Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires, which was shown off in depth at the just concluded TGS last week, will be hitting the PlayStation Vita this November in the west, Tecmo Koei confirmed today. The Vita version will include all previously released DLC which was made available in the PC and console versions. In addition, the Vita version will also include a local multiplayer Raid mode, and standard online modes.

A free to play, stripped down co-op version of the game will also be launching some time alongside the game, as will a demo version, which will give players the option to transfer save data into the full game when it launches, should they choose to buy it.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires will launch in North America on November 24 and on November 25 in Europe. Surprisingly enough, it will be launching in Japan last, on November 26. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information on the game.

This isn’t even saying anything about the audience Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is meant to cater to on the Xbox One. For a series that is most popular in Japan, why release an Xbox One port in a region where the console is struggling? For that matter, why make this port a complete and unmitigated mess compared to the PS4 port? It’s bad enough no one wants to buy an Xbox One in Japan but why not actively work towards driving consumers towards the PS4?

Enough has been said about Capcom’s cross-generational development on Resident Evil: Revelations 2 and how it really could have improved the visuals on Xbox One/PS4 rather than adding a few bells and whistles on top of the previous gen versions. By comparison, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires slaps a 1080p resolution on the PS4 port and then strips away anything noteworthy in visuals before bringing it to the Xbox One. What’s even more sad is how this isn’t even a good looking game to begin with, whether you’re playing it for more than an hour out of some deep sense of social responsibility and/or self-loathing, but we’ll get to that.

Head to head video comparison between the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires. Select 1080p for best possible quality.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires runs at 1080p resolution on both Xbox One and PS4 but neither runs at 60 frames per second. Sure, it’s stable enough at times, even as you’re cutting up 500 enemies at once but in terms of quality, the PS4 looks superior. How superior? It feels like the Xbox One version is from the previous generation of consoles. Texture quality is bland, despite looking noticeably better than the PS3 version; environments lack detail of any kind, making the maps little more than huge arenas you skitter around; and the level of detail faces severe issues throughout. There’s also the issue of shadow dithering, which can best be noticed by shadows “shimmering” even as characters stand still. While persistent in both versions, the PS4 at least has smoother looking shadows. Did we mention that characters alternate between casting and not casting shadows? It’s funny at best and embarrassing at worst.

Speaking of smooth, there is better anti-aliasing (FXAA) on the PS4 version and it helps the characters, clothes and armour – all ornately designed – thankfully stand out. The Xbox One version isn’t as lucky and at 1080p, the jaggies become nearly impossible to ignore, even in the heat of battle.

Real time particle effects have been implemented pretty well despite the insane amount of characters on screen. [PS4 followed by Xbox One]

Some NPCs cast shadows and some merely don’t, not to mention that both versions suffer from shadow dithering.

Animations are rather disappointing. Each and every animation is repeatedly used across each NPCs.

The battles themselves can be admittedly great. Unleash a super move and watch as your enemies either collapses at once or your character goes skidding around, only to wipe them out in an instant. This extends to the signature combos as well and there are no frame rate drops at any point. Volumetric and alpha effects including fire and weapon effects are well done.

We found significant issue with the hit detection in our technical analysis. It seems like weapon shots lack that desired impact but when viewed visually, it’s outright bizarre to see your character shuffling enemies around simply by dashing or a single slash stunning multiple foes at once. The animations themselves, outside of the super moves, look awkward. At times when your character is wielding an oversized weapon that doesn’t suit them, you feel some sense of what Dynasty Warriors characters are supposed to be like – serious to the point of hammy – but the presentation still comes off as extremely shabby.

In terms of additional graphical features, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires lacks depth of field, motion blur, ambient occlusion, you name it. Keep in mind once again that neither the Xbox One nor PS4 versions are running at 60 frames per second. The Xbox One version looks significantly worse in every single way too and yet we couldn’t get more than 30 frames per second. At least both versions lack anisotropic filtering as well rather than the PS4 always getting shafted.

Head to head screenshot comparison between the PS4 and Xbox One versions showcase the lack of AA in the Xbox One version. The PS4 version is employing FXAA which results into smoother image quality.

PS4

Xbox One

PS4

Xbox One

No one is buying a Dynasty Warriors title to marvel at the visuals but it’s a shame that the developers did not even made an effort to try. This is different from Dead or Alive 5: Last Round which offered virtually no improvement on the PS4/Xbox One compared to the PS3/Xbox 360 versions. That was still a relatively good looking game. Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires looks bland on every platform, specially the Xbox One version which is a mere after thought.

There are several issues with it in terms of gameplay, especially due to the sheer repetitive nature of combat. Suffice to say that such issues might have been easier to deal with if the game actually looked good. Xbox One users are getting the worst of it because of lower grade anti-aliasing, poor texture quality, an under developed lighting system and prominent shadow dithering on top of the various other issues.

The PS4 version is the better looking of the two but that doesn’t mean its setting the bar for this generation. If you receive this game for free or better yet if someone pays you to take it away, you can rest assured of mindless combat to while away the time (and hopefully consider better games to play). What you won’t be assured of is a good looking experience to justify purchasing that spiffy new eight-gen console.

Techland’s Dying Light had finally released in physical retail stores in the UK and other territories outside of North America after a one month delay. Though available on digital stores for that period, Gfk Chart-Track only keeps track of physical copies sold which meant Dying Light stayed off of the charts despite the enthusiasm behind it.

Nonetheless, Dying Light has debuted at the number one spot in this week’s charts and become the third new IP to do so in the past three weeks. The Order: 1886 fell to fourth place with a 56 percent decrease in sales from its first week while Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare moved up to second place. Interestingly, Dragon Ball Xenoverse managed a strong debut at third place.

Grand Theft Auto 5 and FIFA 15 stayed at fifth and sixth respectively while Far Cry 4 moved down to seventh place. However, Turtle Rock’s hyped multiplayer shooter Evolve is now at eighth place, with sales dropping by 54 percent. Minecraft on Xbox and PlayStation make up the remainder of the list. The other new entry was Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires, which released on the Xbox One this past week, but it’s currently at 21st place.

Game Overview:

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires gives players 83 unique characters to select from. Furthermore players can customize their horses, characters, banners and officers. The game takes place across 35 battlefields affected by dynamic weather in Ancient China as players need to slash through enemy lines.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is now available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PlayStation 3. The game is developed by Omega Force and published by Tecmo Koei.

Check out the video walkthrough of Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires below and let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

For video game guides, tips and wikis, check out our gaming portal here.

Despite its intricate politics, eras, cast of characters and complex Chinese lore (presented throughout the game in heaps of text via loading screens no less), Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is a game about demolishing crowds of enemies. You choose a character, be it Wang Yi of the Wei or Lianshi of the Wu, and ultimately go about whacking mobs.

To its credit, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires provides plenty of historical scenarios for you to battle in. You’ll choose a character and earn the support of a kingdom, after which you’ll go into various missions, battles and invasions to either strengthen your lord or weaken your foes.

Campaigns are divided into years, years into seasons and the seasons into various months, each month functioning as a new turn for a new decision. Every few months, a war council will be held to decide the plan moving forward, which either dictates your personnel’s drive to find new recruits or their tendency to stir up trouble with the locals. This then carries over into the different eras in Empires mode.

"Sadly, the combat in Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires lacks any real impact. You may be slicing through a hundred different baddies but it often times seems like you're cutting through thin air."

Empires mode also offers a special campaign called Gathering of Heroes which allows you to choose a character and start your own kingdom. You’ll have to earn the support of your followers, expand the borders, make allegiances, bond with your officers and rebuff romantic advances. Did we say “rebuff”? We literally mean “fight off any and all advances” since an ally can suddenly propose if their support for you is high enough. Sometimes, the same ally will propose numerous times.

Regardless, every time this happens, you’re treated to a loading screen, a sappy cut-scene to be skipped and another loading screen before deciding whether to accept the offer. It’s a testament to the utter lack of character development when the suitors start blending together after a point. “Isn’t that one of my new officers? Why is he already after me? Or wait, is that some one I already had…” comes up more than you’d think possible in a game like this.

But enough about building academies and hosting feasts for people you’ll have to reject later. Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is about fighting, right? In that regard, you’ll have a variety of weapons and characters to choose from. Not every weapon is suited to the character in question – Wang Yi is good with Iron Piercers and a Twilight Blade but not so much with a regular sword – and you’ll have to experiment with different weapons until you discover the most convenient crowd control combo.

Each character has a quick and heavy attack along with a special move. The quick and heavy attack buttons can be alternated for various combos, some which are admittedly pretty cool looking. There’s nothing quite like Wang Yi going all Big Burly Brawl on a group of enemies.

Sadly, the combat in Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires lacks any real impact. You may be slicing through a hundred different baddies but it often times seems like you’re cutting through thin air. Mobs are comprised of indistinguishable clumps of baddies and it’s only the enemy officers that really stand out (that too sparingly at times).

Missions here are of the utmost repetitive variety, challenging you to kill a bunch of tigers in a tightly confined, almost claustrophobic map. The next mission you’ll be killing wolves. In yet another, you’ll be tasked with offing an important figure before he has a chance to escape (forget about stealth – just alert everyone to lure the official out and end him). Then it’s back to killing wolves.

"Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires may be somewhat of a guilty pleasure when it comes to the chaotic combat and admittedly, there's some thrill in trying out new weapons and combination attacks as you grow stronger."

The good news is the raids and invasions provide some hints of strategy for open field warfare. One must choose a set number of officers and troops in these situations to venture out and capture the enemy’s encampments. You’ll have your own encampments to safeguard, which can be upgraded for better defense, and things get even more interesting when you factor in Stratagems – some which can result in widespread damage to the opposing side – and different siege turrents.

In the case of raids, you only need to capture as much as possible while damaging the enemy in the process. Defeat in this circumstances won’t affect your territorial control. With invasions, you have to capture enemy encampments while managing your own troops and defending while battling enemy officers on the side.

Ultimately you have to defeat the enemy commander to secure victory but make sure to watch your back lest your home base falls while you’re away. It can get extremely chaotic when you’re tackling multiple officers at once, beating down their various soldiers and struggling to stay alive. This applies to defense against invasions as well, since you’ll often be outnumbered in encampments and have several strong enemy officers coming at you.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires may be somewhat of a guilty pleasure when it comes to the chaotic combat and admittedly, there’s some thrill in trying out new weapons and combination attacks as you grow stronger. There’s also a certain drive to conquer other kingdoms and unite all of China under your banner. Unfortunately, there isn’t much pay-off to doing so. An ending cut-scene, some flashbacks to seemingly important events and the option to bring your character and their “Way of Life” into other scenarios is hardly a fitting conclusion.

"It also doesn't help that Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires looks like it woke up on the wrong side of the PS3 line. Visuals look fairly dated with jaggies galore and shimmering shadows throughout."

The fact that the fighting lacks any real strategy is a real bummer – it simply depends on how quickly you can spam the best combos and keep your enemies off balance. And if at first you don’t success, invest in special training to over-power your characters. Latter invasions do bump up the challenge with tougher officers and commanders but they only require that many more hits to go down rather than any real change in strategy.

It also doesn’t help that Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires looks like it woke up on the wrong side of the PS3 line. Don’t let the snazzy screenshots fool you – visuals look fairly dated with jaggies galore and shimmering shadows throughout. Enemies are clones of each other, many animations appear clunky and awkward and the frame rate dips often and at the oddest times. Whatever the case may be on the PS4, it’s safe to say that the Xbox One should be capable of a better looking Dynasty Warriors than this.

Whether it’s capable of a more fun Dynasty Warriors is another question. Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires doesn’t attempt to overtly revamp a formula. If anything, it seems keener on beating its signature combat into the ground while pretending to offer real world-building and progression.

Fans of the series may find themselves somewhat interested in building their own empire. However, all the content and characters in the world can’t save Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires from its repetitive fighting, unimaginative quests, shabby visuals and lazy presentation of epic war stories.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox One.

If you’re not in the mood to purchase Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires a whirl (and we really don’t blame you), then you’ll be happy to hear that a free to play version for the game is on the way. Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires Free Alliances Version will be out in March but it will only be available for PSN.

The free to play version will allow players to try out the Edit and Free Modes while PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to access Empire Mode or go online with Free Mode. Optional content can also be purchased for Edit Mode, which we suppose would include more characters and weapons.

Fans will also be happy to hear that both the free and retail versions will allow you to import characters from both Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires and Dynasty Warriors 8 in the coming days.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is already available for Xbox One, PS3 and PS4.

Tecmo Koei have launched Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires in the west; like with all western releases for Dynasty Warriors (and similar action games), you can pick the game up on Xbox One in addition to PlayStation 4; in addition to this, the game is also available digitally for PC via Steam, and for PS3 via the PSN Store.

Everything that the Dynasty Warriors Empires series has been known for returns with this latest entry- all the deep customization and character creation that have worked to set this game apart from traditional Dynasty Warriors games are here in full show. Plus, to make sure that all that time you spent tweaking everything to your liking before doesn’t go to waste, Tecmo Keoi have promised that a brand new tool that lets you import your characters from Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires will soon be available after launch.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information on the game.