Play Dynasty Warriors DS - Fighter's Battle Online

Game Overview

Dynasty Warriors DS - Fighter's Battle takes the usual hack-and-slash chaos of the series and shrinks it down into a surprisingly strategic little package for the DS. You pick one of three commanders (each with their own colorful banner—I went with the Phoenix because, well, red) and start carving up ancient China one territory at a time.

Instead of just mashing buttons to plow through thousands of soldiers, you’ve got to actually think about how you move across the battlefield. Each zone has a quota of enemies you need to wipe out before you can push forward, and the rival commander is doing the same thing somewhere else on the map. When you finally bump into each other, it turns into this tense little duel where the loser gets booted back to their starting point.

The twist here is the card system—no, you don’t play as Lu Bu or Zhao Yun directly. Instead, you build a deck of officers who act as your skills and buffs. Some cards freeze enemies, others steal their Musou energy, and a few just make you hit harder. It’s weird at first, but after a couple battles, you start hunting for specific cards to round out your strategy. And yeah, they level up, so that common foot soldier card you ignored early on might actually become useful later.

Oh, and the obstacle attacks? Super satisfying. Collect enough coins mid-battle, and you can drop boulders on entire squads or drain an officer’s health with one move. Nothing like turning the tide last second because you hoarded coins instead of spending them right away.

It’s not as deep as the console games, but for a handheld spin-off, it’s got way more going on than I expected. The wireless multiplayer’s a nice touch too, if you can find anyone else still carrying this around.