Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is full of great looking characters, beat-em-up combat and an all-out brawl for the control of China. This new “conquer China” title was recently released for the PlayStation 3, and may be a game that can conquer some competition on the platform.

Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is essentially a title based on empires trying to gain control and unify China. There are different “story” modes available, but the same basic principle remains: Take over China or be taken over. At the beginning, players will choose their character. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires offers a good selection of characters from basic, generic characters to custom characters and anything in between. After you choose your character - depending on what story you chose - you will get to choose to be a ruler or officer. Obviously, a ruler and an officer’s duties are different. Playing as an officer, you will be carrying out the plans, which the ruler gives you. As a ruler, you will make moves to rule China, of course.

As a ruler or officer, you will carry out a variety of missions with the ultimate goal of conquering China. As an officer, you will have small missions where you are asked to help villagers as well as bigger missions where you might have to defend your territory or attack another. The cool thing about this title is how you are able to join or leave a kingdom anytime you want, and encounters of troops along the way that you can join up with. This might now be a huge deal, but when you are struggling through a battle and see one of your comrade leaders coming, it definitely helps.

Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires brought China into the virtual world with beauty and creativity. The creativity put into the characters is superior to many games on the platform. The environment is somewhat simple, but characters make up for it. Riding horseback through China, battling enemies at every corner, all for the right to unify China is something special that this game portrays very well.

This strategic game also allows upgrades in training, weapons and warhorse, but not all the places you visit will have the option of buying all of that. This title is very challenging at times. The options and strategy offered is clever and the challenge of this game makes you love it. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires also offers many bonuses in game. You can customize characters; you can also unlock trophies, wallpapers, voices and even extra outfits. So, if you are a hardcore gamer this game will definitely appeal to you. But if you just want to play the game, there is more than enough content - without the bonuses and extras - to enjoy.

On the technical side of things, the controls worked well for the most part. With some characters, you may experience some slow controls, but this was very rare. The character graphics are good, the challenging gameplay is amazing and you are conquering China. Can it get any better than that?

But joking aside, Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is a good value PS3 game. Yes, there could have been some things fixed such as a environment visuals, slow progression of characters and story, but for the most part, the developers created a China we’d all like to fight for.

Gameplay: 8.0
Large numbers of enemies, beautiful environments and combat that can’t get any better makes Dynasty Warriors 6: Empire’s gameplay a good experience you won’t soon forget.

Graphics: 7.5
The visuals are definitely PS3 material with beautiful character design, but the environments could have used a little bit more expansion in the graphics department.

Sound: 7.0
Voice acting was good, and a robust musical score. Decent soundtrack and an option to change tracks was a smart addition to the title.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
This game is very challenging if you don’t have a strategic plan to the missions. It can get extremely difficult.

Concept: 7.8
Conquering games are nothing new, but the way Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is presented makes conquering very attractive and will bring new players to the genre.

Overall: 7.6
Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires had nice-looking visuals, but the strong point was its great beat-em-up combat. At the very least, it is a good quality game for the price.