Dynasty Warriors 6

Dynasty Warriors 6 (Shin Sangokumusou 5 in Japan) is the sixth title in the Dynasty Warriors series. It is a total revamp from previous games and has been rebuilt from the ground up. Koei planned to make this game feel like an old kung-fu action movie as the attacks are motion-captured by real life martial artists. Though the game was designed to be released exclusively for next-gen consoles, the company decided to release a Playstation 2 version of the title known as Dynasty Warriors 6: Special.

Gameplay Elements
As the game has been built from the bottom up by Koei, many new features are introduced in the game, while some have been removed. A new system takes place of the old attack chains, called Renbu. In previous ports, the number of attacks available to use were affected by the level and quality of the wielded weapon. The more powerful weapons would allow more attacks.

However, in this game, a meter called the "Renbu Gauge", fills as the player's character builds up more combos. The level of the gauge ranges from One, Two, Three, and Infinite. As the gauge grows higher, attacks will have longer range and will become more powerful. If the player does not attack for a period or takes heavy damage, the Renbu Gauge will decrease. The new Renbu system allows character, even at Gauge level 1 to execute infinite attack strings. Without unlocking Renbu Level 3 and Infinite, however, character can only access up to Level 2 except when he/she receives a Renbu Earring, which provides thirty seconds of Infinite Renbu.


 * The branching attack system has been removed. For example, attack strings were previously undefined;, undefined; , , undefined; etc. This has been replaced by one-button strings, such as , , , , or undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined.


 * Players can do a new attack that breaks the enemies guard called a "Grapple". It can be done anytime by pressing or undefined while the character is blocking.


 * Dynasty Warriors 6 also sports a Skill Tree unique to all characters. Each branch is attained by gaining a level and it will be complete by level 50. With it, players can unlock many items, ranging from stat-boosting or add-on skills. Also available is a special ability which allows wild animals to refrain from attacking and movement-quickening skills, such as swimming and running.


 * Dueling returns from Dynasty Warriors 4, though it differs from the previous system. There is a chance where an opposing officer will challenge the player into a duel, then surrounding officers and foot soldiers will form a circle around the two duelists. When the player gets too close to the enemy's side, a foot soldier will attack the player to get them back inside the duel; the same goes for the dueling enemy. Officers from either side can join the fray and the duel can be prematurely ended when either duelist exits the circle formation. Any officer defeated during the duel will immediately drop 200 EXP points. Duels are usually executed when there is an equal amount of forces in one area.


 * Tome Attacks, received from the Tome item drop, allows characters to use a devastating skill to defeat enemies and help out the player. The drop can usually be found off of defeated Guard Captains of bases. There are five attack types - Swift Attack, Volley, Fire, True Speed, and Rockfall.
 * Swift Attack - immediately boosts the user's Renbu gauge up to the Infinite Renbu, and grants higher attack and defense power.
 * Volley - releases waves of arrows surrounding the player to annihilate enemies.
 * Fire - sets off multiple eruptions of fire in random areas surrounding the character. When used on a base, the base is lit on fire and all opposing forces inside of it are damaged.
 * True Speed - greatly boosts the character's speed and are given unique attacks whilst running. When used on a horse, the Tome Attack also boosts the horse's traveling speed.
 * Rockfall - lets loose giant boulders of land on the enemy and, when used near a cliff or an area with elevation differences, the rocks fall down and slide on the ground.


 * In previous games, players could only travel on land. In Dynasty Warriors 6, they can now swim and climb ladders. Ladders are usually attached to towers or gates, while the swimming feature takes place in only a few stages. Players can also jump off cliffs, bridges, and other high leveled platforms and land on lower ground. If the player does this and lands near an enemy unit, they can sometimes surprise them and catch them off guard.


 * Bases have also been revamped. In previous games, a character would defeat a Defense Captain to open a base's gates. In this installment, however, gates need to be attacked in order to be opened. To capture the base, the player needs to K.O a certain number of enemies inside to lower its health. Corporal units count as twenty health points and, when the remaining number of points is one hundred or lower, a Guard Captain comes out. The defeat of a Guard Captain is an immediate surrender of the base. During a base's inactive time, its health can restore.


 * Units now consist of twenty or so foot soldiers and a bannerman, where a unit in previous games would only consist of a head soldier, and lower-ranked soldiers. A bannerman wields an army's banner, and frequently raises it to raise morale. During a banner's raising, any ally standing next to the bannerman gains a temporary power-up, such as Speed Up, Attack Up, or Defense Up.


 * Weapons are no longer quality-based ranks and unique Fourth Weapons, unfortunately, have been removed. Characters with Musou Modes have three different-looking weapons, while characters without Musou modes all retain one weapon's design. Each weapon is now divided into three categories - Strength, Standard, and Skill.
 * Strength - usually have a higher attack power, at the cost of Renbu Chains being kept for a smaller amount of time. They also increase the likelihood of breaking enemies' guards as the Renbu Gauge increases. The noting color background is red.
 * Standard - the default weapon type; increases range as the Renbu Gauge increases and keeps Renbu Chains at a medium amount of time. Noted by the color green.
 * Skill - grants greater attack speeds when powered up by the Renbu Gauge. Icons will have a blue background.


 * Saddles are now found randomly. They can be found after breaking a crate or jar or as a random drop from an officer. At the end of a stage, like weapons, found horses can be kept or rejected, as a player can only have a maximum eight horses.


 * Horses can be leveled up to level five, and a horse also has four attributes that can go up to five hundred. The attributes are Speed, Jump, Destruction, and Attack. Like weapons, saddles can also have special abilities attached to them, such as Water Spirit (exclusive to Hex King), Renbu Gait, Find Weapon, Find Saddle, etc. They can also be called to the players' side by pressing the down button on the direction pad. Pressing R1 on a horse also causes the horse to jump.


 * There are six unique horses, two historical, which are the best in the game. The two historical horses are the Hex King (Hex Mark) and Red Hare King (Red Hare).


 * Engineers have been provided a greater role on the battlefield. When attacking a gate, Engineer units build catapults, put up ladders, and build rams. Ballistas have also been placed on the tops of gates, and frequently launch attacks on catapults and rams. They can be destroyed. Captains of Gates defend gates, and can attack anyone around.


 * Base Captains, whom previously guarded exits to the battlefield, have been removed.

Musou Mode
Similar to other Dynasty Warriors installments but only seventeen characters in the game possess one. Characters who are given Musou modes are:

Wu

 * Zhou Yu
 * Lu Xun
 * Sun Shang Xiang
 * Gan Ning
 * Sun Jian

Shu

 * Zhao Yun
 * Guan Yu
 * Zhang Fei
 * Zhuge Liang
 * Liu Bei

Wei

 * Xiahou Dun
 * Dian Wei
 * Sima Yi
 * Zhang Liao
 * Cao Cao

Other

 * Diao Chan
 * Lu Bu

Musou Modes for each character are usually either five or six stages in length. Each character has ten unique cinematics that are shown before or after a battle. No extra story stages or alternative paths are available.

Free Mode
The same as other installments. This is where the other twenty-four characters in the game can be played, leveled up, or unlocked.

Challenge Mode
Set challenges that use characters' base stats and automatically assigned weapons. The five modes are:
 * Rampage - Defeat as many enemies as possible in the allotted time
 * Sudden Death - Defeat as many enemies as possible without getting defeated; players start with low life
 * Speed Run - Reach all fortresses as quickly as possible
 * Havoc - Destroy as many items as possible
 * Gauntlet - Gather EXP to get the highest score

Encyclopedia
Know as "Data Base" in the Japanese version, this section summarizes the entire Three Kingdoms era and includes brief bios of all the characters in the game (playable and NPCs). The data combines history and information found in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel.

Camp
Essentially the gallery mode in the game. Allows players to view and rotate character models, scan through skill trees, and watch movies found in characters' Musou Modes. Horses and weapons can also be viewed. If the character is maxed at level 50, a voice gallery will also be unlocked.

Characters
All characters from Dynasty Warriors 5 appear, save for Pang De, Xing Cai Jiang Wei, Da Qiao, Zhu Rong, Meng Huo, and Zuo Ci. These characters have no mention in the entire game though Xing Cai is referred to "the daughter of Zhang Fei" in Lu Bu's Musou mode, and Da Qiao in Xiao Qiao's biography. A total of forty-one characters appear in the game. Characters without Musou modes are clones in terms of movesets, save for Xiao Qiao, who retains her fan moveset.

Although characters share attack animations, the effects from those attacks differ. Huang Gai and Wei Yan share the same fighting style, the weapon model is slightly different but when executing a charge combo Wei Yan will "thump" people on the floor while Huang Gai cannot. There are more examples of this throughout the character list.

Stages

 * The Yellow Turban Rebellion
 * Battle of Xia Pi
 * Battle of Guan Du
 * Battle of Xu Chang
 * Battle of Chang Ban
 * Battle of Chi Bi
 * Battle of Cheng Du
 * Battle of Mt. Ding Jun
 * Battle of Fan Castle
 * Battle of Wu Zhang Plains

Expansions
Two expansions have been planned and one has been released.


 * Dynasty Warriors 6: Special is an update of the game exclusive to the PS2. It removes the swimming feature but gains new stages, Musou Modes, cutscenes, and individualizes six other characters.
 * Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires continues the line of Empires Expansions, where the player can play generic and unique characters to conquer all of China. A Create-a-Warrior system has also been added. Meng Huo also appears in the game and has been given a new look and weapon, which is a pillar.

Dynasty Warriors 6 also has a spin-off called Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, which is so far exclusive to the PSP. It introduces "Fury" forms, where a character is turned into a mythical form with exaggerated features that bring out notable features.