PlayStation 4 Critic Reviews

It's hard to make a game that successfully melds genuine strategy and fast action together. There's always the risk that the strategy could be too simple, or the action would either overpower the strategy, rendering it redundant, or become irrelevant itself because the strategy side of things determines success or failure. Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires strikes that balance where both on-field performance and strategy equally determine success, and while it's a different flavour to the typical Warriors formula, it's wonderfully entertaining, and anyone who says the Warriors games "never change" should be sat in front of this until they learn otherwise.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires makes a few nice additions to the original formula: the marriage system and the possibility of having a child are nice touches, and the new strategies on the battlefield are both useful and interesting. If you like musou games but you’re put off by their boring action, this is the game for you.

This would be a great deal if it was packed with a $4.25 happy meal, but at almost full retail it's a thieving shamburger. [May 2015, p76]

Omega Force certainly takes the core gameplay of Dynasty Warriors and boosts it considerably. A wider and deeper landscape for networking, invading and scheming, and sometimes playing as a politician, helps to make this title more than just another hack and slash experience. This depth will overshadow the lack of visual upgrade for current generation hardware.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is a well balanced mix of turn-based strategy and hack 'n' slash gameplay in real time. The scenery graphics are still not on par with the attention to detail of the main characters, though.

This new Empire entry in the franchise enhances even more the possibilities of its predecessor, with new customization options. Unfortunately, there's room for graphics improvement and we miss spanish subtitles.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is one of the best entries in the saga: the combat system of the regular titles combined with some of the more strategy-like elements of the Empire series, and the ability to customize characters make this game a good title for the fans.

Despite being a little overwhelming at first, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires blossoms into an engrossing, addictive hack and slash adventure that fans won't want to miss. It's a shame that the game's bogged down by poor presentation and an unstable framerate, but along with the property's trademark combat, strategic elements add some variety to the mix, and the vast amount of customisation options and role-playing systems allow you to forge a legend that's more than worthy of the Three Kingdoms.

Deep but confusing strategy layered over classic Dynasty Warriors.

If Dynasty Warriors is your guilty pleasure, then Empires would be your guilt trip.