The original Dynasty Warriors was a Soul Edge-style 3D fighting game for Playstation, and starred the characters from the series it spun off from, Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  Dynasty Warriors 2 was the series’ first appearance on PS2, and evolved the gameplay to more closely resemble a supercharged version of the beat-em-ups of old, such as Double Dragon: as a General in ancient China, the player wandered the battlefield, killing reams of opponents with a single sword swipe, single-handedly decimating enemy armies.  Since then, there have been over fifteen installments of the series across virtually every system available, making it one of the most prolific series of the last five years.  Fighter’s Battle marks the series’ first appearance on Nintendo DS, and it’s really pretty similar to the versions available on home consoles—and that’s not entirely a good thing.

After choosing one of three characters to control, in classic beat-em-up style (one fast but weak guy, one slow but powerful guy, and a well-rounded guy), players proceed from stage to stage, wiping out enemy combatants and capturing enemy bases, on the way to the enemy’s home base.  Meanwhile, the enemy general is trying to do the same to you; capture his base before he captures yours to win.  Before battles, you can equip collected cards to summon characters from the series to join the battle as your lieutenants, defending your bases. 

During combat, you’ve got a decent array of moves at your disposal, from simple sword strikes all the way to screen-clearing magical “Musou” attacks, but the lack of variation in the enemies you face (it’s pretty much an endless stream of identical guys) can make things get repetitive pretty quick.  Once you get over the thrill of killing a truly ridiculous number of enemy soldiers (it’s pretty easy to kill several thousand per stage), the game tends to become an exercise in tapping the attack button while steadily advancing.  While there is some depth to be had in regards to the card collecting (there are over 100 to find, each granting a different character), the main game doesn’t really show you anything new after about the fifteen-minute mark.

The game’s got problems technically, too.  3D environments look fine, but all characters are 2D sprites that barely animate, making the whole thing look kind of jerky and unpolished.  The game’s music is repetitive and bland, though not really bad; sword-clashing sound effects drown it out most of the time, anyway.  Controls are decently responsive, although I kinda wish they included stylus control as an option.

While the game’s single-player element wears thin almost immediately, get some friends together and the game picks up.  Although it is almost identical to the single-player campaign, killing your friend’s generic horde, stealing his bases, and besting him in one-on-one combat is infinitely more fun than doing those things to an AI opponent.  Granted, it’s still probably going to get old before long, but there is some fun to be had in this mode.

On consoles, the most common criticisms of the Dynasty Warriors series are their repetitive nature and the very minor changes made between installments; both these criticisms hold true for Fighter’s Battle, as well--there’s nothing here that’s going to blow anyone’s socks off.  Still, though, there’s something to be said for a game that lets you single-handedly decimate an entire army.  Fans of the series will appreciate having a handheld version that’s relatively similar to the game they know and love on consoles.  For everyone else, pick this one up when you’re having buddies over, or not at all.

Gameplay:  5.9

Rack up truly impressive body counts in ancient China, over and over again, for several hours.  Although there is some skill required, the skill that will be most tested is your willingness to press the attack button ad nauseum.

Graphics:  5.2

3D environments look fine, but the overall look is ruined by the poorly animated 2D sprite-based characters.  It also doesn’t help that there is but a handful of enemy models, cloned hundreds of times.

Sound:  5.4

Nothing that’s going to grate on your nerves, but you won’t even remember how the music went five minutes later.  Actually, I take that back; the special-attack voice-overs very well might grate on your nerves.

Difficulty:  Easy

As long as you continue to press the attack button, you’ll make it through the single-player campaign in an afternoon, no sweat.

Concept:  6.5

The basic idea of the series (Ancient Chinese generals killing the heck out of everybody in sight) has always been a pretty good idea.  Doing it in such a repetitive way isn’t.

Multiplayer:  7.1

The game’s saving grace.  Multiplayer was the only real fun I had with this title. 

Overall:  6.2

Take this little quiz. Question 1: Are you a Dynasty Warriors fan?  Question 2:  Do you have a couple of buddies with DSs?  The results of this quiz should pretty much let you know whether or not you’ll enjoy Dynasty Warriors DS.  Answer “no” to both and you probably don’t have much of a reason to play this.