(www.tecmokoeiamerica.com/dw7xl) Rated T for Teen by ESRB. Like its attack-spamming vicious warriors, the grand daddy of beat em’ up gives us no break. It hadn’t even been a year since the release of Dynasty Warriors 7, and its mandatory spin off Xtreme Legends had already arrived. However, this really isn’t a surprise to anyone who knows anything about the series.

Presentation:
Like the other Xtreme Legends, the main mode, Legend Mode, offers a selection of highlighted battles from the Three Kingdoms timeline. In this case, there are 37 maps and some of them can be played on different sides of the battle. There’s also a Challenge Mode with various objectives while smashing up a bunch of helpless fodders. But, the content on Xtreme Legends alone can get stale pretty quickly. With a copy of Dynasty Warriors 7, the main story mode and conquest mode can be unlocked and be played with Xtreme Legend’s 3 new characters, all the new weapons, and other new features.

Graphics:
Dynasty Warrior games are often no less than pleasant and this Xtreme Legends follows the trend as well. Most notably are its detailed character models. On the other hand, the game often takes filling the screen with enemies too seriously, and they would materialize next to the player soon as the old ones were knocked away.

Sounds:
Most of the sound and voices are taken straight from Dynasty Warriors 7, everything from the electrifying metal beats to some awkwardly scripted lines. If the voice work and music aren’t unique enough, the game also comes with the original Japanese voice over on the disc.

Gameplay:
Playing this game, and most others of the series in general, is the most relaxing experience one can get with “violence” tagged by ESRB. It requires no serious thinking, no headaches, and no hair pulling, just simply go to the designated spot and smash up everything that moves. There is some variety though – quick weapon switch and evasive maneuvers are available if one wanted to get fancy with the combo count.

Longevity:
As mentioned earlier, the limited amount of different battles on Xtreme Legend’s disc alone can lead to a repetitive gaming experience, even with the huge cast of characters to grow and large arsenal of weapons to master. But the option to import Dynasty Warriors 7’s story and conquest mode to play with Xtreme Legend’s new features extends its lasting appeal a little. There is also its online multiplayer: easy to use and fast to connect, if someone else is also looking to play online.

Conclusion:
The Dynasty Warriors games make changes very slowly, whether they are improvements or regressions. One notable change from 7 to Xtreme Legends is the character’s ability to gain additional passive skills after completing battles with an additional condition. One such skill, which every character seems to possess, alleviates the frustration from the game’s highest difficulty level where the player would constantly lose chunks of health from invisible arrow barrage. That and other gameplay changes contribute to making Xtreme Legends a lot more of a stress relive than the main entry Dynasty Warriors 7 is. Enjoy the button mashing and peon smashing. Just not too much in one sitting to make the game boring, especially for those without the ability to import extra modes from Dynasty Warriors 7.