10 Apr, 2011
Title: Dynasty Warriors 7
Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Developer: Omega Force
Publisher: KOEI Tecmo
Release: March 29th North America, April 8th Europe
Conquest, meet hard rock. KOEI Tecmo’s long-standing hack n’ slash title is back in the saddle, and boy have they got something going on in the 7th installment of Dynasty Warriors. There’s always something to improve upon, and KOEI has tried their best to freshen things up a bit. I think they did a top-notch job and this game is currently sucking my soul dry.
At first glance, you might groan and think, “It’s just the same thing again. Can’t I just pass it up?” Sure you could, but what beats a game where it encourages you to charge into the fray and destroy 100 soldiers in a single sweep of a spear? If you’re looking to get into the series, or if you just want a game where you can destroy things willy-nilly, then this one’s for you. Better yet, if you’ve liked the series in the past, then say hello to much-needed-improvement.
Let’s not rush into things here though. There are aspects that have very much remained the same. You’re still button-mashing to get your combos strung together to deal massive amounts of damage, and the simple combat system is still pretty much the same. Do a two hit-combo and finish with a strong attack, do a three hit-combo and finish with a strong attack, wash rinse repeat.
Not to mention that the levels are still a little on the bland side – there’s not a lot of variety except where the roads snake, all that fun stuff. With the exception of a few touch-ups to the environment, each level is pretty much the same layout with the occasional weather change or a river here and there. That’s just me though. There’s flowing waterfalls, and if you listen closely, the shouts of men dying accompanied with bird chirpings. That’s right, the sounds of nature on the battlefield. Makes for a rather symphonic killing scene, doesn’t it? Hey, I enjoy the little things.
All the blandness and all the trivial things stop right there. Enter secondary weapons, a new Conquest Mode, and a whole lot of other fun stuff, including an old-fashioned schooling on the real historical Three Kingdoms. And the more you know, the more special items you can unlock. Sounds like a great way to learn history rather than sit in a lecture hall with a professor who looks like he ought to be interned at the Great Pyramids.
Let’s take a peek at the surface. There are now four kingdoms to chose from: The Wei Kingdom (Cao Cao), the Shu Kingdom (Liu Bei), the Wu Kingdom (Sun Jian), and the Jin Kingdom (Sima Yi). The TL;DR version of the Jin Kingdom is that Sima Yi decided to take matters into his own hands after the Wei Kingdom collapsed – hence, the Jin Kingdom came into being.
There’s the ever-present Story Mode, and this time it really is told like a story. One thing you’ll notice right off the bat is that you no longer stop and get treated to a brief cut scene. Oh no, you get a sweeping in-game event that flows seamlessly from your battle screen, to the event, and right back to your battle screen without a transitioning or load screen. That got me plenty excited, because I always hated that.
On the subject of load screens, you’re no longer treated to a boring one in between campaigns. You’re given a brief history lesson, from the viewpoint of whichever kingdom you have chosen to play. A voice over tells you the story of each battle, as opposed to tossing you down onto the field with a post-it that says, “Get to it!” I really enjoyed that too. Pay attention to these little tidbits, no matter how trivial you might believe them to be. They’ll help you unlock goodies in Conquest Mode through in-game quizzes.
Right away you’ll notice something else too, and that’s a secondary weapon. If you missed Sun Ce running around with his tonfas in Dynasty Warriors 6, then fear not, because now he gets a pair of tonfas and you also can give him a secondary weapon such as a sword. Each character has a specific weapon they work well with. You can mix and match with a high affinity weapon and another weapon of your choice, or two weapons your character sucks with, or…you get the picture. How much fun it was to make Cao Cao use a fan. That had me in stitches, for real!
Now, you’re probably wanting to know what this Conquest Mode is. It plays a lot like earlier Dynasty Warrior titles, in which you select the officer of your choice that you’ve unlocked, and then you are dropped onto a large map of China. A honeycomb arrangement of battles lie ahead of you, and your job is to fight them all and reach the capital cities to unlock new horses, weapons, skills, and achievements if that’s the way you swing. It’s a lot of fun because you get rewarded with numerous things, from extra skill points, to extra gold at the end of each battle. You can even become BFFs with other legendary officers in the story, and ask them to join you in the fray.
Another thing I really enjoyed while playing through both Story and Conquest Modes is the opportunity to have downtime at either your camp or a capital city that you’ve unlocked. You can chit-chat with other soldiers in camp, visit with merchants in the capital cities and buy much-needed equipment, or leave your weapons with blacksmiths to make them more powerful. It really is a nice break in-between the action bits, and it also does a great job of reminding you that this is war, and that there are real people out there as opposed to a nameless soldier. I liked that. No, I LOVE that. It makes you feel more involved.
And before you start asking, yes there is co-op play. You can choose to play either split-screen or do some online co-op. So grab a buddy and start your conquest of China, because the fun knows no bounds, just like Zhang Fei drunk on a bad day.
The Good:
+ Much needed improvement to the series’ old formula.
+ Introduction of secondary weapons makes for some interesting combat decisions.
+ If you like the real history of the time period, the story stays quite true to it.
+ New Conquest Mode gives you a lot of time to unlock a lot of goodies.
The Bad
- Not a lot of replay value once you’ve completed everything.
- Battles will still feel a little lackluster to fans of the series.
- Lacking variety on level designs.
TL;DR
If you’ve loved it in the past, then this one’s for you. If you’re looking to check out something new, this one’s for you. If you want variety, then…this one’s not for you.
Overall Score: 4/5
What, you want more info and more tidbits? Very well. Check out the official website for a slew of screenshots, music, and other goodies.
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