Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires (Xbox 360)

The large scale battle series is given a more strategic twist as players take the role of a warlord or field officer during some of China’s most epic wars.

Dynasty Warriors is one of the staples of the hack and slash genre, placing players into huge scale battles with scores of enemies on screen at one time. With the Empire spin-off series, the core fundamentals of the series have been given a more strategic edge, where players can now take on two differing roles: that of either a lord or an officer on the field.

Playing as a lord, players must plan each large scale attack carefully, placing units and slowly expanding their power and influence over the realm. When playing as an officer, players can pledge their allegiance to a particular kingdom, suggest new strategies to the war council or even turn against their ruler. An empire’s steady expansion is kept straightforward by the title’s card collecting system, which lets players enact new policies that can increase an empire’s strength and abilities.

With a strategic element now blended into the Dynasty Warriors series, a far more robust and in-depth form of gameplay has been added to the already tight mechanics of the large scale fighting on offer.