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Good: Solid collision detection, small learning curve

Bad: More of the same, stupid A.I., Camera issues

13: Number of Dynasty Warriors games since 1997

It's been six years since Koei released Dynasty Warriors 2 for the PS2. In that time we've seen a presidential re-election, a war on terror, the breakup of Bennifer, the rise of Reality TV and the creation of internet giant Google. Dynasty Warriors has pretty much stayed the same.

The premise is simple: You select a commander from one of three kingdoms in Imperial China, recruit your officers and proceed to cut down countless grunts and the occasional general. Once you've killed enough people or a specific person you move on to another battle. There's a little strategy involved when picking battles, but that's about it.

Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 looks, sounds and plays almost identical to the PS2 games, all the way down to the cheesy Hair Band-inspired soundtrack. It inherits all of their shortcomings along with some problems all its own. Combat is extremely simple, with one button for regular attacks and one for special moves. There really isn't much need for that second button since regular attacks will plow through just about any enemy you'll encounter. This combined with a lack of mission variety makes for extremely repetitive fare.

The A.I. on both sides is brainless. Often, enemies and comrades alike will just stand close to each other during battle without attacking. Other times they'll attack facing away from their enemy or even towards their allies and when a group of soldiers follow you they have a nasty habit of getting stuck on solid objects like walls, trees or even enemy soldiers. I thought this might be the game's way of adjusting to the medium difficulty. It isn't. The enemies are just as stupid on Hard and allies are just as worthless on Easy.

Since the PSP doesn't have a second analog stick there's no way to adjust the camera in Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2. This leads to all kinds of camera issues. For one, it's too close to begin with and limits your view of the battlefield, making it easy to get sucker punched by off-screen enemies. There's also no way to get the camera behind you unless you remain completely still. Even then it just gets off center as soon as you start moving again.

In spite of these issues Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 isn't a complete loss. Koei provided a multiplayer mode, via the LAN-based Ad Hoc connection so you and a friend can tackle the campaign together. They also made it possible to trade officers with the same connection.

Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 is tolerable on the PSP. The campaign may feature mindless, repetitive combat and little mission variety, but it can still be satisfying to topple an entire army single-handedly or with a friend. Playing the game in short bursts helps spread out the repetitiveness, but once you realize just how one-track the whole game is there's little reason for even the most Han-obsessed gamer to finish. If you've played any of the Dynasty Warriors games after the original, you've played this one.

Graphics: 7.0

Sound: 6.0

First Play: 5.5

Replay Value: 2.5

Gameplay: 3.0

Overall: 4.8