I’ve been playing the Dynasty Warriors games for some time now, as they were an ideal game to play after a long day. A simple premise (take over this castle or what-not), coupled with the ability to take down huge numbers of enemies all on your own, made you feel like Superman. They were also interesting because the characters and events featured in the game are based on a Chinese historical novel titled Romance of the Three Kingdoms from the 14th century, so it’s like having a history lesson in a game, a two-for-one special, you might say.

Dynasty Warriors 6, the most recent incarnation of the series, is quite impressive graphically, especially in terms of how various components of the in-game environment have been constructed. It’s quite possibly the best looking Dynasty Warriors game I’ve ever seen. Ambient lighting, realistic water effects, well-crafted buildings that look like they should be where they are, all combine together to make this title well able to hold it’s own against this generation’s heaviest hitters.

The gameplay is superlatively easy once you get into the swing of things. The four buttons control the three types of attacks and the jump ability between them, and the right control stick controls the camera which is, sadly, manual and can make the highly involved battles of Dynasty Warriors Six something of a hassle when you have to keep rotating the camera to see your enemy. The mini-map does help with this, though, as you can switch it to the local view and just aim in the direction of the dots that represent the bad guys; gotta love color coding. One of the new facets of the game is the skill tree, a system similar to what was found in Final Fantasy X, where players select upgrades for their character that give more health, strength, or unlock abilities by using the skill points given after each battle.

The game also has a free play mode, a challenge mode, and a Camp mode where you can look at the various weapons, horses, and skills you’ve earned along the way. There is even an encyclopedia where you can review various information about the characters, battles, and even the aphorisms that arose from this era of China’s history, which has to make this game the best choice for gamers who like historical recreation titles.