Dynasty Warriors

When it comes to old wars, the stories are always about heroes who single-handedly destroyed an army or killed the enemy general with one sword thrust. The fact that these battles also involved thousands of other soldiers is irrelevant for the tall tales passed down from the victory celebration and mead hall to the history book. For example, the archer whose lucky shot got King Harold in the eye never had to work again. He just sat around winking at people.

Which ancient history brings us to Dynasty Warriors. Based on the myths of another country - China's Romance of the Three Kingdoms - its claim to fame is that it places you in the forefront role of the hero warrior turning the tide of the battle.

All around you, squads of troops are engaged in giving each other a good bashing, whether using long poles, crossbows or other sharpened objects. You have to dash around making sure your side is winning, whether by taking on dozens of grunts yourself or fighting head-to-head with its captains and generals. Only when the morale of the enemy drops to zero is the victory in that area yours. Then it's time to load up the map and choose another battlefield.

And it's this combination of frantic button-bashing combat and a more strategic approach that makes Dynasty Warriors interesting. Of course, we're seen this sort of thing before; notably in all the Dynasty Warrior games on PlayStation 2, but this PSP version is a bit different. As you progress through each campaign you have to decide where to attack the enemy using a more bite-size map grid, which limits each battle to a more portable five minutes.

In selecting the best route you have to think about keeping your troops supplied, as well as destroying the enemy's supplies. You can also link up with other friendly forces who are spread across the map, making sure you can bring the most firepower to bear. The larger campaign only ends when you've captured the enemy stronghold.

This isn't the end of the strategy, either. As a commander, you also get to select four second-in-command officers whose powers can be triggered in-game. These attacks are combined with the action moves - a weak attack move, a more powerful area attack which can be launched when your hit (or Musou) bar is full, a range attack and jump.

Which all makes Dynasty Warriors sound like a decent experience. Sadly however, this isn't really the case. As a launch PSP title the developers clearly haven't been given enough time to get the graphics working properly. There are several problems but the main one is the amount of fog. The reason for the bad weather is that the game is trying force the PSP to display more troops than it can handle, so to compensate it hides the ones who are furthest away in a grey mist. Frankly it doesn't look very good and, as you run towards them, they suddenly appear out of the gloom before you're ready for them. It gets worse; when you're involved in really big close-in battles, the fog trick doesn't work because there are just too many characters onscreen, so your PSP gives up and starts running slowly. Like moving through treacle, everything gets slower and slower. Which is a shame because these are just technical issues that could, and should, have been solved given time. They certainly will be if there's ever a sequel.

More problematic, however, is the game's confusion. Running (slowly) around this foggy battlefield, you don't really have a good idea of where you're supposed to be going or who, specifically, you're supposed to be fighting. Partly this is because the in-game camera is dreadful. The game doesn't use the whole of the PSP's widescreen, either, as part is taken up with various bits of information such as maps and morale bars. But there aren't any helpful arrows or hints to follow. Sometimes you just follow your troops, hoping they know what to do, and they just run into a wall and then reverse back the way they came. Sometimes you'll find loads of enemy troops and start fighting, only to find your bodyguards are now nowhere to be seen and you have to leg it before you, the hero, get it in the neck. It's most unsatisfactory.

Even if you struggle through this, there's little progression. Sure, there's plenty to do in terms of the 42 different characters you can unlock or the hundreds of second-in-command officers. You can also trade them wirelessly with your Dynasty Warriors-playing friends, if you have any. There are some role-playing lite levelling-up elements, too, but fundamentally it gets repetitive extremely quickly. And, combined with its technical problems, you get a game that only the most hardy Dynasty Warriors fans should think about buying. Everyone else should practise their war cries and wait for the sequel.