Dynasty Warriors 4

Dynasty Warriors 4
North America PlayStation 2 cover art depicting Lu Bu's main weapon, a Chinese polearm called Sky Scorcher.
Developer(s)	Omega Force
Publisher(s)	Koei
Director(s)	Akihiro Suzuki
Series	Dynasty Warriors
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Network
Release	PlayStation 2 JP: February 27, 2003 NA: March 25, 2003 PAL: June 27, 2003 Xbox JP: September 4, 2003 NA: September 5, 2003[1] PAL: November 14, 2003 Microsoft Windows WW: April 1, 2005 PlayStation Network JP: April 17, 2013 PAL: January 30, 2013
Genre(s)	Hack and Slash Tactical action[2]
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

Dynasty Warriors 4^{[Note 1][Note 2]} is a hack and slash action video game developed by Omega Force and published by Koei. The game is the fourth installment in the Dynasty Warriors series and was originally released on the PlayStation 2 (PS2) around the world in the first half of 2003. An Xbox port followed later in the year as well as an enhanced port to personal computers in 2005 named Dynasty Warriors 4 Hyper.^{[Note 3]} Similar to other titles in the series, Dynasty Warriors 4 is based on the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong. Set in the Three Kingdoms era of ancient China, the game depicts characters that are based on real-life figures as well as fictionalized versions of historical battles.

The gameplay features hundreds of soldiers fighting on battlefields of varying sizes. The player controls a single officer and can engage multiple enemies at once, with the aim to defeat the enemy's general in order to win the battle. The main gameplay mode depicts the events of the historical novel with branching story paths that includes alternate history scenarios for the available characters. Only nine characters are available at the start; playing through the story grants access to more characters. Additional modes include an edit mode to create unique characters, a versus mode for duels, and a challenge mode.

Dynasty Warriors 4 was commercially successful. The game shipped 1 million copies within 9 days of its initial release in Japan and eventually sold 2.2 million copies to become one of the best selling titles in Koei's series of Warrior games. Critically Dynasty Warriors 4 was well received; it has an average of 78 out of 100 on Metacritics reviews and 79% on Game Rankings. Reviews noted the similarity to previous games in the series and complimented the enjoyable gameplay. Critics were divided on whether the improvements from the previous title were sufficient, while the game's English voice acting was universally panned. Two expansions were released for the PlayStation 2 version of the game, Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends^{[Note 4]} and Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires,^{[Note 5]} that provided additional options and features.

Cite error: There are <ref group=Note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=Note}} template (see the help page).