Consult, delegate, assign and station
The strategic phase consists of a number of options that affect the politics of an area, as well as the movements of each of your officers. There are four main options, consult, delegate, assign and station. Consult and delegate are essentially the same things. You can either consult with your officers and assign an action to them, such as raising defences or inspecting territories, or delegate, which lets the console make all the choices for you. You can even send officers out to pick up suggestions from the population. Taxing the locals is also an easy way to source vital gold.
The assign option allows you to do things such as equipment upgrades, promoting crafts in your region, and recruiting more fighters. The more money you earn from gaining territories the more you’ll have to spend on such luxuries.
Click for larger imageEach of the orders or tactics selected affects the game and the results can often be seen on the battlefield. For example, pay 500 gold for local aid and the people that have revolted from the enemy will join your forces in the next invasion. It’s these strategic moves that help you to see Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires in a different light; it’s no longer just a repetitive slog through numerous battles but a strategic, tactical battle of the mind to choose the best options to ensure victory.
Stationing the officers requires a bit of thought. It’s tempting to just assign them to any territory in a bid to get on with the game but don’t; check out which territories have a rebel army next to them (each segment is colour coded so you know who occupies a territory)and choose an officer who has plenty of troops. This will ensure the protection of your territory should the opposition attack. There are all sorts of scenarios that you'll need to keep an eye out for in order to become overall ruler.It’s relatively time consuming for those who want to dive straight into to the normal brand of Dynasty Warriors mayhem but if you enjoy strategy games you’ll get more out of the game by taking your time and choosing the positioning of officers wisely. After you’ve managed your way through the numerous options it’s time to do battle.
Click for larger imageThere's plenty more depth in the strategy elements but, for the sake of your brains, which will probably be fried if you've managed to read this far into the review,you'll have to check them out for yourself.
From booming baselines to some heavy guitar shredding riffs and even some relaxing ambient music, the music in the game is adrenaline-pumping stuff and does everything it can to get you in the mood for battle. Unfortunately the voice acting does little to add to the atmosphere; Chinese Warriors with U.S accents takes something away from the authenticity of the period. In the battle scenes the warlords sound more like U.S marines, but in the cut-scenes they are somewhat more convincing.
