Dynasty Warriors 7 is the best of the series; taking many steps forward, but also taking a few big steps back...
Dynasty Warriors 6 was the first next-gen game of the series, release in 2008. And while the graphics were beautiful, the gameplay suffered heavily as Koei changed many of the aspects that made Dynasty Warriors so great. It would be appropriate to say that they learned from their mistakes, as Dynasty Warriors 7 fixed a lot of them, and returned more to the roots that was Dynasty Warriors 3, 4, and 5.
For those who don't know, the story of Dynasty Warriors revolves around the Three Kingdoms era of ancient China (220-280 AD). The era's popularity skyrocketed with Luo Guanzhong's 14th century adaption of the era in the novel "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
In Dynasty Warriors 4-6, Koei turned several events from the era into their own fictionalized account. Dynasty Warriors 7 aimed to be much more historically accurate and engaging story, and I believe the story mode in this game is the best in the series so far.
In the story mode, you can select four different factions to play as: the returning kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu and the brand new kingdom of Jin. Unlike previous installments where you could select your own characters, this game has preset characters you must play in the battles, attempting to show off a lot of their personal exploits throughout the era. The change in characters makes for a more personal, structured story, but in return it really doesn't offer much replay value for the story mode at all. Once you beat it, there is really nothing more to experience, as you can't change characters ever.
The story is also surprisingly more accurate this time around. Koei made a really faithful story to the actual history of the era, with characters dying at their appointed times, and battles unfolding as they really did. Instead of a mere 30 second rundown of the backstory leading up to a battle like in the previous installments, this game delivers an acted out presentation (sometimes lasting several minutes long) of the backstory, including many cutscenes. These cutscenes, leading seamlessly into the gameplay itself, make the story a unique experience.
Koei did a really great job revamping the gameplay mechanics. The combat feels fast and more intense than previous titles, and the focus of having to complete lesser objectives instead of charging straight for the enemy commander makes for a deeper battle. And if you think you're going to charge straight for the enemy commander anyway, failure to complete a lot of the lesser objectives will result in your forces in defeat. So you may actually have to think a bit throughout the fighting as to what you need to do next.
Dynasty Warriors has a brand new weapon system this time around. Any character can equip any two weapons, although the combat effectiveness differs between the weapon and who uses it (ex: An officer who is a master of halberds will attack fast and powerful with them, but may do horribly with axes, and attack slow with them). Most weapons have seals you can equip to them, making them more powerful (ex: "Attack Up", "Defense Up", "Attack Range Up", etc...). And each weapon has an ultimate weapon you can obtain, which will be more powerful than the other ones base attack-wise. But in the end it really comes down to how many seals the weapon has. The more seals, the more you can make it powerful, thus it may be even more powerful than the "ultimate" version of that weapon.
This weapon system is very interesting, and collecting them and the seals will feel very satisfying, but Koei really cut some corners with them. Each weapon type has the exact same moveset with them, so even though there may be ten different axes you can collect, they will all deliver the same combination of attacks. This wouldn't be so bad if there were a lot more weapon types in the game, but a lot of the characters use the standards sword type, for example, so really all of those characters are going to have the same moveset.
On a positive note, each character has their own, unique musou attack (the strongest attack your character can deliver, resulting in the death of just about anything around you). For the most part, the musou and EX attacks do enough to make each character stand out, but in the end you're going to grow tired of having to use several sword-wielders in battle.
Instead of Free Mode (which let you replay through the story mode battles using any character you wanted), Koei scratched that off and gave us Conquest Mode, where you take a character you've unlocked and take them across a map of China that contains hexes. These hexes are battles your character must complete, and the rewards are fame, gold, weapons, etc. Some hexes are character specific, so you will not always be able to play as just anyone you want. And then some hexes are cities, where you can buy items, review, and even take quizzes about the time period at one of the scholars. You can also bond your character with other characters, which may make them help you in a hard battle down the road if you have a high alignment with them, etc.
Conquest Mode is also where the online co-op comes into play. If you have a buddy that is also playing the game, at one or the other's request you can join each other's battle. It is rather awkward and confusing, as the person you are wanting to play with must be under the menu "Looking For Requests" when you send out the request. Even so, a successful connection is almost a 50/50 chance, and the lag sometimes is so unbearable it's almost not worth it at all.
Honestly, I have just not been a big fan of Conquest Mode. It seems to be nothing but tedious grinding. The only thing that kept me playing was the fact that I really wanted to unlock my favorite character, Lu Bu, who's "unlock hex" was on the opposite side of the map from where you start. But even now that I've gotten him, his ultimate weapon, and the ultimate horse Red Hare (all in one night, too!), it seems to be such a disappointment. Mindless grinding and boring objectives (it's always a simple "Defeat Enemy General" or "Reach Escape Point" battle) make Conquest Mode something that would get old really fast.
For those who prefer Conquest Mode over the missing Free Mode, I really would like an explanation? I would much rather play through 30-40 stages that are unique and story-driven than 200+ little stages that are heavily watered-down with little to no objectives. There really isn't even a good reason why Koei would have left Free Mode out. Only reason I could think of is laziness.
Which brings me to my next point. I noticed playing through the Story Mode battles that a lot of the battlefields were EXACTLY the same as the ones that were in Dynasty Warriors 6. Why is this, Koei? In every game thus far, there have been new battlefield designs. Why get lazy all of a sudden? Especially in that area? Little things like this aren't game breaking, but it just leaves me wondering what was in their head when they decided to recycle the maps?
The graphics are pretty good. Nothing top of the notch, but for a Dynasty Warriors game they are great. The character models are beautiful, but the battlefield themselves sometimes look very bland and uninspired. The game also supports 3D, if you have a TV capable of it.
The voice acting is typical of Dynasty Warriors games. It is really bad, but better than some of the previous titles. Most of the soundtrack is heavy metal based, and while it will be fun to listen to the first few times, it soon becomes very repetitive and you may opt to turn the volume for it down or even off. Some of the battles do have very unique songs that you will love, but this is few.
Overall, Dynasty Warriors 7 has a lot going for it. It has the best Story Mode out of all of the previous titles, the best narrative, and some of the best battles. In return though, it is also lacking in some areas where the previous titles excelled. There is no Free Mode (again... what is the point of this, Koei?), Conquest Mode is a big "meh" to me, the weapon system can seem a bit confusing and overwhelming with almost 400 different weapons (why can't they just return to the way it was in DW3-5, where each character has a unique weapon... three of them being the base weapon, and one ultimate weapon which can be obtained by doing certain conditions in a certain battle on the highest difficulty?), and it just doesn't seem like they tried real hard with it.
If there had been Free Mode, and an old-school weapon system (and less clones), this game could have been flawless. But these are lacking, and I give credit where it is due but also complain about what needs to be complained about!
OVERALL...
CONCEPT: Another year, another Dynasty Warriors. However, this one is well done with it's Story Mode, and is probably the best one in the series to date.
GRAPHICS: Mediocre compared to a lot of other new games. But it's a Dynasty Warriors game, they've never been big on the graphics. The character models are beautiful, but this is about it.
SOUNDS: Great soundtrack, comparable to Dynasty Warriors 4 (which was my favorite). But, even these tracks get tiring after a few listens. I now have the setting not all the way off, but half way down so I don't hear it as loud. Voice acting is alright.
PLAYABILITY: Fans will feel right at home. Newcomers will still fit in quite well.
ENTERTAINMENT: It's a Dynasty Warriors game. You go around hacking the poop out of thousands and thousands of soldiers. Nothing spectacular, but it does it's job.
LAST REMARK: Dynasty Warriors 7 is a really great game that will suck up hours and hours of your life. Each story mode takes several hours to complete, and even though I was not that impressed with Conquest Mode, I still spent several hours in it (and will most likely spend several more, though I would trade it in a heartbeat for Free Mode). If you need to level up each character or collect every weapon, you might as well say you will be putting dozens and dozens of hours into this game. I think I described it perfectly in my opening title, "It is the best game of the series, taking many steps forward but also some steps back". The only thing holding this game back were a few poor decisions made by Koei in development that really let the experience down. But it is still an amazing game that fans will absolutely love and play for many hours.
I give Dynasty Warriors 7 a 7.5 out of 10...
- Jared Langston (Tyek1230)