Metacritic Games

Dynasty Warriors 4 (Xbox)

Dynasty Warriors 4 takes battlefield action to the next level, allowing players to experience the thrill of taking on multiple opponents at once and fighting against impossible odds. A host of new features add greater depth to the gameplay, as well as more insight into the characters and turbulent events of the Three Kingdoms era. The concepts of Honor and Loyalty in the face of adversity serve as the main theme for the game. The obligations of generals to their Lords and Allies guide the paths of these warriors as the fight to unify a divided empire. [KOEI]

KOEI
Third-Person Action, Adventure
Players: 2
T (Teen)
Developer: Omega Force
Released September 3, 2003

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

75 / 100

Critic Reviews

87 GameZone
There are plenty of stages to sink your teeth into in this one and the improvements and much-appreciated extras will surely keep gamers more than entertained.
85 IGN
Has everything that fans could have hoped for: More stages, balanced characters, smarter computer intelligence, and plenty of different modes to choose from (the Encyclopedia and Two-Player mode stand out as favorites). What it doesn't have, however, is innovation.
85 Official Xbox Magazine
Though the gameplay tends to be somewhat repetitive, there are scores of characters, techniques, and magical items to choose from. [Nov 2003, p.124]
84 XboxAddict
A great game. Two things I can think off hand to change is the music. First, either go all Oriental or all Rock, not put them together. Second fix the AI, sometimes in the heat of battle they just stand there toe to toe with the enemy and do nothing.
83 GameReviewer
It's seamless marriage of large scale action and RPG elements set in an ancient Chinese environment make it one of the more original games on the market today.
83 GameNow
The best of the series. [Nov 2003, p.58]
82 GamingWorld X
Isn’t anything revolutionary, rather it’s a simple evolution of the series. The game fixes a number of flaws from its predecessor, and tweaks a few things that didn’t need major adjustments. It’s more of the same, but bigger and better.
80 Deeko
While the game is still great and a lot of fun to get through, the lack of new features (especially in light of the upcoming expansion), and the odd addition of slowdown, really turned me off.
80 Xbox Nation Magazine
Warriors is fantastic, and not even its flaws, notably, slowdown when enemies choke the screen and popup of random objects on the horizon, spoil the beautiful brawling. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.85]
78 TeamXbox
While Koei has done a fantastic job in bringing DW4 over from the PS2 it would be nice to see the Xbox used a bit more towards its capacity.
75 Gaming Age
A tight playing, fun beat-em-up style action game with a small dash of strategy. Don’t let the historical theme fool you; the game is all about fighting, fighting and more fighting.
75 GameSpy
The game's 3D engine, already showing its age on the PS2, is barely passable on the Xbox; the fogged-in horizon and massive slowdown seizures are particularly cringe-worthy.
72 GameSpot
Calling Dynasty Warriors 4 an evolutionary game is a bit of a stretch--as the core gameplay is almost identical to that of its predecessors.
70 Game Informer
Unfortunately, the joy that comes with slaughtering entire civilizations is still plagued by plenty of slowdown and environment pop up. [Oct 2003, p.139]
60 G4 TV
For mindless, violent action, the title reigns second to none. However, we've played the same game four times over, and it's high time the franchise had a face-lift.
60 GMR Magazine
It somehow feels like we've fought the good fight at the Battle of Hu Lao Gate dozens of times before. [Oct 2003, p.73]
50 Cheat Code Central
It's not enough to pretend anymore. If you've played the last three games then you've basically played this one.
50 TotalGames.net
Frankly, this an ugly piece of game that hopes its strategic heart will cover up meathead combat and disgustingly short draw distances. Not for this money, no way. Strictly for fans only, and we mean that.

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