Kessen III

Features
It is a dark era for Japan. From the chaos of war a youthful hero has risen - he is Nobunaga. The young military genius now fights against legions of smurai to reunite his homeland, but will he survive the nation's descent into darkness?

* All - New Crowd Engine delivers real-time combat action.
* Take direct control of a wide array of historically accurate troops, including cavalry, riflemen, and ninja.
* Unlease volleys of arrows, shurikens and rifle fire.
*Take control of a lone officer in Rampage mode, to raid enemy units.
*Summon destructive war beasts and elemental fury.
*Command marching routs, battle policies and unit objectives.
*Choose the officers you take into combat and coordinate devastating assaults with support troops.
*Develop and customize officers with hundres of weapons, armor, and strategic items.

Unlockables:
Experience Bonus in New Game: Get all the officer biographies.
Extra Manuals: Collect all items.
Extra Starting Equipment: Beat every battle.
Extra Troop Type: Get all the movies.
Gold Bonus in New Game: Get all the musical scores.
Yet More Starting Equipment: Get the overall collection rate to 100
Inahime: Have a Samurai Warriors: Extreme Legends save file on your memory card.
Maeda Keiji: Have a Samurai Warriros save file on your memory card.
Hard Difficulty: Finish game on Normal.
Expert Difficulty: Finish game on Hard.

Review By: Browncoat Rating:

My very first PS2 game was a remarkably looked over title called Kessen. Tatical Battles of Feudal Japan. I loved it, and have since played it through several times. Kessen II went to feudal China, and went from realistic to a bit fantastical, casting spells and such. Still a lot of fun to play. But I felt a little disappointed that they let go of the realism of the first one. Now to Kessen III (a nice little present from my Sister in law), we go back to Japan during Nobunaga’s rise to power, collecting territory and officers to his side. It’s Cutscenes are very nice, look good, and tell an interesting (if a little loose with the facts) story. Control is a little different than before, your general leading from the front of the fight. This leads to a feeling kind of like Kessen and Dynasty Warriors thrown in a blender. Not that I have anything against Dynasty Warriors, but this is a strategy game not a hack n slash. This approach means that you can lead inferior troops against a numerically superior foe if you time your attacks right. I also didn’t like the limited choices for troop deployment. Before you had an area to deploy into, as long as you were within that area. Now you have a spot to place troops. Don’t like it? Well you can also just play with less troops. Umm, yeah… that’s what I want. Despite all of this Kessen III remains a fun game with an interesting story. Let’s face it a nice story lends a lot to any game. High Points:
Excellent Story
Nice Leveling Process
More Strategy than your average game

Low Points:
Limited deployment options
Attacks once mastered mean little challenge left to the game.