Kessen III – Review

Koei just love to release those “warrior” type titles & now we finally get a Kessen sequel. Previously, the Kessen titles were set in the Romance of Three kingdoms; scenery that was also found in their other similarly themed franchise – Dynasty Warriors. But now Kessen 3 departs itself from that era & instead changes to the gaming equivalent of the movie “Seven Samurai”, or the dubbing in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. You’re placed in the shoes of Nobunaga Oda (a young leader of the Oda clan) during the warring states period of Japan. Guide Nobunaga and his followers on a quest to unite Japan under his leadership to bring peace to the land.

Apart from the locality change, Kessen 3 has also a major system change in the way battles are fought, borrowing the concept from the Dynasty Warriors titles. Kessen 3 lets you move around and battle in real time where you are in direct control of a general and all the troops in the unit. Battling does require some time to adjust to as your rows of troops won’t always be in the best position to attack. Also during large battles, you’ll have to switch between generals. Adjusting to these controls at once requires patience and is quite complex at first. Since Kessen 3 is a strategy game, you are required to plan your form of attack, so if you are more used to action packed games you will need to realize how important positioning will be here. Battle planning requires you to select teams & equipping armors. Mistakes in pre-battle planning can cost you an entire battle, so you want to make absolutely sure you select your generals and equipment correctly. Tampering with the general’s equipment is one of the best features in pre-battle planning as you can equip the generals with a large numbers of weapons and armors.

Graphics
Graphically, Kessen 3 is an excellent looking game, showing off the Playstation 2’s hardware quite convincingly. Impressive FMV sequences include life-like character models which are all expressed fluidly and are a treat to the eye. Draw distance & camera positioning is quite accurate and does not tend to confuse you in the midst of an attack. There is very little in the way of slow down & the environments are very detailed indeed.

Sound
Sonically, it’s better than most strategy games, showing the efforts that Koei have put into the themed soundtrack . The sound effects are true to the sounds of actual battle, not to mention the hoof beats of your horses traveling from one place to another. Voice acting is about as good as it can be for this type of game.

Replay Value
The life span of Kessen 3 is fairly impressive for a single player game, having 12 chapters to complete with multiple battles in each chapter, & even after you complete the game, a new game plus additional features allows added replay value. The new system in Kessen 3 is a welcome change & the blend of action and planning makes it a very accessible title. There is quite a bit to unlock, including character bios, weapon and armor stats/info as well as various soundtracks. However, with the lack of any multiplayer aspect, it’s hard to see anybody returning to the game unless you are a die hard fan.

Female Aspect
Kessen 3 only lets you take the role of Oda Nobunaga, you’ll start from the battles of his youth to the battles of his later years, so unfortunately no female connections there whatsoever, the game solely focuses on him. Perhaps now that the game play passes a resemblance to games such as Dynasty Warriors could make it an attractive title than previous Kessen games, bringing in a bigger & varied audience.

Overall
Overall, Kessen 3 is a decent game but nothing spectacular. It’s certainly not for everybody and clearly still aimed at fans of the series. The lack of a multiplayer option makes this title fairly redundant after you have completed it though. The change in action-oriented style might win some people over, but it may alienate hardcore strategy fans who bought the first two games, which would be a shame as you can’t blame Koei for trying new things. Definitely worth a look or at least a rental.

Review by Danny

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