Kessen
Kessenby Electronic Arts
Platform: PlayStation2
ESRB Rating: Teen
ASIN: B00004W4WH
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Features:
• Historical real-time strategy simulation
• Keep generals loyal and motivated in battle
• Control tens of thousands of troops, including archers, infantry, and cavalry
• Fight epic battles from 17th century Japan
• Sweeping orchestral score
Amazon.com: Kessen is the first DVD PlayStation2 title--boy, what a difference a DVD-ROM makes! Kessen's fantastic cutscenes showcase the difference between the visual capabilities of non-DVD and DVD formats. That difference is analogous to the gap between analog television and HDTV quality.
The graphics are awesome, too. In a triple barrage, three rows of gunmen draw and fire their guns. Not everyone does it at exactly the same time, and the number of men goes back as far as the eye can see. The smart choreography makes the battle seem much more real. In fact, you actually can see other soldiers fighting as the generals duel.
The game's orchestral score is wonderful, and the sound effects also are great, with booming cannons, neighing horses, and clanking spears.
While all of the above makes for a very splashy presentation, it doesn't do much for the gameplay. Those who have found fault in the micromanagement of past Koei strategy titles surely will be disappointed with Kessen. It's often painful to see every single stat and try to improve them all in a set amount of time. Kessen goes too far in that every battalion has a morale level, called zeal, as well as a certain number of soldiers of different types. Each general has a different amount of loyalty to you, but it really doesn't affect gameplay, as far as we could tell.
Before each battle, you go through the political stage. Here, you can persuade undecided generals or enemy generals to join you in battle, or not to fight at all. That's a cool aspect, but the game basically tells you outright who will join you and who won't.
The pace of the battles is extremely slow, like in most other Koei games. However, the difficulty is not. Many times, you're given so many reinforcements that you just can't lose. Also, every single event involves a 20-second cutscene, with no obvious way to skip these. Sure, the triple barrage is impressive the first few times that you see it; but, after the 100th time, it wears a little thin. And you get to see a cutscene every time that your enemies do the same to you.
Unlike other RTS games, there's hardly ever any cause for alarm or stress--even if you're losing, you feel like there's not a lot you could do about it, anyway. --Todd Mowatt
Pros:
Fantastic cutscenes showcase the visual capabilities of DVD format
Great graphics, score, and sound effects
Cons:
Too many statistics to manage
Slow game pace
GameSpot Review: Koei's strategy title for the PlayStation2 is quite a surprise, because it's turned out to be one of the better PS2 launch games. Koei is well known for its console and PC strategy-simulation games, like those in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, but the average gamer tended to shy away from them due to their complexity. Kessen happens to be somewhat of an exception.
Kessen, roughly translated as "Decisive Battle," is a strategy-simulation game based on the samurai era in Japan. Although some of the elaborate costumes are fictional, the plot and setting for the most part are true to the history books. You initially take the role of Ieyasu Tokugawa, leading your troops to battle against Mitsunari Ishida (whom you can play as once you finish the game). Watching a brief summary of the first battle at the start of the game is like watching a documentary. The narration and presentation are superb and very reminiscent of an actual Japanese television show. A real-time cutscene then shows Ieyasu and his generals discussing battle strategy.
The game progresses in real time as you control a group of armed troops led by a general and face a similar group. Your general's decisions are AI based, and while the game is in progress a tutorial can be displayed to help explain the game system. In the later half of the game, you take control of your troops and make your own decisions. It is easier to pick up the control at that point since the enemy forces have been thinned out enough for you to finish the job.
When you're engaged in battle, the triangle button lets you switch from the field map to the battle view. First it shows an overview of the battlefield, with all the troops shown from far away. You can use the D-pad to move the cursor to particular areas of the battlefield and then hit the triangle button to zoom in on the area to show the troops battling against each other in real time. You can also switch to different areas by using the L1 and R1 shoulder buttons. Aside from the normal attack, you can execute special battle tactics, which range from making your cavalry charge, to shooting cannons, to even performing a dance to taunt enemy troops. There are also occasions when the generals of each cavalry will duke it out one-on-one, or a general will run across the battlefield swinging his ax-spear, hacking dozens of enemies. Although giving commands on the field map can be quite boring, it pays off when you can see the battles up close. Koei has definitely made use of the hardware capabilities of the PlayStation2 here - you will see hundreds of troops on one battlefield, and you can view them up close in real time.
There are not enough voice-overs during gameplay, but the cutscenes have much more speech, which balances the game out. The dialogue is very witty and sharp (from a Japanese historical point of view, that is). The soundtrack is so amazing - even if you weren't watching the game, the music alone could bring the epic battles to mind. The sound effects are also realistic, but unfortunately the graphics don't always match the high marks achieved by the sound. Seeing hundreds of soldiers in one battlefield is indeed an accomplishment and a good use of the PS2 hardware, but there are some details that can't be ignored. There is no blood in the game at all. Sometimes, the cutscenes really have very good animation, but not seeing blood when one soldier slashes another is pretty unrealistic. After playing the first few missions, you might even find the battle animation to be a little redundant. It may be captivating the first few times, but you'll probably get to a point where you'll want to skip the animations. Although the gameplay may become redundant, there are different scenarios, depending on your loss or victory during a battle - which also means straying from the history-based storyline. You will also be able to play as Mitsunari Ishida after you finish the game once and experience a different point of view of the story. So, in that sense, there is a decent amount of replay value in the game.
Japanese history buffs will definitely love this game, and even novice players will appreciate the game, with its stunning visuals and sounds. The only question is whether you are willing to sit down and play the game, with its continuously redundant nature.--Ike Sato--Copyright © 2000 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.
Customer Reviews:
Repetative, yes. Otherwise, great game, November 28, 2002
Reviewer: Briana Higgins from USA
First of all, once should have at least a bit of knowledge in Japanese culture/history to enjoy this game, in my opinion. The one who wrote "SOOOOOOOOOOOO Dramatic" review made it apparent she/he doesn't. Ieyasu's granddaughter didn't marry Hideyori out of choice; marriages were arranged in feudal Japan to form "alliences" between families, which is exactly what happened here. But anyway, that's not my main point here...
Yes, there are too many things to remeber. But, as I've discovered, you can ignore half of them and still get along fine. The battles do get repetive, and you are limited in your battle choices, but, if you can put up with this, this game has great replay value.
You first must beat the game as the Eastern army, then as the Western army, before you have a choice in which side you want to play. And, contrary to what a few have said, you CAN lose. In fact, sometimes you may want to on purpose (After you've beaten it, of course). That way you can stray from history and see some interesting cut scenes, from both armies' points of view. For me, this was a great feature, especially with the wonderful quality of the graphics.
The voice acting is superb, but can get a little annoying during battle when a general says a phrase you've heard 300 times already; thankfully, by pressing Triangle, you can skip these. Also, as many have pointed out, there is no blood (Well, there was a tiny bit on Yi's mouth in a cut scene, but I won't count that). Now, I'm not exactly a "BLOOD AND GUTS!!! YEAH!!!" kind of person, but it does make it seem very unrealistic when your general sticks his spear through an enemy, and he never bleeds.
All in all, I'd say buy it if you can ignore the flaws and put up with repetativeness (is that even a word?) because of its good reply value. If not, either rent it, or just don't play it period. It's your buck, not mine.
SOOOOOOOOOOOO Dramatic, June 20, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from WHEATON, MD United States
The game is alright. I only bought it because it seemed like a bloody barbaric war kind of game. There is NO blood in the game whatsoever. And it is so dramatic. Like in the first batle of Sekigahara, when Lord Tokugawa is with that concubine named Okatsu and he sees Lord Nobunaga in the clouds and starts talking to himself saying he has his own vision of Japan or something. Oh PLEASE how much cheesier could this game get. Instead of bloody warfare I got a history lesson about some Japanese family who needs to sort out their priorities back in the 15 or 1600's. And the other thing that just puts the cream on the coffee is that that stupid Princess Sen got herself married to the guy whom is head of her Grandpa Ieyasu Tokugawa's enemy. Is that little tramp just trying to get some attention or does she think " if I marry him, My grandfather and him can make peace"? Give it a rest. If she knows her grandpa hates that guy and is going to war with him, why is she gonna marry him? The cinema parts are always so soap opera-like. And that officer Masanori Fukushima has such a short circuit and goes through these temper tantrums like he just entered puberty and he even gets drunk in the game[ either he got drunk or Tadakatsu Honda].
Very boring, February 23, 2002
Reviewer: Michael L. Donaldson from APO, AE United States
I thought this was going to be like Ghengis Khan for the original Nintendo, but on a grander scale.... it turned out to be more like chess on a grander scale. The graphics are alright, the game play is lame, and the movies are pretty much the same. It's not as advertised.
Nice Intro To Japanese History and A Great Game Too!, February 7, 2002
Reviewer: Randy Schadel from Norwood, OH USA
First off, this game has taken some critical hits for being too easy. Keep in mind that the first time through you are playing at INTRODUCTORY level (level 1 of 5), at which it is extremely difficult to lose. For a REAL challenge, try the skirmish battles at level 5...scream in agony as you are quickly outnumbered 8 units to 2...with your own reinforcements not showing up until near the end, and enemy defections highly unlikely. Even the regular battles become more difficult, but not as unbalanced as the skirmishes. You are no longer treated to complete intelligence reports on the enemy units or officers, so hopefully you've retained knowledge from earlier games. Enemies fire off more frequent and effective special attacks and in general behave in a more combat savvy manner. Another complaint-the inability to "cut short" the "cut scenes"-well, just press the triangle button and they'll disappear!Here's the few things I didn't care for in the game-difficulty levels should have been selectable from the beginning and not just after playing through the easy game. More battles should have been included as well-there are 13 (I believe) but 4 of them are Sekigahara variations. It is nice that you can play as either side. The goals are far too straightforward (although very relective of Japanese warfare, where the goal was to kill as many of the enemy as possible, rather than territorial objectives or strategic postioning). These are about the only complaints I have, and that isn't much!What does this game do well? Great cinemas based on the ascension of Tokugawa Ieyasu to power. Some of the battles (such as Osaka Castle and of course First Sekigahara) are straight out of Japanese history with accurate battlefield maps and orders of battle. Other battles are built upon logical extensions and "what-ifs" branching off from Sekigahara. The clan leaders and Daimyos of the game are given entertaining individual personalties and look great (yes, they really DID wear those outlandish looking helmets with the cool armor, although Tokugawa was a older, heavy balding man by the time these battles took place). The clan defections add to the game, turning victory to defeat (or vice versa) in seconds (although it would have been nice if they were a little more unpredictable). The myriad options in political mode give you the chance to tinker with your units, plans, and strategies until you come up with the "perfect" one! Although it was historically incorrect to see units using ninjas (no self respecting Daimyo would OPENLY use a ninja...but Uesegi Kenshin's fatal trip to his castle outhouse proved using them secretly was another matter) and women (there were as many samurai women as men, but except for rare isolated instances such as Tomoe Gozen they never went to battle) you can give it a try here! Unit compostion, officers, weapons, formations, special attacks-they're all yours to play with. You don't NEED to but they add a lot to replay value. There is a nice informative tutorial mode that eases you into the game (Koei games can be a little intimidating at first). The game also helps to point out why the side with the most soldiers didn't always win-officer ability, loyalty, and especially morale were of paramount importance during this period. Fans of fast action, button mashing games won't be happy here-DYNASTY WARRIORS or even the delightful mess that is KESSEN II might be better for you. All in all, while Kessen is no SHOGUN:TOTAL WAR it provides solid game play, an entertaining storyline, lots of opportunities to tinker and is a good introduction to both samurai warfare and Japanese history as well as being a lot of fun. One of my favorite games that I keep coming back to!
One of the BEST GAMES EVER, January 3, 2002
Reviewer: A 12-year old gamer from Danville, Pa United States
Incredible game! Awesome graphics and great strategy. It does give people the wrong impression in the beginning, with the fairly-boring but nessicary tutorial. But once you get to the battles, be prepared to be blown away!
Underrated and misunderstood, November 30, 2001
Reviewer: marshaln from Boston, MA United States
I think this game is underrated. It is actually a great game that suffers a little from misguided expectations. Koei never makes games that are truly mainstream -- this game comes about as close as it does (except Dynasty Warriors, but those aren't designed by Koei).
The game gives people the wrong impression in the beginning, because the initial difficulty, I think, was made too easy. You can beat the game blindfolded if you play the starting game, and since you can't change the difficulty until after you've finished the game, people just think "oh, I finished the game -- no point in playing anymore". The difficulty level 5 (hardest) is actually quite challenging, and wins are no longer guaranteed if you don't play carefully. What they perhaps should've started out is 3, instead of 1. That might scare players away though, so it's a tough call.
There are also more than just five levels for each side. If you intentionally (or unintentionally) lose one of the important battles, you'll be led to a different battle line that can still win you the game. There are a total of three ways of winning the game for each side, so you can actually play 12 different battles for each side (with some overlapping). There's more to the game than what offers you in the superficial glance, but again, I think the initial ease of beating the game turned some people off thinking it's boring.
The movie can be a little annoying, but I think it's balanced with good gameplay that's almost chess like, like someone said. At the higher difficulty, a mistake could cost you the win and battles must be planned out (instead of just attacking like in the easy difficulty).
All in all, a great game that is a bit misunderstood and gives the wrong first impression. At 30 bucks, it's a great buy and I think more worth it than Kessen II.
How can you go wrong!!, November 9, 2001
Reviewer: Jason Colucci from Maple Heights, Ohio United States
Ok! If you are fan of war simulators and have played the PC game Shogun: Total War then get ready to be blown away. Kessen is the best 17th century Japanese war sim I have played. The story line, the "Discovery Channel" way the game explains the battles that you are about to get into are outstanding! The movies and cut scenes are all exciting to watch and really get you into the game. This game is like an excellent book, you just can't put it down once you get going. You will not believe how good and how much fun war sims can be until you have played this one. Don't miss out!
good, October 31, 2001
Reviewer: A gamer from Amherst, MA United States
I found this game amusing, great graphics, interesting concept. I liked it a lot, I would reccomend this game to anyone who likes stratigy games.
Rent it, October 28, 2001
Reviewer: bigcasino777 from FPO, AE United States
This was another PS2 game which is very short to run the campaign. Don't get stuck buying the game with out renting it first.
kessen, October 20, 2001
Reviewer: johnathan from eugene,oregon
i thought kessen was cool! the movies are really emotional and you can actually think you are commander of the eastern or western army.i like this game because the war councils and meetings you have.i already beat it and im looking forward to buying kessen2
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