Kessen III Review - PS2

The Kessen series has come a long way. Born alongside the PlayStation 2 console itself, it made it's mark as a unique blend of action and strategy set in one of the most interesting periods in history. Only now, three years later, has the third in the series been released, predictably titled Kessen III.

Gameplay

Like it's predecessors, Kessen III focuses upon the warriors and wars of sixteenth century Japan. The story is told in a very efficient manner; cut scenes are abundant, also threaded throughout the major battles themselves in order to bring event and personality to them. The game takes place over a series of chapters, these forming the building blocks of the gameplay itself by housing the various world maps. These maps act as hubs, providing access to your castle, a merchant and, of course, the battles themselves.

Inside your castle you’re able to - through a series of menus - edit and alter the structure of your regiment of warriors - more of whom will join you as the game progresses - by equipping and unequipping weapons, armour, accessories and more, each of these having an affect on that particular warriors statistics such as their attack and defense abilities. As in role-playing games, battles will earn your warriors experience that will allow them to level up and increase their abilities naturally.

Visiting the merchant provided on each map allows you to buy and sell goods such as those described above using gold won in battles, more of which is acquired according to your performance based on the time you spent as well as how many troops you defeated. Conveniently, you’re able to view your warriors and their equipped items in order to make comparisons with the merchant’s items in order to determine which well benefit your party and which will not. Upgrading your warriors by giving them an overhaul with the help of the merchant often means the difference between winning and losing in the battles in the respective chapter.

Battles are represented on the map by a crossed swords icon, this icon coming in variations of both big and small sizes. The smaller icons represent sub or unimportant battles that can be fought optionally in the hope of increasing the experience of your warriors or discovering or winning new items and gold. The larger icons, on the other hand, represent those battles that advance the story, and subsequently must be fought and won in order to progress to the next chapter. As with buying new equipment for your warriors at the merchant’s shop, fighting and gaining experience in sub-battles can often mean the difference between winning and losing a major battle.

The strategy-based side of Kessen III’s gameplay takes shape immediately before every battle, where you must view a map of the upcoming battleground and deploy your unit's - each lead by one of your warriors - upon the map, as well as optionally edit each unit’s equipment and the like. Strategy lovers will like (continued next page)