Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (July 31 - August 3)

Tempted to give wwe2k25 a go does anyone know if hulk Hogan is available to play in the vanilla game??

@FraserG Thanks mate ✌️👍

Dynasty Warriors is such an overrated series IMO.

@Kaloudz

I love the series, but haven't met anyone who thinks is anything more than "good" or "fun" at best. 🤣

@Lup

Well, I think it's great ... Nice to meet you!

@MDHegs

Same, I love it, and most of its spin-offs! Nice to meet you to! 🙌🏻

@Lup Ha, I tried (I think it was) Dynasty Warriors 9? Or 8? I cant remember. I think I remember something odd about the numbered titles. Like, isn't 9 really 8? or 8 really 9? Or something like that? Either way, I tried it and man, it sucked. The draw distance alone was off-putting. Characters and environments literally not popping in until you were meters away.. O_o

@Kaloudz

If you tried only 9, that is literally the worst one. Universally agreed, haha. They had to reboot the series with Origins because of how bad it was.

If it was 8 which is one the best... Well, might not be for you.
Wasn't trying to change your mind though. Only that I've never seen someone talk so good about DW so that it could be considered overrated. 🤣

But it's all good, my man. 🙌🏻

@Lup No no, you're right. It was 9 I played lol I just googled the art. I purchased that and played it for about three hours, deleted it, and vowed never to buy another 🤣 If you say it's the worse though I might reconsider because Nintendo made a knockoff version that I enjoyed called Hyrule Warriors - which is why I bought DW9.

@Kaloudz

Not a knockoff, my man, those are made by the same guys from Koei.
They have the main series (Dynasty Warriors) and then they do collaborations with anime or other series.
They made Gundam, One Piece, Fist of the North Star, Fire Emblem and those Zelda ones too.
They also did two Dragon Quest ones (Playstation exclusives I think).
Normally they experiment more with those.

@Lup Oh wow. Jesus, they didn't do a bad job getting those IPs to work on - especially Zelda O_o Yeah I quite enjoyed Hyrule Warriors for the gameplay loop of "here's your map, now go and dominate it". I'm not sure dynasty Warriors 9 played the same and being bug ridden, I just didn't get on well with it. You say 8 is the best? Would that be close to Hyrule Warriors in gameplay? I might give the series another blast.

@Kaloudz

I'd say 8 is one of the best. I'd say 7 is a good place to start, but that one is an oldie now (PS3/360 only).

8 is the easiest one to get, as it's on almost every platform (but I don't think Xbox is one of them) I don't remember if you also have another platform to play? Samurai Warriors 4 is also really good, but
If you ever want to try, just pay attention at what edtition you're getting because there's quite a few of every game and it's a little confusing, haha.
For example there's the Empires subseries that add some turn-based strategy in the mix.

@Lup Yeah you're absolutely right. There's some that aren't on Xbox at all from what I can gather but then so long as I start somewhere that isn't at DW9, I might just find a better time. I'll have to load up the Xbox tonight and see which are still available for purchase (or visit CDKeys for codes for those that aren't available on the store anymore). Sadly I just have the Xbox mate. If it wasn't for online costs and subscriptions I'd own more but I cant keep up with all the money lmao.

@Kaloudz

I totally get you, my man. That's why I'm so grateful for the Series S. I wouldn't be on this generation if it wasn't for that.

I remember Warriors Orochi 3 and 4 (crossover between Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors with fantasy stuff) and Samurai Warriors 5 being on the Xbox store.

SW5 is kind of a reboot. Not bad but not the best either, the biggest problem is clone weapons (different characters with the same moveset).

Warriors Orochi 4 is kind of a reboot too.
Warriors Orochi 3 has guest characters like Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden so you might like that, but both can be a little overwhelming because they have like +90 characters that you're kinda supposed to know, haha.

The Ascent is a very good time in co-op. The cyberpunk setting is 10/10.

@Lup Warriors Orochi! They're the other ones. I was trying to work out what the heck the other part of the series was. I can actually pick one of those up from a key site (3 and 4) if you'd recommend them? Do they play like Hyrule Warriors? Map dominating and capturing areas? Thanks for all this mate. I appreciate your input <3

@Kaloudz

I haven't played the Hyrule ones sadly, haha. Don't have a Switch.
By how you say it, that kinda sounds like the Empires ones. You go around capturing bases making a path to the enemy's Main Camp.
Warriors Orochi is more like, you get a few objectives on the battlefield and kill everything in your way to get to it.
I'd say check a gameplay first just to be sure, I would feel bad making you spend money on something you don't like. 🙏🏻🤣

I played WO3 back on the PS3 (it's originally from that gen) so be aware of that, I'm not sure how good the new-gen version looks.

And remember we're talking on an article about Free Play Days. You could always check Dynasty Warriors Origins for free. Which is a little different.

@Lup And remember we're talking on an article about Free Play Days. You could always check Dynasty Warriors Origins for free. Which is a little different.

Mate... Do you know how stupid I feel? LOL. Gunna see if I can queue this for download and give it a blast. I'll have to go back and look at Hyrule Warriors and see if I can find a game in the series (or sub series) that matches the gameplay.

You're right though, I think it's empires that plays like that from what I've read. You have to kinda like, clear the map of hordes of enemies that are grouped in certain areas. Kinda like how domination plays in any FPS - you have to capture points and fight away the enemy.

Dynasty Origins for me if i
Play one

@Kaloudz

Tell me if you ended up trying it!

@Lup I didn't matey. I fell sick so I'm picking up an empire game spin off or a WO when I get round to smashing the Xbox back on

@Kaloudz

Damn, sad to hear that, man!

I think DW8 Empires is on sale right now. (DW9 Empires too, but don't buy that one).

Things to have in mind if you go for an Empires games:

• They don't have much of a story. It's more like "do your thing, serve the Lord you want/create your own army and unify China recruiting any character.
• You'll probably don't know who's who. 🤣
• Don't be afraid to go from Normal to Easy if Normal is too hard. I'd say try both, Easy can be too easy too.
• Empires games are voiced only on Japanese (I think 6 was the last one with English dub).
• You can create your own character! Lots of characters, actually. You could have your own army full of created characters if you want.
• Your character can get married and have children that become playable later (with varied results. Some are cool, some end up looking like Frankenstein's monsters, but that's half of the fun 🤣).

If you go for Warriors Orochi:

• 3 and 4 are available on Xbox.
• You'll probably don't know who's who. 🤣
• It does have a story but the gameplay doesn't focus on capturing bases.
• It has fantasy stuff, like the name implies.
• 3 has guest characters from other Koei games. Some from Ninja Gaiden/Dead or Alive, like Ryu, Ayane, etc. Others are myth/historical figures from other Koei games, like Joan of Arc and Achilles.
• 4 doesn't have guest characters but adds Greek gods like Zeus and Ares thay weren't in any other Warriors game.
• In 4 some specific characters get a... Kinda super transformation?
• Both Orochi games are voiced only on Japanese too. I mention this in case it's not your thing.

I played only Warriors Orochi 1-3, I still have to play 4 so I can't say if it's good or not.

Sorry for the long reply. Check some gameplays though!

@Lup LOL! So no matter which way I go, I'm probs not going to get much of who is who! Got it!

Based on what you say I think I'll go WO 3 simply for the character appearances from Koei. Whilst I'm half/half with their games, I do absolutely adore some of the characters they have under their IPs.

I can absolutely get along with the Japanese-only VO too. I quite enjoyed that when I was watching Shogun and AC S. It gives it that little extra nudge IMO. Which is weird because I absolutely hate Eng dub (Squid Game) for the simple reason that the voice never seems to match the original expression, if that makes sense? It's so jarring lol.

Don't apologise my man. I always appreciate you for your time and attention to detail Thank you.

@Kaloudz

Well, WO games are crossovers so it's expected you played both Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, haha.

Empires games are spin-offs of the base games so you're also expected to have played that. 🤣
It really sucks DW9 it's the only one on Xbox.

@Lup I kinda feel like I need to spend time on the Wiki page for this series just to try and wrap my head around which is the main series and which are the spin offs lol! Either way, there must be, what, 20 games in the series in total? O_o

@Kaloudz

You don't really want the answer to that. 🤣

I'll say something though. Every Dynasty Warriors gane adapts the same story. Same with Samurai Warriors. I mean they're inspired by real events (heavily romanticized) so they only can do so much. So at least it's not like you have to follow a story from 4 to 5 and then to 6 and so on.
Any one ia a good place to start (except 9, you fool 🤣).

Answering your question, there's like 25 DW games counting only Xtreme Legends and Empires spin-offs along with the main ones. 💀
That's not counting Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi or the handheld games/anime games.

@Lup JESUS!! What the heck! I clearly haven't given this series enough credit. It must have one hell of a following to be going on for this long with that many titles under its belt O_o

LOL! The problem for me was, I would see the games coming out every few years and I'd promise myself that I would get into it one day, and then when it came to 9, I think the trailer looked absolutely smashing for its time... so it kinda sucked me in (until I played it and it spat me back out lol).