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Dynasty Warriors 3 cover art

Dynasty Warriors 3

TacticalHack & Slash

Released

Nov 26, 2001

9,120 days ago
Platforms
  • PS2
  • Xbox
Ratings

Release dates

North America dates
  1. Sep 30, 20028,812 days ago
    • Xbox
  2. Nov 26, 20019,120 days ago
    • PS2

About

Dynasty Warriors 3 is the third installment of the Dynasty Warriors series in North America and the second within the Shin Sangoku Musou series in Japan. It is a spin-off from the video game Romance of the Three Kingdoms and based around a series of books by the same name, written by Luo Guanzhong. The game contains a number of fictional and non-fictional elements from the same era in Chinese history that Romance of the Three Kingdoms is set. However, it follows the main events of part of the story which is to unify China under the single rule of a kingdom.

Trailers

Screenshots

How long to beat

HowLongToBeat ↗ · 44 players
Main story
7 h
Main + extras
24 h
Completionist
75 h

Reviews

IGDB players70/10025 ratings

Game info

Released
2001 · see every game from that year
Modes
Single player · Multiplayer · Co-operative · Split screen
Perspective
Third person
Multiplayer
  • PS2Local up to 2Couch co-op 2Campaign co-op, Couch co-op, Split screen
  • XboxLocal up to 2Couch co-op 2Campaign co-op, Couch co-op, Split screen

Editions, DLC & expansions

Other versions

Studios

Age ratings

  • ESRBTMild Language, Violence
  • PEGI12Violence
  • CEROBNo content descriptors

Themes & tags

11 more tags

Story & names

Dynasty Warriors 3 is set across Ancient China in the time of the Three Kingdoms era. The game begins at the fall of the Han Dynasty shortly after the death of the Emperor Ling when the leader of the Way of Peace, Zhang Jiao, led an uprising against the Empire. The game features a strong mix of fact and fiction from Chinese History and often exaggerates characters and their personalities, for example Lu Bu is portrayed as a virtually unbeatable, violent maniac. Most of the events and stages are reported to have occurred in the Three Kingdoms era during the struggle of power. The three kingdoms primarily involved, Shu, Wu and Wei, each sought power enough to overthrow the other two and unify China under their rule. Although the story in Dynasty Warriors is not perfect in the sense that it does not accurately follow the historical events, it has been changed to make the game more playable and less repetitive. For example, a number of the characters in the game died in the time frame that the game is set, but they still appear in later stages. The game features environments resembling that of Ancient China and various items from the era such as Fairy Wine and Dim Sums. It also touches on Mysticism as some characters (Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Pang Tong) have either magical elements in their attacks or completely magical attacks.

Read the story

Also known as

  • Shin Sangoku Musou 2Japanese title - romanization

Release dates by region

7 releases in 4 regions

north america

europe

japan

korea

  • Feb 22, 2002PS2

The Dynasty Warriors series

All 44 games
  1. Dynasty Warriors1997
  2. Dynasty Warriors 22000
  3. This gameDynasty Warriors 32001
  4. Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends2002 · Standalone expansion
  5. Dynasty Warriors 42003
  6. Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends2003 · Standalone expansion
  7. Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires2004 · Standalone expansion
  8. Dynasty Warriors2004
  9. Dynasty Warriors 52005
  10. Dynasty Warriors Advance2005
  11. Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends2005 · Standalone expansion
  12. Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires2006 · Standalone expansion

Showing 1–12 of 42 main games, in release order.

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Where to find it

Data from IGDB and Steam. Critic scores from OpenCritic. Dates shown for North America, in your local time zone.