A few weeks back the Zelda themed Dynasty Warriors game from Koei was released in the US. The game had released a month prior in Japan, and a week earlier in Europe and Australia. It isn’t the first time Nintendo released a title to Japan early, in fact 20 years ago that was the norm. Today however it seems odd as most games see a simultaneous worldwide launch. What’s more, Europe doesn’t usually get a title before the US.
By the time I actually had the game, there was already DLC available for it for new playable characters and maps. Now granted this game was actually made by Koei, but the fact that Nintendo gave them free reign to have day one DLC is kind of surprising.
I’m no stranger to the Dynasty Warrior series. Eight years ago I enjoyed the button mashing playstyle and hordes of never ending bad guys that I slashed through claiming different strategic locations on the map until the arena belonged to me. I played both Dynasty Warriors 5 and 6 when they came out and them enjoyable enough to rent, but not to buy. Later on at Ken’s request we rented Dynasty Warriors Gundam which was basically the same type of game with a skin layed over it of the anime Gundam series. I didn’t watch the show so I had no interest in it, and by that point my ability to just sit and mash the attack button until my fingers were sore was waning. I had pretty much left the series behind me and didn’t give it much thought.
Last year when a Zelda themed Dynasty Warriors was announced I found myself caught between not really caring to play a Dynasty Warriors game, and my NEED to play a Zelda themed game. Guess which one won that argument? I got the game on launch day and played it exclusively co-op with my wife as she also enjoyed the Dynasty Warriors series a bit. A few levels in I found myself struggling to keep playing. I just wasn’t interested in the story, and each level is the same premise of smashing the attack button until everything is dead. I soldiered on to the point in which the game forced me to choose other characters besides Link for some levels, and that was where I decided to get off. It wasn’t enough that the games plot was so painfully anime inspired that it made Skyward Sword look tame. It wasn’t enough that they took one of the most family friendly franchises in history and filled it with large breasted, bikini wearing friends and foes. It wasn’t enough they incorporated a gear leveling up system with a UI interface that always left me questioning if I was actually doing anything right. They had to actually stop me from playing the character the series is based around to finally get to me stop.
Needless to say I was less than impressed with the title, and I was really hoping Nintendo would have done more quality assurance before licensing out the best franchise in their arsenal. At this point I’m assuming they are handing out the license for anything to put more games on shelves to sell more Wii U’s. While this may help tide current Wii U owners over until Super Smash Bros, I don’t see it selling consoles.
