Dynasty Warriors 5

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Download Dynasty Warriors 5 and immerse yourself in the epic battles of ancient China! Unleash devastating combos, command powerful armies, and change the course of history. A warrior's legend is born – play now!

a game by	Omega Force
Platforms:	XBox, PC, Playstation 2 (2005)
Editor Rating:	6/10, based on 1 review, 2 reviews are shown
User Rating:	6.3/10 - 14 votes
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See also:	Best RTS Games, Hack and Slash Games, Dynasty Warriors Games

The final entry in the Dynasty Warriors series to land on sixth generation hardware, Dynasty Warriors 5 was in many ways a step up from its predecessor, but still many people cite Dynasty Warriors 4 as their all-time favorite entry – why is this?

Continuing the Bloodline

The fifth core entry in a long line of Dynasty Warriors games, Dynasty Warriors 5 released for the PS2 and original Xbox in 2005, and eventually the Xbox 360 and PC a year later. The game followed the story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and continued the hack-and-slash musou gameplay of its three predecessors (as Dynasty Warriors 1 was a 3D fighting game).

Hacking and Slashing

In Dynasty Warriors 5, you select an officer from a range of factions, and take them into some of the biggest battles ever seen. You’ll often end a battle with your kill count (or in this case, K.O. count) in the hundreds, and most scenarios will involve you surrounded in a one vs a hundred situation, yet still able to hack and slash your way to victory. Combat in Dynasty Warriors 5 is made up of three main buttons, the light and heavy attacks, and then the musou special attack, which you need to build up to be able to use. These special attacks aren’t really rooted in reality – and instead are giant spectacles with magical auras encapsulating the action.

More Hacking and Further Slashing

The issue with the musou range of video games is that they become so stale after just a few hours of play. Content-wise there’s a lot on offer, with multiple factions to play as, multiple game modes to tackle and so many characters to unlock and then play through the game again as, but you will never see all of it.

You will maybe play through a campaign once, twice at a push, before wanting to put the game down and take an extended hiatus from the series. It’s not really something that Omega Force/Koei addressed going forward from Dynasty Warriors 5 either, as still to this day the gameplay is as bland and forgettable as ever.

Dynasty Warriors 5 is not a bad game, it’s a good game with a bad problem. Playing the game locally with a friend is a real blast, but alone it’s just not very fun for very long. I think at the time of release, Dynasty Warriors 4 was still a mainstay of a lot of people’s collections, and they had their fill of the gameplay by the time that the fifth entry rolled around, and thus this game never found its place in people's hearts in the same way.