Product description
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Game is Complete in Box (Game, Manual & Cover Art)
.com
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Kessen is the first DVD PlayStation2 title--boy, what a
difference a DVD-ROM makes! Kessen's fantastic cutscenes showcase
the difference between the visual capabilities of non-DVD and DVD
formats. That difference is analogous to the gap between analog
television and HDTV quality.
The graphics are awesome, too. In a triple barrage, three rows
of men draw and fire their s. Not everyone does it at
exactly the same time, and the number of men goes back as far as
the eye can see. The smart choreography makes the battle seem
much more real. In fact, you actually can see other soldiers
fighting as the generals duel.
The game's orchestral score is wonderful, and the sound effects
also are great, with booming cannons, neighing horses, and
clanking spears.
While all of the above makes for a very splashy presentation, it
doesn't do much for the gameplay. Those who have found fault in
the micromanagement of past Koei strategy titles surely will be
disappointed with Kessen. It's often painful to see every single
stat and try to improve them all in a set a of time. Kessen
goes too far in that every battalion has a morale level, called
zeal, as well as a certain number of soldiers of different types.
Each general has a different a of loyalty to you, but it
really doesn't affect gameplay, as far as we could tell.
Before each battle, you go through the political stage. Here,
you can persuade undecided generals or enemy generals to join you
in battle, or not to fight at all. That's a cool aspect, but the
game basically tells you outright who will join you and who
won't.
The pace of the battles is extremely slow, like in most other
Koei games. However, the difficulty is not. Many times, you're
given so many reinforcements that you just can't lose. Also,
every single event involves a 20-second cutscene, with no obvious
way to skip these. Sure, the triple barrage is impressive the
first few times that you see it; but, after the 100th time, it
wears a little thin. And you get to see a cutscene every time
that your enemies do the same to you.
Unlike other RTS games, there's hardly ever any cause for alarm
or stress--even if you're losing, you feel like there's not a lot
you could do about it, anyway. --Todd Mowatt
Pros:
* Fantastic cutscenes showcase the visual capabilities of DVD
format
* Great graphics, score, and sound effects Cons:* Too many
statistics to manage
* Slow game pace
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Review
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Koei's strategy title for the PlayStation2 is quite a surprise,
because it's turned out to be one of the better PS2 launch games.
Koei is well known for its console and PC strategy-simulation
games, like those in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series,
but the average gamer tended to shy away from them due to their
complexity. Kessen happens to be somewhat of an exception.
Kessen, roughly translated as "Decisive Battle," is a
strategy-simulation game based on the samurai era in Japan.
Although some of the elaborate costumes are fictional, the plot
and setting for the most part are true to the history books. You
initially take the role of Ieyasu Tokugawa, leading your troops
to battle against Mitsunari Ishida (whom you can play as once you
finish the game). Watching a brief summary of the first battle at
the start of the game is like watching a documentary. The
narration and presentation are superb and very reminiscent of an
actual Japanese television show. A real-time cutscene then shows
Ieyasu and his generals discussing battle strategy.
The game progresses in real time as you control a group of armed
troops led by a general and face a similar group. Your general's
decisions are AI based, and while the game is in progress a
tutorial can be displayed to help explain the game system. In the
later half of the game, you take control of your troops and make
your own decisions. It is easier to pick up the control at that
point since the enemy forces have been thinned out enough for you
to finish the job.
When you're engaged in battle, the triangle button lets you
switch from the field to the battle view. First it shows an
overview of the battlefield, with all the troops shown from far
away. You can use the D-pad to move the cursor to particular
areas of the battlefield and then hit the triangle button to zoom
in on the area to show the troops battling against each other in
real time. You can also switch to different areas by using the L1
and R1 shoulder buttons. Aside from the normal attack, you can
execute special battle tactics, which range from making your
cavalry charge, to shooting cannons, to even performing a dance
to taunt enemy troops. There are also occasions when the generals
of each cavalry will duke it out one-on-one, or a general will
run across the battlefield swinging his ax-spear, hacking dozens
of enemies. Although giving commands on the field can be
quite boring, it pays off when you can see the battles up close.
Koei has definitely made use of the hardware capabilities of the
PlayStation2 here - you will see hundreds of troops on one
battlefield, and you can view them up close in real time.
There are not enough voice-overs during gameplay, but the
cutscenes have much more speech, which balances the game out. The
dialogue is very witty and sharp (from a Japanese historical
point of view, that is). The soundtrack is so amazing - even if
you weren't watching the game, the music alone could bring the
epic battles to mind. The sound effects are also realistic, but
unfortunately the graphics don't always match the high marks
achieved by the sound. Seeing hundreds of soldiers in one
battlefield is indeed an accomplishment and a good use of the PS2
hardware, but there are some details that can't be ignored. There
is no blood in the game at all. Sometimes, the cutscenes really
have very good animation, but not seeing blood when one soldier
slashes another is pretty unrealistic. After playing the first
few missions, you might even find the battle animation to be a
little redundant. It may be captivating the first few times, but
you'll probably get to a point where you'll want to skip the
animations. Although the gameplay may become redundant, there are
different scenarios, depending on your loss or victory during a
battle - which also means straying from the history-based
storyline. You will also be able to play as Mitsunari Ishida
after you finish the game once and experience a different point
of view of the story. So, in that sense, there is a decent a
of replay value in the game.
Japanese history buffs will definitely love this game, and even
novice players will appreciate the game, with its stunning
visuals and sounds. The only question is whether you are willing
to sit down and play the game, with its continuously redundant
nature.--Ike Sato--Copyright © 2000 GameSpot Inc. All rights
reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium
without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. --
GameSpot Review
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