Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires Hints IX (PS2)

Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires is a videogame developed by Omega Force and published by KOEI Co. Ltd. The game was released for the PlayStation 2 home console from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft in June 2006. The title is classed as an action adventure game played from a third person perspective with a lot of elements taken from real time strategy games and from role playing experiences. It draws a lot of themes from history but also incorporates some aspects of fantasy.

It is another videogame in the long running series based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms epic story, which details one of the most interesting periods of the history of ancient China. The Empires spinoff is focused on offering a whole lot more strategy elements than the main series or the Xtreme Legends franchise.

The basic combat mechanics, built upon button mashing hack and slash, is still in there for those who love it but players can also choose to use the Empire mode in order to add an extra challenge.

There are now 25 areas on the map, which need to be conquered. For each turn, there is a management section and a combat part. Each territory generates taxes that can be used to get new troops or to create fresh tactics to use on the battlefield. Combat is still based on generals and lieutenants, who can be challenged to direct combat. There is also an Empire of Free play mode that allows two players to get into split screen cooperative play.

GAMEPLAY HINTS

Shadow Horse

Get the most northwest land (should be owned by Ma Teng). Develop it until you cannot do so anymore. After you are done developing, go to "Assign" and do "Western Trade." Repeat this until you get the Shadow Horse.

Here's a video showing the opening cinematic of the game: