Kessen II (2001) Review

Lucas Versantvoort / December 28, 2014

Anyone familiar with this game series is undoubtedly familiar with Dynasty Warriors by the same developer (Koei). Like that ever-popular series, Kessen II is based on the same (highly romanticized) history. And believe it or not, the story in Kessen II is even more romanticized. So, those familiar with Dynasty Warriors will have to adjust their expectations.

            You control Liu Bei who’s in love with Diao Chan…uh, what? Yeah, so just roll with it. He’s saved during battle by reinforcements from warlord Cao Cao. So they become instant buddies, but Cao Cao has other plans. He decimates Liu Bei’s forces and kidnaps Diao Chan. Liu Bei retreats with his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and what’s left of his army. Inspired by his comrades, he decides to stand up to Cao Cao and sacrifice his troops so he can get laid and save Diao Chan.

            My feelings regarding the story are twofold: on the one hand, it’s all incredibly over the top—lots of eye rolling, but on the other hand, there’s an undeniable sense of epicness to the proceedings that’s conveyed well. Plus, after you beat the game, you have the option of replaying the story from Cao Cao’s point of view. So, you get the story from a new perspective and get more gameplay. Granted, most of these battles are the same, except this time fought against Liu Bei. However, this results in new possible tactics and several battles unique to Cao Cao’s storyline.

            The gameplay is nothing like Dynasty Warriors. It inhabits a middle ground between the completely strategy-centered Dynasty Tactics 2 and the non-strategy showcased in Dynasty Warriors. Let’s just say it’s like the lite version of Rome: Total War. Before every battle you’ll choose one of several overall strategies presented by your loyal subjects; this involves choosing unit formations and overall battle plans, though you aren’t limited to these strategies: you can alter units’ orders during battle. Real combat commences once two units clash. You can watch from a distance or take control of the unit commander. Depending on the commander, you’ll also be able to use tactics (troop charges, magic, etc). This is one of the best parts, because you adopt a bird’s eye view to select the ‘area of effect’ ensuring the tactic hurts as many enemy troops as possible. Then you watch the carnage unfold after which you’re rewarded with a screen that shows the number of enemy troops rapidly decreasing. Watching that number quickly go from 13000 to something like 7000 is pretty sweet, let me tell you. On the other hand, tactics are pretty broken. If you adequately use your tactics, you’ll win every battle. Let’s say your unit of 10000 troops clash with a similar enemy unit. If you immediately use your tactics, you’ll eliminate roughly half the troops. And because the AI is hesitant to use tactics (at least on normal difficulty), you’ll win most fights on numbers alone. But there’s something highly addictive about utilizing tactics in the best possible way. It’s something you could only know by playing it. In between battles, you’ll enter the story phase and strategic phase during which you’ll be able to choose between upgrades: hiring commanders, teaching new skills to a commander, increasing troops, etc. Though this all seems huge, the changes are quite minimal. The important thing is that the strategic combat feels strategic.

            All’s not well however. Gameplay tends to feel stiff, particularly when navigating units. You’ll try to squeeze between two units, so you can join the fight, only to find your route blocked by an invisible wall even though you’d think you could pass through. What’s worse, during naval combat you aren’t even able to directly navigate your units beyond giving them orders on where to go or who to attack. Also, sometimes you’ll order a unit to retreat and it’ll take them ages to do so. What’s worse, once they retreat chances are they’ll be overtaken by the same enemy before long, making retreating only useful to buy time.

            The score is also fantastic. Whether it’s the softer, atmospheric music during strategic phases or the battle music, it always gets me in the mood to strategize and fight. When that music kicks off the final battle…chills every time.

            The voice acting is kind of meh. While some voices are well-judged—strategist Zhuge Liang sounds appropriately ‘wise’—other voices are failed attempts at comic relief. Lip syncing is even worse. Sometimes a small ‘cutscene’ during a battle will show someone’s face talking and the mouth will keep flapping, sometimes several seconds after the line’s been spoken. This is mostly likely the effect of bad localization and anyone familiar with Koei’s Dynasty Warriors 3 will know how hilariously bad that can get.

            Overall, I really like this game despite its flaws and believe me, they are myriad. There are issues on virtually every front and yet I find myself occasionally dusting off the ol’ PS2 so I can play it. The strategic gameplay, though actually quite limited, does something absolutely right and the result is addictive. For those of you who are knee-deep in Dynasty Warriors games, consider this an alternative if you’re looking for an epic, strategic version of Dynasty Warriors.