E3 2011: Dynasty Warriors Vita -- Nice Touch

I have a complicated relationship with the hack 'n' slash Dynasty Warriors series. On one hand, I understand and appreciate the franchise's straight-forward gameplay and emphasis on player empowerment. On the other hand, Dynasty Warriors bores me to tears. For years, I've gotten by with mashing a single button and blocking an occasional attack. It's a simple, repetitive system that rarely keeps my attention for more than an hour. But Dynasty Warriors Vita (working title) takes adventure of the capabilities of Sony's upcoming portable hardware. While it's safe to say that the overall experience will stay true to the traditional Dynasty Warrior formula, the touch functionality of Dynasty Warriors Vita is a refreshing change.

The first addition comes in the form of a technique: Shadow Musou. The Shadow Musou attack is activated by tapping two fingers on the Vita's back touchscreen. Your character will charge up and unleash a torrent of energy. By tapping rapidly on the back touchscreen, you'll cause eruptions to form on the display that burst from underneath your enemies' feet. It's a great alternative to traditional Musou attacks and it gives you more control over where you want to target.

For those of you infatuated with "force push," the burst technique is just for you. By touching anywhere on the front screen, you can command your character to throw a ball of energy forward that mows down enemies standing against you. This energy blast definitely has some kick, and can even reach opposing soldiers in the distance.

The most entertaining touch functionality implemented in Dynasty Warriors Vita is the ambush system. Occasionally, your hero will be surprised by a small group of soldiers that leap through the air in a sudden assault. This event, called an ambush, slows down time and brings the camera close into the action. During this brief period of Matrix-inspired goodness, you have to rotate your Vita around to get a good look at the attackers and tap them on the touchscreen. Successfully tapping all your attackers before time runs out allows your hero to counterattack. Missing one or more of your opponents, however, will cause you some trouble.

Not all the touchscreen implementations feel right, though. At the end of the stage, I faced the recognizable Lu Bu in a duel. In these sections, the characters circle each other and it's up to you to swipe across the touchscreen with your finger to attack. This didn't feel as responsive as I would have liked and was easily the weakest touch implementation out of all the various systems. It could still improve, but it's troubling.

With additional touch controls that make sense, Dynasty Warriors Vita might have what it takes to keep my interest. But I won't know for sure until I play it for more than an hour.

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This article is based on a 10 minute gameplay session with an incomplete version of Dynasty Warriors Vita at Sony's E3 2011 press conference. Game audio was unavailable. The session was supervised by Tecmo Koei representatives.

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