Chances are if you’re reading this review, you’ve already played a Dynasty Warriors game or three. Even if you haven’t, it doesn’t matter because this is probably the best starting point for the series you could choose. For the uninitiated, Dynasty Warriors started out as a fighting game on the PS1, based on the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms which describes the factionalized infighting at the close of the Han Dynasty in the 14th century. It is considered an essential novel to read in Chinese culture and one of the main characters, Guan Yu, has actually been deified and is now worshipped in temples under the name Guān Shèng Dì Jūn which translates to Holy Emperor Lord Guan.
Aside from the cultural impact of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Koei has been making games based on the novel since the NES era, including a variety of strategy games. The one that had the most modern impact however was Dynasty Warriors 2, which shifted from a fighting game to a stage-based action beat ‘em up where you fight thousands of enemies almost entirely alone. This was released on the PS2 at launch and was arguably one of the best launch games for the system. A year later we got a sequel – Dynasty Warriors 3, which amped everything about Dynasty Warriors 2 up to 11, all while telling the same story!
Each iteration of Dynasty Warriors covers the same events throughout the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, starting with the Yellow Turban Rebellion and ending with the Battle of Wu Zhang Plains. The Three Kingdoms war is a fascinating three-sided war between the kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu that has captivated readers (and now gamers) for centuries. Some entries in the game series such as the recently released Dynasty Warriors Origins end sooner however and each version of the game differs slightly. Dynasty Warriors 3 in particular is one of the most well-known entries in the series and that’s why it’s so great that Koei Tecmo has finally brought us Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered!
In the game, you’ll play a number of different characters from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Everyone finds their favorite of course, but for this review, we focused on Xiahou Dun, Cao Cao’s first lieutenant who lost his left eye to an arrow and was rumored to have taken the arrow and eye out together and popped the eye into his mouth during combat, striking fear into the hearts of his enemies. He was also known as conscientious public servant who took little for himself and helped the needy. Regardless, he carries a giant sword and hacks his way through enemies with abandon, just like all characters in Dynasty Warriors 3! Changing up who you play is half the fun of course, and depending on which mode you play, there’s a huge roster to choose from.
The main mode in the game is called Musou mode and you play through the main stories of the game with your choice of a number of characters. More playable characters are unlockable as well but we’ll get to that. Working through Musou mode allows you to build up the strength of your character and each stage you beat brings you more weapons, items, and points. These stages are long, clocking in at a maximum of 90 minutes each before you lose due to time being exceeded, but most can be beaten noticeably faster. Your goal is to wipe out the main opponent for each stage, but there are literally thousands of enemies and a stack of generals, vice generals, guard captains and more to take out. Taking out the leaders of any company leaves the troops ineffectual however, so zipping around from leader to leader in heavy combat keeps the enemy forces from overrunning you and weakens their overall morale, making the final fight for each stage much easier.
New to Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered are dodging and counterattacks, making combat a bit deeper than the original game. Zipping out of the way of a massive attack that you can see building is a game-changer here and being able to counter, throw a major enemy off balance, and then take them out is excellent. That’s not the only change though. In addition to some mechanics improvements, there’s now a weapon fusion system. Throughout each stage you can bash open boxes that contain weapons and items to help you in later stages. Previously, you would simply change weapons when you had a chance and improve incrementally, but now you can combine weapons to make more powerful ones. Each weapon has 1, 2, or 3 gems attached to it, adding up to 7 slots to the weapon and you can combine weaker weapons with your more powerful ones, stealing their upgrades to make much more powerful weapons and potentially break the game. There’s also a horse-summoning button now which is incredibly handy for zipping through cleaned out stages, though the default binding to the L3 button means that you’ll likely jump randomly onto your horse mid-combat.
Musou mode isn’t the only mode here either. There’s a Challenge mode where you try to accomplish specific goals, a Camp management system, and a fairly detailed Database that lets you read all about the characters in Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered. There’s also a one-on-one versus mode and the Free Mode. Free mode is the most interesting here because it lets you play any character in any stage you’ve unlocked. Beating the stages with different characters unlocks even more playable characters that can be selected for Musou mode as well, allowing you to see the game from new vantage points. It’s a fantastic system that really lets you experiment with who you’d like best and experience every aspect of the Three Kingdoms war.
Of course, all the Dynasty Warriors 3 Xtreme Legends content is also included in this comprehensive remaster, as is a media player that lets you listen to your favorite tracks. There are lots of fun little additions throughout the game that makes this the definitive release of the Dynasty Warriors 3. Audio is particularly fun here because the game is known for its incredibly bad English voice acting, which has been lovingly preserved in all it’s terribly glory. In fact, the script and voice acting are so over the top and odd that you’ll have trouble figuring out what’s going on and it actually hampers your understanding of the Three Kingdoms war, necessitating that handy dandy Database to really have a grasp on some of the basic socio-political aspects of the game. Fortunately the outstanding soundtrack more than makes up for the campy dialogue and having a music player to revisit it all at will is great!
The visuals are one of the big things you’re here for in this remaster though, and Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered looks amazing. The visuals are clean and smooth, the cinemas are crisp and detailed, and because the level design hasn’t changed, it all still feels nostalgic while looking fresh and new. This is the way a remaster should be done. No significant changes to the design work, just beautiful upgrades with fast load times and clean gameplay. The zoomed slow-motion hits and finishes look particularly good, as do the backgrounds which now have increased draw distances and seem more tangible. Sure, there’s still enemy popup, and that’s not a surprise with how many characters end up on screen at one time, but you can see from further away now and that distance viewing feels more natural.
Usually this is where we’d put something about the negatives of the game and give you a bit of a warning about how no game is really perfect, but that’s not the case here. Yes, the plot is thin and the dialogue is weird and stilted, but that’s not really all that surprising given the age of the game. The conscious choice to maintain the artistic integrity of Dynasty Warriors 3 is commendable and this is not the game for you if you’re just here for the plot. Instead, what we have is a button mashing masterpiece with simple controls from 20 years ago, a few new tricks, and some flashy new visuals that look amazing on a modern TV. Are there a lot of combos? No. But if you want that you can go play a Devil May Cry game. This is simply an incredible power fantasy couched in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. And that’s fine. There are no downsides to the game. None. It loads fast, it runs smooth, the original gameplay is intact, there are tons of extras and modes, and sitting down with Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered is like coming home to an old friend. Also there are elephants.
For only $40, there’s an absolute ton of gameplay in Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered. You could sink 20 hours or so in, blow through the game with a single character and move on, sure. But there is at least a hundred hours of gameplay here and if you’re a completionist, there is so much to do that it’s almost mind-boggling. The variety of modes, characters, and weapons available is fantastic and the game itself is so fun to play that hours just melt away before you even realize it. This is peak game design and Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered is arguably one of the best if not the best Musou game ever made. Even if you’ve played the whole thing before, coming back to it is still entirely captivating and this is one game you absolutely need in your collection.
This review is based on a digital copy of Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered provided by the publisher. It was played on a PS5 using a 1080p TV and docked on the Portal where it played equally well. Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered is also available for Xbox Series X, Switch 2, and PC on Steam.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.