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Amazon.co.uk Review
Kessen is the first DVD PS2 title, and boy, what a difference a DVD-ROM makes. Kessen's fantastic cut-scenes showcase the difference between the visual capabilities of non-DVD and DVD formats.

The graphics are awesome as well. In a triple barrage, three rows of gunmen draw and fire their guns. Not everyone does it at exactly the same time, and the number of men goes back as far as the eye can see. The smart choreography makes the battle seem much more real. In fact, you can actually see other soldiers fighting as the general's duel.

While all of the above makes for a very splashy presentation, it doesn't do much for the gameplay. Those who have found fault in the micromanagement found in past Koei strategy titles, will surely be disappointed with Kessen. It is often painful to see every single stat and try to improve them all in a set amount of time.

Kessen goes too far, in that every battalion has a morale level, called zeal, as well as a certain number of soldiers of different types. Each general has a different amount of loyalty to you, but it really doesn't affect game play as far as we could tell.

Before each battle, you go through the political stage. Here, you can persuade undecided generals or enemy generals to join you in battle, or not to fight at all. That's a cool aspect, but the game basically tells you outright who will join you and who won't.

The pace of the battles is extremely slow; the difficulty, however, is not. Many times you are given so many reinforcements that you just cannot lose; couple this with a 20-second cut scene with no obvious way to skip them and you start to get a game that can at times become a little annoying.

Although the potential is there, Kessen fails to meet its expectations and unlike other RTS games, there is hardly ever any cause for alarm if you are losing, and you will feel like there's not a lot you could do about it anyway if you were. --Todd Mowatt

Manufacturer's Description
Kessen, or "strategic battle", is the real-time strategy game that will define strategic command as well as fulfil the complete potential of the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system. Players control tens of thousands of troops--including archers, infantry, riflemen and the powerful cavalry--and engage them in epic battles from the Warring States Period of 17th-century Japan. Taking on the role of Japan's most fearsome warlords, players guide their battalions into decisive conflicts and provide the leadership to rewrite the history of a nation.

Beautiful, rich environments and ultra-detailed, storied characters dazzle the eyes and imagination. And Kessen introduces Agent Technology into the control of troops which makes individualistic behaviour in the context of group action sequences extremely realistic.

Players can command and interact with massive numbers of 3-D characters on screen at one time. Betrayal, assistance, revenge--they each have their place in Kessen.The high of victory or the humiliation of defeat are all in the hands of the Commander and their ability to read the eddies of war.

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25 Reviews 5 star:  (6) 4 star:  (5) 3 star:  (6) 2 star:  (2) 1 star:  (6)           Average Customer Review (25 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: Kessen - Addictive Strategy and Spectacular Graphics, 18 Dec 2000 By  Mr A Griscti-Soler (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews The word Kessen means "Decisive Battle" in Japanese, specifically those which were fought in early part of 17th centuary Japan. This title is very different to conventional real-time strategy games that you may be used to on PCs. This I found refreshing. You'll focus more on the capabilities, actions and tactical strategy of a number of troops then macro-managing each individual soldier (which to be honest - is a godsend, given the kind of numbers you're working with!) First off, the graphics are first class - and by that I mean the quality, detail and scale of waging battles of such magnitude. It is truly a cinematic experience. During battles there is a fine blend of pre-scripted animation sequences using the in game graphics engine and real-time, animations showing your troops in action. Tip: Don't spend too long gawping at the amazing graphics! While it is probably the first game to show off the graphics potential of the PS2, the scale of the battles is so huge you'll find it is pointless watching each individual unit fight because you'll end up loosing. In between battles there are some nifty pre-rendered CGI sequences and documentary style narration of the story, at other times you're made to feel like your experiencing the story first hand - there is some excellant characterisation. After a few hours I found myself caught up in it, ignoring the beautiful graphics and finding myself more concerning with planning (this is a first. I never though it would come to this... the PS2s awesome graphics over pure strategy?). Its a great game worth investing in - the storyline and music (courtesy of the Moscow State Orchestra) match the quality of graphics. You'll really need to spend around two to three hours to work it all out. So don't become frustrated if you feel overwhelmed, they do kind of drop you in at the deep end. That said, as you begin to figure it out you soon learn that its an epic title, with some big ambitions and it doesn't fall far short. I would recommend this game to anybody who enjoyed PC real time strategy games and wanted to try something different!  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: KESSEN, 8 Jan 2001 By A Customer Stunning is the only way to describe this game. With respect to the Pc for giving us strategy games of this caliber (of which i am a huge fan of)This title is truly brilliant, unfortunatly editors of magazines and online reviewers in my opinion do not play these sort of games to their fullest and thus do not see the brilliance of this game. The game really makes you think what sort of battle plan you will execute and what politics you will use before and in the middle of battle (only when you have completed the game with Ishida/Yuki Sanada or Tokagowa and get the choose battle mode do you truly appreciate the effort made in this game to make it a real time battle simulation) Forget about the graphics and pretty visuals (which are extremely impressive!!) if this game had come out on the pc it would have got rave reviews but the playstation 2 is a console and people do not recognise strategy of this class on this format for what it is worth...first before reviewing  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   5 of 6 people found the following review helpful: Kessen-good while it lasted, 21 Jun 2001 By  Mr N Jones (Gateshead ,England) - See all my reviews I am a fan of the strategy genre and i bought Kessen expecting a classic.At first there was a good tutorial and then it was straight into the battle. Although the game is concentrated on the batlle the planning side was a major dissapointment.Also the storyline was far too linear.Either you won or you lost, the battle it made no difference, if you were near perfect or survived with one man and his dog. Once in the battle the graphics were brilliant, but it was very hard to understand what was happening where.It was easy enough following the actions of one unit but 13 at once was overkill. Despite this the level of difficulty was low enough for me to complete the game within two days!!.I hadnt even played it that much and this short lifespan is the major defect in a game that at first showed much promise. I dont want to go over the bad points , however, without mentioning a few positive things. 1:The graphics were fantastic 2:The special moves were well thought out and easy to use 3:The ability to control at three levels was usefull. Overall a decent game ,but it is critically flawed in several areas and does not last anything like what £40 should buy.