Dynasty Warriors is rapidly becoming one of those series that never really has true sequels anymore. Last year's solid game was heavily criticised for being the same as the previous one... and it seems that very few lessons have been learned.

It's a hack 'n slash adventure where three warring kingdoms struggle for control of medieval China. Playing as one of 45 different officers, you run around the battlefield slaying as many adversaries as possible. The more you defeat, the harder your allies will fight as everyone's morale increases. Morale is affected in a variety of ways, from the death of one of your fellow officers to the destruction of an enemy stronghold or the capture of a traitorous informant. Short cutscenes appear mid-battle to offer hints about these decisive subquests.

Although the gameplay is identical to DW3, the missions have been shortened considerably. No longer do you have to hack and cleave for hours on end just to complete one mission, which is definitely a good thing. This also helps when you want to replay a mission to try and complete the various subquests.

Another new feature is the duelling against lone enemy officers. It's a nice idea, but the execution is poor. With a simple control system best suited for fighting multiple enemies, it just doesn't cut it for one-on-one battles. They are nothing more than a button-basher from the word go, and exactly the same is true for the pitiful two-player Versus mode.

DW4's multiplayer modes also expose significant graphical weaknesses. In the single-player game, you're too busy chopping away to notice that the characters are only fractionally sharper than last year's game. Your enemies don't look any different and there certainly aren't any more on-screen enemies at one time. All these things should have been addressed, yet there's still plenty of slowdown, very flat and empty landscapes and too much fog.

But for all these criticisms, DWA4 is still an addictive experience when you're smashing your way through hundreds of foes at once. That sensation of "Holy crap!" when you execute cataclysmic Mousou attacks is downright undeniable. If only Koei had come up trumps with some graphical improvements over the PlayStation 2 version and maybe even some Xbox Live content, this sequel would have felt so much more worthwhile.

If you've never played a Dynasty Warriors game before then this is a reasonable time to start. Otherwise, you might just as well dust off last year's game and save yourself some money.

Power
Graphics are lacking, with poor textures and scenery. Only the character design satisfies.

Style
No significant improvements over the PS2 version or last year's game. Slightly disappointing,

Immersion
Gameplay still rocks; it's addictive battering hundreds of bad guys. Mission structure is slightly better.

Lifespan
Enough to keep you hooked on Campaign mode for days. You'll be hooked on multiplayer for seconds.

Overall Average. Lacks all the new features you'd expect in a 'proper' sequel. It's hard to see the series will ever move on.

1. Mighty attacks
2. More involving subquests
3. Shorter missions

1. Hardly changed
2. Could look better
3. Not enough on-screen enemies