Dynasty Warriors is a series of games as old as time its self. Its games have spanned over many consoles including PS2, XBOX, PSP and GBA. Dynasty Warriors made its debut on the PSP as it was launched. It is the second installment in KOEI's tactival action series comes to the PSP. In Dynasty Warriors 2nd Evolution, you'll play an important role on the battlefields of Ancient China.

Many saw that game as a disappointment to the fans. But then Koei got their heads together and made Dynasty Warriors 2nd Evolution. Using the game engine from Dynasty Warriors 5, they have made a superb game from a not so good background. The game plays very smoothly and the controls are just the same as they have always been. Though R now triggers the Musou rage instead of the arrows. An advantage to its predecessor is that it has a much bigger draw distance and the troops hardly disappear in front of you now.

The AI has defiantly improved. NPC’s will seek you out on the battlefield and will even use their own musous against you. With the battle still in square areas, your allies will still move in strategic ways to help out the battle. The only downside is, your enemy does too. Now you are able to keep your weapons from the battle. You still level them up during the battle but you collect better base weapons on which to start the battle with. Also you now get to equip yourself with a horse. You can collect horses like you do weapons. You even get to give them their own names. Mine was called Rupert but you can have any name you like.

The game now lets you have a different storyline to the game depending on who you are and what you do in each of the battles. This adds to the longevity of the game and makes it much more satisfying when you reach a level you haven’t been on before. The graphics look loads better. There is now a draw distance! You can see further into the battlefield and have more people on screen. Another advantage of this game is that there is no slowdown when there is enemies far away on the screen, it still works and retains its game speed.

The music is as good as ever giving you a good rock soundtrack as you play the game. The music will change during the game to address what situation you are in like when you are near death, there will be fast paced music. While if you are just running along killing everything in sight with ease, it will have some nice upbeat music for you. The sound effects are at their usual standard giving you a full selection of unique grunts and slashes.

In this game there is an extended encyclopaedia with information on all the battles you have unlocked as well as information on your horses and weapons.
There is a multiplayer mode that I would like to try out but haven’t had the capabilities to do so.

Game Logos

Packaging

Dynasty Warriors 2nd Evolution (JP) Game Cover Dynasty Warriors 2nd Evolution (JP) Game Disc Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 (NA/EU) Game Cover

Screenshots

Unlockables (for Samurai Warriors 2 characters)

Akechi Mitsuhide: Jiao Zhi Rescue Battle - Wu, Left of the Southern Barracks Azai Nagamasa: Yellow Turban Rebellion - Others (Turbans?), Center at the Right (Latitude 4 Longitude 8? CMIIW) Ishida Mitsunari: Jiao Zhi Rescue Battle - Others, Bottom Right of the Left Barracks Ina-hime: Battle of Wan Castle - Others (Zhang Xiu.. is it), Bottom Right of your HQ Uesugi Kenshin: Ru Nan Escape Battle - Shu, Southwestern Fort O-Ichi: He Fei New Castle - Wu, Upper Left of the Map Okuni: Battle of Mt. Ding Jun - Shu, Northeastern Fort Oda Nobunaga: Battle of Chang Ban - Shu, Right of Northern Fort Saika Magoichi: Battle of Cheng Du - Wei, Occupy Village Sanada Yukimura: Battle of Chang Ban - Wei, Below the Southern Barracks Shima Sakon: Battle of Xia Pi - Wei, Occupy Village Shimazu Yoshihiro: He Fei New Castle - Wei, Bottom Right of Map (Lat. 8 Long. 8) Takeda Shingen: Decisive Battle at Chang Jiang - Wu, Upper Right of Southern Defense Point Tachibana Ginchiyo: Battle of Wu Du - Wu, Right of Map Date Masamune: Battle of Jian Ye - Wei, Bottom of Northwestern Barracks Tokugawa Ieyasu: Battle of Yi Zhou - Shu, Above the Northwestern Fort Toyotomi Hideyoshi: Battle of Guan Du - Wei, Above the Wu Chao Fort Naoe Kanetsugu: Battle of Wu Zhang Yuan - Wei, Left of Shu HQ Nene: 6th Northern Campaign - Shu, Right of Northern Fort Nou-hime: Nan Zhong Pacification Battle - Others (Nanman), Southwest of Shu HQ Hattori Hanzou: Battle of Huang He (Yellow River) - Others (Yuan), Below Southern Attack Point Fuuma Kotarou: Battle of He Fei - Wu, Left of He Fei Castle Honda Tadakatsu: 6th Northern Campaign - Shu, Northwestern Defense Point Maeda Keiji: Nan Zhong Pacification Battle - Shu, Bottom Right of Northwestern Barracks Miyamoto Musashi: Battle of He Fei - Wei, Northwestern Fort Mori Ranmaru: Battle of Wan Castle - Wei, Beside Cao Cao's Escape Point