Game: "Dynasty Warriors 5."

Console: PlayStation 2.

Developer/publisher: Omega Force/Koei.

Genre: Action.

Number of players: 1-2.

ESRB: T, for teens.

Premise: You are immersed in the battles between the Shu, Wei and Wu dynasties of imperial China in the late 2nd century A.D.

Game play: Koei and Omega Force once again team up to make marginal changes to the "Dynasty Warriors" series to keep its longtime fans happy and try to bring in new gamers.

To their credit, the companies did introduce a new approach to the Musou (story) mode. In "Dynasty Warriors 5," the focus is on the stories of individual generals, narrated by them before and between levels. This gives them a more human feel — they're not just characters you're controlling through a game pad.

One weird change is the regression in the weapons-upgrade system. In "Dynasty Warriors 4," your weapon's strength improved with your performance and skill, but in "Dynasty Warriors 5," developers went back to the old system of finding random weapons throughout the levels. So your weapon's power will depend once again on your luck in the level instead of your performance.

A positive change is the improvement of the game visuals. No longer do enemies in the distance appear as black silhouettes in a purple haze. Now you can see their details from far away, which has been an issue with the game since "Dynasty Warriors 2." And the levels are much bigger and different from previous games, adding mystery to the stages, even for season veterans.

"Dynasty Warriors 5" does have some recurring features from the series, such as free mode, where you can play in any unlocked level; challenge mode, with several mini-games; a history of all the warriors; and, of course, the campy dialogue. For example, if you get 1,000 kills on any given level, your leader will yell, "You are a true warrior of the Three Kingdoms!" Whoa, cool it, Shatner! Let's save that energy for the battlefield.

The good/bad: The new weapons-upgrade system is lame because it rewards luck and your memory of where items are more than any gaming skill; that takes away the sense of accomplishment you got in "Dynasty Warriors 4." Also, the create-a-warrior mode, one of the selling points of "Dynasty Warriors 4" as well of one of the most fun features, has been taken out completely, which is a real downer.

My take: "Dynasty Warriors 5" is a fun game that made important improvements to the game's aesthetics, but that's minuscule compared with the improvements made from "Dynasty Warriors 3" to "4." In fact, I'd say it is a one-step-forward-two-steps-back scenario. Save your money until the Xtreme Legends spinoff comes out or pick up "Dynasty Warriors 4" for $20 somewhere.

Jeremy Castillo is a student at Windward Community College and the editor of the college's newspaper, Ka 'Ohana.

Have a game or CD you want to review? Reach TGIF editor Debra Yuen at dyuen@honoluluadvertiser.com.