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The last option starts us in the actual game itself - played from a near-ish third person perspective. This camera cannot be changed by the player. This can be a nuisance. There are times when moving your character will result in the camera being focused in the wrong direction - something that does not help when you need to know where all the enemies are around you. It's an annoying oversight, and would have been helped if there was at least a camera reset button. The controls are simple. Attack, Power Attack, 'Musou' charge/attack, jump, shield/strafe, and first person fire. For the most part only the 3 attack buttons are used. The Attack button requires no finesse. Madly bashing it will result in the same three or four move attack over, and over. There is no artful control pad wiggling to release other attacks like Street Fighter. The Power Attack forces the fighter to pause but releases an attack that does a greater amount of damage than normal. The problem with this is that it is hard to use when surrounded by several warriors as the Power Attacks' pause is long enough for enemies to sneak in a couple of hits. Health is vital in the game, and the extra damage that enemies cause during those pauses can often spell the death of an otherwise successful warrior. The 'Musou' button is helpful. It can be manually 'charged' up by holding it down for several seconds or accrued as you attack enemies. When fully charged it can be used to release a devastating flurry of attacks that will hurt or kill all enemies around you. Most seasoned players will attempt to keep their Musou charge ready in case they are attacked from all sides as it acts much like a 'smart bomb'. Sort of an 'in case of emergency' option.
The first person mode while 'cute' was not terribly useful. When the shoulder button is pressed a sniper type screen with targeting crosshairs appeares. A limited amount of arrows/shurikens are made available. When used against normal foot soldiers these would down an enemy with a single hit. The problem was that it was difficult to attack enough enemies to do any real good. On any one stage there would be dozens of enemies charging at you. Using the bow against them would result in two or three kills before they were too close to attack. It felt quite useless in the end, and for the most part was forgotten.
The jump button also suffered from a case of not being needed. The only time it proved useful was in mounting unused horses. The horses themselves were thoroughly enjoyable. Charging headlong into a group of enemies using a horse would bowl several enemies over and have the others scrambling out of the way. The attack buttons could also be used while on horseback - turning the standard attacks into large slashing affairs suitable for such equestrian combat.
The actual flow of the game requires a minimal amount of map reading, and a great deal of running here and there. It's quite a sight to see dozens of your comrades charging into battle and even more impressive when the enemy is charging at you! The battles themselves are reminiscent of sidescrollers like 'Final Fight' with some enemies engaging you (and your forces) while others hold back for some reason. As a result the battles can seem quite subdued as most of the forces – good and bad mill around – not fighting. It would have been much more impressive (albeit chaotic) if all the nearby forces had engaged in battle.
For the most part, the game revolves around you and your forces finding the bad guys and clobbering them. This can become repetitive, as each battle seems much like the last, but then again there is only so much variety to be expected when fighting realistic forces. There is the odd spot in the game where the enemy will put extra obstacles in your path. Falling boulders and hurricane winds will damage, and delay your forces. These can be dealt with fairly easily, but do help break up the repeated battles a little.
Despite the fact that there is little innovation or variety in the game it still manages to be an unusually enjoyable experience. Perhaps it is the uphill slog through a vast enemy, or the war cries of the enemy as dozens charge at you. Whatever it is Dynasty Warriors 2 is more than the sum of its parts. If nothing else this game is the closest thing one can get to being a warrior in the middle of a war. Something that no other game can really claim.
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