If last year's PSP release of Dynasty Warriors was a portable version of a garden salad, then this year's release of Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 is a Caesar salad with just a hint of dressing on the side. Those who found the first game enough of a feast will no doubt pick up their handheld systems and engage in more hacking and slashing, finding some of the new multiplayer modes to their benefit. Others, though, will quickly realize it's still just the same old salad, when a steak would be more ideal.

The game once again puts players in the middle of huge feuds in ancient China. Certain clans are battling it out in different parts of the land, boasting superiority and demanding respect from the enemy. Basically, you run around killing as many soldiers as possible. Players move along a map system that's been broken up into grids, and after one grid is completed, then it's on to the next section.

The former map system sucked the life out of the first Dynasty Warriors game, due to an incessant loading time. Fortunately, developer Omega Force improved as the entire section is loaded all at once. Players have a battle, return to the map system, select a new section, and then instantaneously get teleported to that area to begin the next fight, sans loading time. This makes the game feel less chunked-up than before, although those who like free-roaming battlefields from the console games will still be disappointed.

Omega Force has also tried something new in the form of multiplayer. There's a full blown battle royal mode where up to four players can knock opponents off of a tall building, leading them to their fade-away deaths. It's an interesting mode, although getting a game set up takes a great deal of time. A more interesting multiplayer mode comes in the form of Bombs Away, where one player carries around a bomb and tries to lob it to another player before it blows up. Think of it as Hot Potato, but with far more explosive results.

Unfortunately, not enough attention was paid to the gameplay, which never evolves past mindless button mashing. Players are still launched into a battlefield using the same multi-hit combos and aerial/charging attacks over and over again, with no real change in terms of upgrades. Even changing warrior classes on accompanying captains and comrades doesn't change how they fight. It's still beat up and then beat up some more, only to earn enough musou to perform a super-charged attack and clear a field of a dozen or more soldiers.

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