A great leap in the right direction

User Rating: 8 | Dynasty Warriors 7 X360
I have not finished this game, but it deserves a first impression response.

So far, the game is nothing short of excellent. The combat system has been much improved, the graphics have been much improved, the soundtrack is actually awesome, and the story is told in such a way that it is actually interesting. And while the character development has been simplified, it's not without depth.

That isn't to say that it's all roses and sunshine.

The combat system has been enhanced for the better. Each character can equip almost any weapon in the game (except for gender-specific weapons), and equip two weapons at once. These can be switched at any time in the inventory screen. You can hot-swap between the two weapons at the touch of a button, and this allows you to extend combos. The combat system has done away with the horrible monotony of Dynasty Warriors 6, where you could either perform a string of normal attacks, or a string of power attacks. Instead, it has gone back to the system used in Dynasty Warriors 5 and earlier. This system relies on a sequence of six normal attacks, and you can use a heavy finisher at any interval in this sequence up to the 5th normal attack. The finisher is different for each interval in the attack sequence.

Plus, each character has a unique EX attack, which is performed with a specific weapon. You also have a super attack class called a Musou, and each character can perform two different Musou attacks. In order to use these attacks, the player will have first charge up their Musou metre and then hit the B button. The second Musou is performed by pressing the B button while doing something else, and this will be revealed when you look at your moveset after unlocking the ability to use the second Musou.

As cool as this sounds, there are a few problems. The first is that early on in the game, you don't have very many weapons and you won't earn much beyond Swords, Axes, Clubs and Bows until you're about 1/3 of the way through a given storyline. And this includes the weapons your enemies may drop; I noticed most generic officers mostly carried, clubs, swords and war fans. This can make things pretty monotonous, especially since every character starts with a sword either as a primary or secondary weapon. This is compounded by the fact that there are 36 different weapon classes, and each individual class has its own moveset. But there are 62 characters, so you don't have individual movesets for each character this time around. Furthermore, counters have been removed as well as the light and heavy throws available in Dynasty Warriors 6. Heavy air attacks have also been nixed. These would have been very welcome, and being that counters have been available since the earliest games in the series, it's very strange that they've been removed.

The lack of individual movesets is offeset by the previously mentioned EX attacks, musou attacks and the fact that you can use almost any two weapons at a given time. This allows you to more or less customise your character as you see fit.

While you can equip almost any weapon, this will be influenced by characters' weapon proficiencies, which limits the ability to use certain weapons. This proficiency system is part of your ability to modify your character based on their development tree, which you can expand by defeating officers to earn skill points. It's simple, but it adds a cool dynamic to gameplay because it can effect your weapon proficiencies. It also dictates how long your combos can be.

Your character also develops other stats such as health, attack and defense values by picking up stat modifiers dropped by defeated officers. This system has been around since the earlier games in the series, was done away with in Dynasty Warriors 6 and 6 Empires in favour of a level-up system, and has returned yet again.

However, the rank system is nowhere to be found.

While this, combined with the skill-point upgrade tree, sounds cool and all, I really think Koei could have done better. While Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires was probably my least favourite of the series due to the combat system, it's character development felt more fleshed out. While the rank system was meaningless in some of the earlier Dynasty Warriors games, it did work as a level system for Dynasty Warriors 5, and it makes sense given the officer politics of the time. So, while I can live without leveling up, I thought the rank system should have remained in a tangible way, however the current system that is available is not lacking in depth.

Visually, the game looks next-gen. It isn't necessarily looking like Halo 3, but it does look very good. Lots of details on character models and weapon models and the levels look great. I also really like the night missions. They're very dark, but it gives a dreadful, claustrophobic feel. I admit that at first, I didn't like it. After I got used to it, I really appreciated it. It also really helps juxtapose missions where there may be a fire attack, because you're in the dark and suddenly it's all bright and chaotic.

However, long weapons still wind up sticking through the ground when you run past a hill. The game is in it's SEVENTH incarnation, you'd think Koei would address this. There were also some framerate issues, but I seem to only have experienced them in the tutorial mode, and they did not actually affect gameplay.

The game also supports 3D, which is cool for those who have it. I don't have the ability to test this, although I don't care for it, either. 3D makes me nauseous.

I have heard compaints about draw distances being too short, but I realy have not noticed this. I have noticed that if there is too much action on screen, the game stops drawing models, and these won't come back into the fray until things calm down some, or you slaughter some more opponents.

The audio is excellent. Period. Great combat sounds and an excellent rock soundtrack to beat the plebes to a pulp to. Plus there are more classically influenced pieces that really stand out, like the overture for each Dynasty. No complaints here, this was handled very well, and the surround sound works very well. There is some dodgy voice acting, but this has been greatly reduced, so the story is easier to digest.

The only downside is that there aren't very many tracks, so you may want to have a custom soundtrack on hand. However, what's there is great.

The story-telling in the game world is also much better and more engaging than any other title in the series so far. It's told through cutscenes as well as narrated panels, and it really strives to be more faithful to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms than previous versions. It also goes beeyond the three kingdoms, and it includes the follow-up: The complete takeover of the Jin dynasty. What does this mean? It means the story mode has some real closure instead of ending on a what-if scenario.

The game world itself is also fleshed out a little better. You can man siege engines to complete objectives, and some cutscenes basically throw you right into the game, and it gives it a much more chaotic feel. Koei really nailed that down well. Furthermore, the missions sometimes flow in multiple parts, and it really helps keep the action fast and loose and it really gives the game a more warlike feel. It also changes the pacing of the missions to give you a better idea as to how they might have actually unfolded, and it gives you the feeling that you're involved in an actually battle plan. I also like that there are some platforming aspects, like hidden cliff routes and jumping into enemy bases from the high ground.

However, you can't always man a siege weapon when you want to. Sometimes you can only destroy it. It feels like siege weapons only exist to be used within the context of the story mode, and this really hurts the game. It would be pretty sweet to be able to take over ANY siege weapon and then use it on your enmies instead of only being able to destroy it. This cheapens the experience of using these weapons, although they are wicked fun to use.

Speaking of game modes, there are two main ones: Story Mode, which is one-player only and catalogues the main gist of the story of each dynasty; and Conquest Mode, which is a hexagonal gride that you select missions from.

Free mode has been removed, although Conquest Mode acts as a free mode once completed because all stages within it are available. Conquest mode also supports offline and online two-player co-op multiplayer. I have yet to try this because I've been whiling away at the story mode to unlock as much as possible. Other than the hexagonal grid, Conquest Mode allows you to visit towns to purchase weapons and companions. It also has a random trivia game that you can play, and you can also work on unlocking weapon enhancements called Seals. While I haven't played much of this mode, I have yet to find something about it I don't like, and the town is a nice departure from just doing mission after mission.

While Dynasty Warriors 7 is missing a Free Mode and the Story Mode only supports one player, I really haven't taken much issue with this. I love the flow of the story mode, with or without the ability to play it with a friend, and Conquest Mode is sure to keep my friends happy when they play with me.

Dynasty Warriors 7 also has a very detailed tutorial that coves all of the aspects of playing the game. It was in this mode that I encountered some framerate issues, but it seems that it was only in this mode.

Despite its flaws, Dynasty Warriors 7 is actually a pretty impressive package. Koei has done a great job fixing the combat system, and an even better one enhancing it - despite the cuts that were made. They've done a great job with the level design and creating the environments in the storyline, and Conquest Mode is quite fun. The visual facelift is also welcome, and I think Koei did a stellar job here - despite the draw issues. The soundtrack is definitely memorable - in a good way - despite there being as few tracks as there are. It's not like it's Syndicate, which only had four tracks throughout the entire game, though. The online multiplayer is a nice addition, too. And there's scads of content. The story mode alone will take up at least 25 hours of your time, and the game is worth checking out just for this.

If you like beat-'em-ups, you need to give this game a go. You will NOT be disappointed.