Dynasty Warriors 4: Extreme Legends is a great game and expansion pack for the original, which, of course, was Dynasty Warriors 4. It encompasses great elements for its type of game, an action beat-'em-up, and is a great game all round. Game Play 9/10 Extreme Legends game play is exactly like the original. In my personal opinion, Dynasty Warrior fighting style is extremely fun-I love getting a maxed out character and killing soldiers on easiest difficulty. That brings up a point-there are two new difficulties-easiest (just about instant kill), and expert (being an inexperienced player, I have not killed a single officer in expert difficulty-even with a maxed out character). Saying this, the game can be made near impossible, or easy enough for a 2 year old. Running around with a spear, killing people is fun, but, still, there is not much difference from game play to that of DW4. Also, if you have data from DW4 on your memory card, the game will automatically add that data into expansion (e.g. Any weapons upgrades, say Lv. 2 will be uploaded for the said character or if a character has gained a few levels, etc) I will divide it up into these parts, Weapons Master Mode, Legend Mode, Weapons in general and Challenge/2 player Mode, so it is easier to read. Weapons Master Mode An interesting new feature, though, is Weapon Master mode-you chose a character to start out with and then go on a journey through progressively difficult levels. After each level you go to a shop and buy things there, you can have your own units and commanders; you chose 1 of three scenarios each round and the list goes on and on. A notable feature to this is the fact that you keep the amount of health you had at the end of the last round, and meat buns and other healing items are very rare, although they can be bought at the shop in between levels. Also, with Weapons Master mode, the experience you get during the battles goes towards money for buying things at the shops. This mode gives Dynasty Warriors 4 a brand new level of playing. Legend Mode Legend Mode is just normal Dynasty Warriors, except everyone has their own "legend" and you have to play through them individually. Although the Legends bend the truth a little; they still encompass the original game play values of DW4 and bring the game along well. It is also interesting to see what each of the characters unique stage is like. Weapons in General The weapon system here is the same as for the original DW4, except for the fact that there are now level 11 weapons, rather than only the level 10 ones. Also, the level 10 ones can still be unlocked, even if you only own DW4: XL. The level 11 weapons add in items that are attached to the weapon, so you do not have to put items on yourself. Both level 10 and level 11 weapons are unlocked by a person by doing some amazing feat on their own legend stage. Challenge/2 player modes Not the biggest of modes, I can tell you. neither are really interesting, and all the originals are back from DW 4. only a few new modes here, really. Nothing to see here, folks... Other than this, there are now new items that can be unlocked in different legends (Unique items without levels), and, of course, the ability to load on your original DW4 to this, so as to have any new items or upgrades done in this game, level 11 weapons and the ability to play the original levels! Story 5/10 I'm not very impressed with the story with this game, even though its a very small part. Weapons Master Mode Nothing is based on anything-this is just completely random when it comes to story lines. nothing much else to say. Diao Chan as Cao Cao s officer...please, come on...... Legends Mode Now this is meant to be based on the book, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (of which I have read), and it really does twist the storyline a bit too much. I can't go into detail here, because that would be counted as spoilers, but I will say that although some bend the truth, others are very accurate, and the rest, well, they kinda, well simply put...107% FAKE! Weapons in General Now, if you don't know, peoples of ages past named their weapons, from the Chinese to the Vikings, they all did it, and they realised this and incorporated it into the game. It is nice to see something which is close to the story it came from. Challenge/2 Player Mode No story what-so-ever. I don't even know why I put them here... Music/Sound 7/10 Nothing out of the ordinary or properly memorable, but all in all the music was pretty good. It's about the same quality of DW4. The sounds...nothing to see here, I'm afraid. EXACTLY the same as DW4, so if you liked them...great!...If you didn't...too bad. The voice acting is pretty good, though. Graphics 8/10 because it uses the exact same graphics system as the game released before it, there is nothing revolutionary here. Even though it's pretty out-dated, the graphics were splendid for their time. Although you still see horse-men without reigns on their horses, even though they're holding them... Play Time/Replay ability 8/10 The game can take forever to complete (I personally am no-where near a 100% finish) and there is really no time limit on the game. You could play it for weeks on end and still not have a 100% finish. If you do manage a 100% finish (which I really doubt) it's always fun to come back a kill hundreds of little men on easiest-just to let out a little stress. Rent or Buy? It really depends on your personal taste. A quick run-through of the game is easily done in a renting period, but if you either own DW4 or want a full play through of the game, buy it. I bought it as soon as it came out for $60 (That's AUD, I'm Australian), so it isn't really that expensive. Final Say 7.4/10 (Average) A great game that can really lighten up a boring day-nothing like killing a few minor soldiers in easiest mode to let off some steam. All in all, a great game and a worthy successor to the Dynasty Warriors series and, of course, DW4.