Welcome back to the never-ending story (singing: whoa'oooooah!) that is the Dynasty Warriors series. It seems like this franchise has been pumping out games longer than the actual epic conflict on which they were based on lasted. All your best historical friends -- Lu Xun, Guan Yu, Cao Pi and the rest -- are back to murder each other for the umpteenth time.

This is its second installment on PSP. Now, as you may know, technology plays a key role on which side of the fence a particular DW title grazes. They all pretty much play the same; it's how much pop-up or slowdown you run across that usually makes a difference (variances in modes, like in Empires, not withstanding). While Volume 2 is actually a step back in terms of graphics and processing compared to console versions, I found myself enjoying this dynasty war more than most. While that isn't saying a whole heck of a lot given my past criticisms of the franchise, I admire how Koei adopted the series for handheld.


Levels aren't made up of one large area, but are instead spread out as sections on a 2D map. In board-game fashion, you move your character and his crew across the map, seizing territories as you go. Some only have a handful of baddies, and are taken over in minutes at most. Others have special cases in them, like villagers who may join you or supplies that will replenish your allies. And of course, some have a bevy of enemy commanders just waiting to chop you into little dynastic pieces.

This different approach has its positives and minuses, but I generally enjoyed it. For one thing, the random spawning of your troops means you never know what you're jumping into. The varying conditions for each section also keep you guessing, though gameplay obviously still boils down to button-mashing. I'd say each full level takes about 30 minutes to conquer; with about 50 of them (branching paths, by the way), you're talking 25 hours of gameplay for Musou mode alone! Not too shabby.