Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires follows up the perennial franchise's sixth installment. Combining the hack and slash of Dynasty Warriors with the strategy and skill of Koei's now defunct Romance of Three Kingdoms, you get Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires. Using your diplomatic skills, rise up from the ranks or start your career as a fierce general looking to control all of feudal China.

What's Hot
The major gripe about the entire Dynasty Warriors franchise is that it drowns itself in kiddy-pool shallow gameplay. Empires blows that statement out of the water by offering loads of strategy and depth, more than many gamers used to the series might care to see. You take control of a warrior and depending on their rank in the empire, they have access to all kinds of options that will make your head spin. Once you are a general, you can help set the legal policy that will give you benefits on the battlefield. It gets more involved than that even. You have to win battles and gain favor of other warriors to get enough items to trade for upgrades and skills.

The game also got a visual upgrade of sorts. Compared to DW6, you can see more enemies on screen at a higher level of detail. You can create your own fighter and plug him or her into the history books and try your hand at conquest that way. Since this game implements a Risk like playing board of conquering neighboring areas, the game is highly menu driven and you can pick up on what to do even if you haven't so much as cracked open the instruction booklet.



What's Not
Empires takes out some things that made DW6 really cool. Like the Renbu meter and changed up some of the upgrading mechanics to fit better with the "you're a warlord with total control" angle. The changes do add more strategy to the game but at a cost of fun when you are playing the Dynasty Warriors game you know and love. It is a sticky and extremely subjective area of the game that is likely to cause a split in the fanbase on what method of getting the leet loot is the best.

Dynasty Warriors is always better when played in pairs. It is incredible that the franchise has held out this long without including online co-op but that isn't the only issue at work. It is more difficult to get a friend on the couch and enjoy this game with you right away. You'll have to solo mash through a few battles until you get some officers under you. It isn't until way later do you get the cool generals making co-op not as instantly gratifying as it normally is.

Final Word
This isn't the first Empires game to release for Dynasty Warriors but it is one of the most refined. Ultimately, you get some Dynasty Warriors action inside a Romance of Three Kingdoms game. There are hints of some mechanics from the recent PSP release Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, but those notes are struck softly and rolled into the classic franchise that gamers from all corners of the Earth are familiar with.