Underrated Game Three: Dynasty Warriors 3

   There really is no game franchise quite like Dynasty Warriors. While at least a few games have attempted to emulate its automated open-battlefield concept (I'm looking at you, Drakengard, you awful, awful game), none have even come close to matching the experience.

   Dynasty Warriors made an immediate impression on me with its satisfyingly large battle-maps. It could take you five minutes or more to travel from one corner of a map to the other. It also boasts no shortage of such maps, numbering at twenty three maps! Dynasty Warriors follows the stories and legends of the three dynasties of post-Han-Dynasty China: Wu, Wei, and Shu and is loosely based on the 14th century novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. While the game is largely based on real historical figures and tales, it deviates in the sense that these characters have super-human powers reminiscent of manga and anime characters.

   You might wonder why, of all of the nine Dynasty Warriors titles, why did I pick Dynasty Warriors 3? It's an improvement on its predecessors, and I am not a fan of the major changes in the 4th and 5th installments. I also confess to never trying the 6th and 7th installments. I put about 20 hours into Dynasty Warriors 8 and it was a pretty good game. Just not as fun as the 3rd, in my opinion. I will give credit where it is due, however, that DW8 gives you more of everything, most notably, many game-modes.

I stopped playing DW8, as I was playing it on a borrowed console. As soon as I returned the console, I had an itch to play DW3 again. So I immediately bought it and its Extreme Legends expansion disc. I don't recall why, but I remember it being more fun. Now I kind of want to hook the Playstation 2 up and play it again. "It's... it's... IT'S LU BU!!"