself in the middle of a war in China. Hundreds of warriors fighting for their beliefs. You are a warrior who will earn his ranks by defeating the enemy and their armies. Dynasty Warriors 3 is based on a super popular novel (book). It is a weapon-based hack n' slash game that lets you control 41 different characters throughout the game's 20 intense stages/battles.
What really maked DW3 stand out in the crowd is the amount of fun to be had. Sure it is a kill all type of game but there is strategy involved aswell. You can decide to kill all the enemies or try to sneak attack the main general which will give you the victory if you are successful in killing him. There is something here for all people; action, adventure, strategy, and stealth.
Depending on which character you chose, you will have a different fighting style. Rather than just changing the look of the character, Koei implemented a completely different style for each character. They all have their ups and downs. Their strenght, speed, etc will vary.
The main mode is called Musou Mode which has you go through about 23 levels. There is also Free Mode which allows you to play any mission with any character. And if you have a friend, invite them over, for 2 player versus and cooperative modes!
The controls in Dynasty Warriors 3 are easy to learn. The A button is used to jump, the X button is used to attack while the B and Y buttons are used to engage a special attack. The right Right Trigger centers the screen and the Left Trigger switches to a first person view, used to examine the area.
Visually, Dynasty Warriors 3 will not make Halo nervous, meaning they are average graphics from a ps2... which is what you can expect from a port, which this is. I understand why the graphics cannot be amazing, and that is because there are hundreds of characters on screen, all fighting at the same time. Because of that, I'll let Koei off easily... but I expect better visuals by the time Dynasty Warriors 4 comes out. How about using the more powerful console first and then porting it to the weaker ones?
The characters are nicely modeled and well animated along with the horses and elephants ... yes, I said elephants! The environments are plain and not much is going on in the background. The FMVs however are beautifully done.
Moving on to the sound section of the review, you will find the voice overs in Dynasty Warriors 3 quite funny. And I mean that in a bad way. The writing is not funny, but the actors who voiced the characters. I thought they were supposed to be Chinese? Yet they sound American. This is a flaw that I notice in many games where the original language isn't English ... the voice overs tend to suck. But hey, atleast they are in English. :-) The sound effects are nice. Warriors scream and weapons clash. The soundtrack is generic techno-ish tunes some of which are actually good.
With many modes, lots of characters and levels, and just pure fun, Dynasty Warriors 3 should not be missed! Many may not have heard of this game, many may have, but rest assured it is a very nice addition to the Xbox catalog.
Report Card:
Gameplay = 8.5
Graphics = 8
Audio = 7.5
Replay Value = 9
Overall: 8/10
Click here for the Dynasty screenshots gallery!
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