Recent reviews by Geeky the Cheeky Commando

TL;DR: Baseline this is too greedy, the multiplayer has a lot of BS, and most of the 'fun modes' are paywalled. If you have a controller that can work just play Pirate Warriors 3 instead as it may have the weaker combat of the two games but it instead comes with more to do (replay value on maps, secret objectives on maps, additional modes, etc.), more interesting maps, more costumes that you can get for characters, and is generally STILL the better game. If my controller worked for it perfectly I would play it. If it had online Multiplayer and the controllers still worked this game would've never even survived launch it's that night and day.

Let me be clear...I like this game, I think the combat is the best it has been bar none when it comes to any of the Pirate Warriors games and even is comparable to many other musou titles that earn a great amount of praise from me...But that said, I can't in good faith recommend this game due to a few issues that really do wear on me so badly that it needs to be said.

First and foremost you'll notice the complete and utter greed on display here. 3 character passes, $30 each, and the third one will have LESS CHARACTERS than the previous two. Some of the characters at this point I am in full belief they cut for the sake of introducing them as DLC (X-Drake and Garp in particular are good examples, but I wouldn't be surprised if they released more characters that are in the game, but not playable) and I am not even getting started on the fact there is not one, but TWO Anime Song packs that are out. I feel as though many of us need to say it: An Anime game should have the Anime soundtrack in it baseline.

The second, and far more pressing outside of the greed, is the gameplay especially in story mode. It is fun to fight but there are staggering issues with some characters being too weak, the story being horribly butchered and simple with missing arcs, many of the maps and missions feel poorly made in many cases with the flow being broken up constantly with forced camera cutaways in a lot of missions making the gameplay flow break abruptly, making it less fun in general as you feel like it is more and more a drag as you go through missions. Not to mention, and this is a big one to me, that you cannot control enemy density and it feels like we could have a lot more men on the screen for more fun in general to make these battles feel far more epic.

Multiplayer...Is the bane of my current existence for a few reasons. I love being able to play with my friend, it is great! I genuinely, sincerely mean it when I say I want to play this game with my friend and enjoy tearing everyone apart...Tell me why we have to go online, choose a map, turn off mic (every single time), and get into the preparation part of the game before we invite our friend into a group...ONLY TO HAVE THE GROUP BREAK UP AND HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN!? Every time you must do this, all the while just hoping you don't get a random in your game which takes the spot meant for your friend and after the mission it is the whole process all over again. They got it right in Samurai Warriors 5 (Only issue there is every stage isn't Musou Mode capable).

Additionally, no enemies are tracked between the two...To clarify, let's use a very real example from me. My buddy is doing the Whitebeard War, running away with Ace and Luffy to keep them safe because he isn't the highest level yet and I decide 'Why not! I will hold off Aokiji because I want to fight this buffed up enemy so I don't blitz everything!' and I proceed to juggle him all the way back to the corner of the starting area of the map...Doesn't matter. Guess what, a GHOST AOKIJI is now chasing him, that only he can see, and is attacking him and Ace forcing us to both fight multiple dimension characters that share a health bar making any potential split tactics worthless. Not a single enemy is universally tracked. I understand with the little guys, that makes sense, they are not massive game changers in 99% of cases but commanders who can do objective damage, messengers that you can stop from reaching areas to deliver reinforcements, anything that has any kind of 'You might be able to stop this' energy just means that the only right course of action is to blitz these targets for both players leaving no room for you to split duties and dominate the map through teamwork.

They need to do better. One Piece deserves better.

This is a license, not a game you own.

My reasons are very simple: The lack of content, poor UI, poor explanations, and poor controls.

I will be speaking as a player who came purely for the co-op as the world itself DID NOT call to me or interest me. For the lack of content expect to go in and buy the commanders if you want anyone BUT the basic one, remember that you actively DO NOT gain additional experience for commanders you don't buy after a point and a lot of their gear, which can be used on other commanders for co-op (providing powerful boons), has a level of PvE Power Creep that is...Hilarious to really say that. You also only get one human commander...That's it. That's what you own unless you pay $9 for a single commander. You can still play the others, to level 5 I think? But after that they don't even bank up experience of future playing them so there is little incentive to play them further unless you shell out $8.99 for a commander. The pool of missions is extremely shallow at the moment.

Poor UI and controls go hand-in-hand. Realize all your power meter and special abilities are on the top, your two types of resources and controls are all in the lower left, and that your mini map is in the lower right and isn't the most accurate. The camera is also pretty zoomed in, really needs some work there to be perfectly fair.

Last, and most certainly not least: Lack of explanation.

What I mean is there isn't an easy-to-find tutorial, no in-game codex I could find, that kind of deal. Something that should be in the game to help someone understand these three new races.

I have more issues with this game. Awkward units, what feels like a very weak identity for the races as a whole, and so much more...But I am hoping they can iron out most of these issues. But at this time? I can't recommend this game.

Fun DLC for a generally decent price. Only shame is after a bit the mid-boss stops talking to you. Even something small would be a nice addition.

Maybe the next DLC we'll get a ranged focused character for laughs. Casey was fun though!

With that out of the way, early impressions of the game are positive, but not overwhelmingly so. A lot more enemies on screen (My biggest ask), only decent graphics (many people say it's mind-blowing or whatever, these are pretty basic), and the combo system is back from older titles (Thankfully. If they had kept to DW9E's changes this would never be a purchase). I like the narrative approach to things where we see more and learn more about the characters (As I came into the games knowing nothing of the Three Kingdoms this is needed to enjoy it more thoroughly) but I do admit the 'Chosen One' approach in the game is not the best. I wish they would've let you create your character and enjoy it more as you just being a nameless warrior who can influence the fate of the setting.

Combat is where it is both similar, but far more different than any other DW game I have played so far. Hordes of enemies at every angle, enough you can slice through them, but gone are a great many things that made you a Dynasty Warriors...Well, warrior. Your attacks, especially early on, don't really do much. They don't flinch and knock around basic units half as much, making you have to be far more defensive even against cannon fodder you would normally tear to bits in any other game. Basic Commanders, even on normal difficulty, can bowl you over and just outright disregard any aggressive playstyle making you slow down because they want you to play with more parries (perfect block) and stance breakers (interrupts for big attacks) which removes the faster pace of the older games and makes it far less of a 'Warriors' game than any before it.


This is to be stressed. Even in the Tutorial I went in with the mindset of DW8E and nearly got killed because I wasn't slowing down and being defensive enough. Even the basic, rank-and-file soldiers can and will kill you if you aren't slowing down. This game will actively punish you for playing it like older Warriors titles which may very well discourage you from playing it. I had to sit down, have a long think, and decide if I really want to continue this game with how vastly different it is. In the end, I find it just interesting enough to keep soldiering on. But I do see how anyone coming for 'I am just here for a good time in smashing hundreds of soldiers unhindered' will not find that fun here.

That out of the way, let me clarify this about the game: It is an old title, and it shows. But unlike its sequel/downgrade in DW9R, this does right what that game does wrong. Walk with me and we'll discuss the pros and cons.

01. The game plays like a Warriors title. This may not seem like something important at first glance, or may even seem like it should be a no-brainer, but the fact that DW9E lost the plot and forgot to make itself into a hack-and-slash, commander focused playstyle for capturing bases and overcoming challenges puts this as a point in the book that needs to be said.

02. Character creation is simple, but good. You aren't getting anywhere near Skyrim, but there are enough options here to have fun with and you can customize your custom character's abilities quite well, giving them a far more unique approach and flair to things compared to the sequel.

03. In Empires mode there are other things to do. Far more in it than DW9E there are many more things you can do. Raise your own kingdom, become emperor (RNG event), be an assassin, be a free agent forever, betray your lord, and so much more.

04. CUSTOM INVADERS. This is something that, somehow, is still running and I don't know how or why. But when you have entire units of others peoples custom characters floating about and entering the game later on as old generic commanders die out or just replaced over time it gives some fun RNG to every Empires campaign. I had the Cat Girl alliance fighting Naruto Ninjas for the Northern half of China. It's hilarious as an option, and a lost one in the sequel.

05. Lastly, it's fun. Nothing more, nothing less, it is a fun game. If you are a fan of older Warriors titles, it is a fun time. Not as fast as some new ones, but you can have some pretty fun battles in it. I had to buy enough time for my armies to take the map and connect the main camp to the enemy's because Lu Bu and five of his boys were trying to rush the opposite way and just rush my main camp and no one but me could handle them.

There are some cons. Don't get me wrong. Translation isn't the greatest, some cutscenes and events are woefully incomplete, I wish there were MORE enemies on-screen and this much DLC at these prices are pretty much a crime to me...But if you don't care about the additional cosmetics, don't care about the castle or scenario pack, don't care for the additional edit voices? It's a great game. DLC is fine if you buy it on sale, but I sincerely say only buy the edit parts as that's where you'll get most of the enjoyment out of it. It's better than DW9E, so if you're making a choice between the two I am giving you a whole-hearted endorsement of this game.

This is not a compliment this is very much a strike against the game in my opinion.

As much as I wish I could recommend this game to many others, especially fans of the series, they have changed too much about it to make it a recommended suggestion. Being a fan with a lot of time in Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires, it is NOT a Warriors game in the same manner and is a clear step in the wrong direction, filled with many questionable decisions and bad choices but with some sorely desired features that I wish would've been in future games of the series. I will at least lay out the good, and the bad, of the case and let you judge for yourself.

01. The translation is more on-point compared to 8E.
This is something to be praised...Even if one might argue this is the bare minimum.
02. The game is rather beautiful.
It really is to be expected after so long, but the game looks beautiful.
03. Actual Cutscenes.
There are a few actual cutscenes that can be found, like the one I had that had me rescue Zhurong from a Tiger attack during a hunt. These aren't as stilted as 8e in SOME of them.
04. Some interesting battle moments.
I kind of like the approach of the battles we do have...But I'll touch on this later. The idea of being able to assail a fortress, get a siege tower in place, and get up to open the gates for your allies from the inside? Or suppress the ramparts with catapults from outside and grapple up onto the walls? Or use battering rams to break in the gates? These are good ideas...But there's some issues.
05. Better relationship progression.
This is an odd one that needs to be said: Depending on what you do (Battle constantly, use specific hidden plans, interactions, etc) you gain trait levels that will empower your interaction with people. No longer just a letter, it is instead a scale of zero to one hundred that levels up the letter for you. If you’re very eloquent you might get bonus points with Zenji, but if you’re horribly benevolent you might not get really any buffs to your interaction or be nerfed down to literally one point when talking with her as you aren’t the type of person she gets along with. It is a nice way to see in some additional measure how your character gets along with the world and people at large.
06. Slightly more control over battle.
If you’re better friends with people or a higher rank you can order people to do things. Intercept troops, attack bases, defend people, etc.
07. SOME of the Character Creation is kind of good.
Let me be clear: I am giving praise to facial customization...More than that is very hard to praise.
08. I like some of how they treat interactions.
The new 'Stroll' mode lets you get on the ground in the cities and talk with people, go to your hideaway (a small home you can customize), and with a NPC even be introduced to new people not in your region...This is great. But...I'll cover it next, I am running out of nice things to say.
09. Lastly, more random events and less aggressive AI.
Back in 8E we may remember a few things that happened. A non-existent cutscene of being announced as Emperor, some officers acting as mediators for meetings with new officers, the occasional attempt to sway you to other sides? How about the AI wanting war EVERY TURN if you were serving someone? I have had many months in game of just not having war because my ruler wanted us to focus at home, I have had people come to mediate to meet me, I have had confessions, and I have had some basic on-the-ground cutscenes of my guy encouraging the troops. There is some more variables here...But I am done talking nice, these things are great, but we have issues.

01. Combat IS NOT like anything in the Warriors series.
Abandon ALL HOPE of a Warriors-like in this game. Gone are the armies of men on-screen, gone are the hopes for more troops that even 8E, gone is...Really, many things of combat. The camera is practically up your rear-end all combat, you barely see 10-20 people on-screen at once, maps are practically microscopic in comparison, and there is no longer combo strings like ANY of the Warriors games I have played. Where you once had a light-heavy combo they instead devolved it and tacked on things that I have yet to use in gameplay out of a lack of NEED. To further clarify: There is a light attack/combo button...That does a full combo on its own with rapid presses. Heavy attack DOES NOT change this combo in any way, shape, or form as it is basically changed to a guard breaker. A bumper button held lets you do one of three additional attacks, the heavy attack can also do a charge/flow/follow-up in rare circumstances. The only GOOD things I can say is that there are smaller details that, if imported to the OLDER TITLE, would make that game leagues better than this one. And worse yet? Everything I can think of to say GOOD about the combat is usually followed up by a negative.

The siege mechanics are good, but they're literally every battle. Secret plans are nice which are basically big plans to be used in battle that you have to nurture in some way. Defeat three hundred enemies and keep the Storm Priest alive to summon a hailstorm, summon a magic wolf and its pack which is a mini-boss fight that's harder than any enemy troop, construct or upgrade siege weapons, etc. but most of the time the payoff isn't worth the reward as by the time I get three hundred kills I might be done with the mission. Having special siege bases is nice to force map control, but it devolves into chaos because enemy reinforcements can just POP UP IN BASES YOU CONTROL AS THEY ARE REDEPLOYED INSTEAD OF STARTING IN ANY OF THEIR BASES or bases are taken from you because the enemy has siege weapons in their walls and they can just keep firing even as you scramble to take bases.

02. Lack of character creation control.
The face alone is a good step up...But many things take a step back. Less outfit choices, less limb control (No more Dwarf Warlord), previews are now 'you have to choose to see' for EVERYTHING including weapons. Speaking of weapons, the choosing of one forces you to pick from officer names and NOT weapons like the previous game...This isn't a good thing. Although this does mean there are some differences between how weapons are used (two Throwing Knife characters use them very differently) but the issue becomes not only am I sitting there wondering what Dong Tuna uses for a weapon, not only that you now have weapon affinities, specials, and the like chosen FOR YOU as opposed to letting you choose them (You liked that you used a Great Sword, used throwing knifes Musou, and threw a bomb as your air special? Sit and spin!), but also that I have to spend thirty minutes clicking through EVERY NAME to make sure I know what I am using...Want another reason to dislike it? Lack of favorite strategy isn't great either. Neither is having a test mode from the character creation!

03. No side-content in Empires.
Gone are the days of Quests. No hunt, no assassination, no traders or the like as far as the eye can see. Only procuring things, talking with others, and serving a Lord…To do just more of that. This isn’t a good thing and I don’t know who the heck authorized this, but it’s a travesty. If there is some hidden in wandering around the game world in stroll I have yet to find any of it in six hours of playing.

More in comments.

Let me be clear: This game is an investment. I'll save you some reading if you just want an honest opinion.
TL;DR: It's a fun game, you don't need to spend money to get anywhere, but you DO need to put time into it to get the most out of it so go in assuming you're here for grind and fun.

Not in money, but in time. You'll have a lot of things early on that require you to wait to move forward, there are many weapons and characters (Warframes) to level up, and there are many mods (upgrades) to collect and gather over time and rank up through in-game materials you can grind...But if you are willing to get through the time sink, you can pretty much get access to basically 100% of the game without ever spending a dime personally. It is a fun, decently fast-paced third person shooter with high mobility and special abilities to give you many playstyles to work with...In short: Magic Space Ninjas if you really want me to dumb it down to smaller words.

Everything in game that you CAN buy with real money (Platinum) you can earn through gameplay if you get mods or Prime parts/sets (Basically upgraded variants of weapons and characters) by selling to other players. Money can speed up progress, but is never required and at some point it'll even be a distant thought for a new fashion object or color pallet to make your customized Warframe more your own.

As for story and gameplay: They can be quite fun, but you have to kind of let yourself fall into the world and experience it. If you like the gameplay but not the world, that's fine, but you'll miss out on a lot of decent enough storytelling (Some of it I don't care for/get either, so it shows you might miss out or not enjoy to the fullest). If you don't like the gameplay, but love the world then you might not really have the most fun. But both are pretty decently fleshed out.

I know some people don't have a long attention span, if so.
TL;DR: If you want a fast game with some fun, having simple controls, and no massive learning curve? This may be for you. If you enjoy simple games that will give hundreds of hours of gameplay? This is for you.

This game is only $5...I will share my thoughts baseline and then move on to more detailed bits after the fact so you can judge with an open mind from someone who is just going to be honest with you. I bought this game ages ago, I have played it for almost 200 hours at the time of this review, I have unlocked way too much...So that said, you may say I am a bit bias, but everything from here on out will share both the good and the bad of the game itself.

Baseline, it is one of the better games despite its simplicity. You control your character you choose in ONLY a movement and partial aiming capacity for a select few weapons, making it very easy to learn and pick up with the only slight learning bump being the weapons and equipment themselves as they all do things in various ways. Whips are pretty fixed on how they aim with the only deciding factor being which way you face in some cases, some projectiles are random, there are auras for damage, etcetera. There isn't a high skill ceiling and instead heavily RNG/Knowledge based as a really good set of rolls early on will allow you to cruise to victory while bad ones can be managed, but it really isn't the nicest thing in the world. After thirty minutes of survival a Grim Reaper comes to try and kill you...I say 'try' because you can kill it if you have a good enough setup, at which point the White Death will come and kill you. It's not a 'try' that thing will just merc you outright. After your death screen you can go and try another run, upgrade yourself with coins, or unlock new characters with coins IF you have unlocked them for unlock in a variety of ways. Evolve specific weapons, beat levels with specific characters, find the coffin on the map and free them, and the like. This is the progression loop of the game.

But all that said, you will almost always have something to do or unlock and even when you don't it is a good game to kill time quickly. That said, when you get to a certain point it can become dull for some. It isn't always, it can still get me to get a little nervous, but I know more progression minded people might find it lacking baseline. But it is a good way to kill time and get a nice little rush of fun. There isn't any further in-depth gameplay either so if you're one of those 'I need full control and I want to be able to dodge/parry everything with skill' type of people then you aren't going to want this either. There also isn't exactly a story here, so you're coming for the fun of the gameplay and not engaging plot.

But if you end up liking the game, which I am sure many will, I must say that you will likely enjoy the DLC's. Each adds maps with secrets and unique bosses, more characters, more weapons with great effects, and quite a few more hours onto the game. Some even come with scenarios, which are like mini challenge campaigns. Breaking their massive maps into smaller maps for you to play around in and complete objectives or just survive in. You CAN just go into the massive maps and play around too, even the Contra Map keeps their special boss at close to the thirty minute mark, but you may find fun in actually doing the scenarios too.

This is where I wish they had a 'Yes and No' or 'Mixed' review.

This game is fun, generally what you expect out of a Warriors game, but the issue for me is that the multiplayer...Well, it sucks. It sucks HARD. The lag between two systems online is so bad that when you do Nobunaga's early quest to fight through the forces, circle up the mountain, and come down on top of their commander if you are playing multiplayer it will be delayed for so long my friend literally completed the map before I was let out of the gates because how POORLY they optimized the game. Let that sink in, by the time all the chittering was done and the doors were opening my friend was killing the enemy commander. This is one of the earliest stages.

On its own, as a single player game, it is fine. Serviceable and fun in its own right IF you are a Warriors fan. If you are new to the Series, this is a good way to dip your toes in or Samurai Warriors 5 is. But if you're a veteran and want to play with a buddy? This isn't it. Even a direct Lan connection doesn't do it any justice. At this point, you're better off playing split screen on your computer...Which sucks really.