The best & most addictive Dynasty Warriors in a long time!
However, there's always flaws in any game, so I'm gonna get 'em outta the way first. 1- If there's one thing you can always expect from DW besides hitting square a lot, it's gonna be sub-par graphics. While Strikeforce just might be the best looking game in the series, it still doesn't hold a candle to many of this generation's graphical standouts. 2- Large-scale warfare is no longer present! Instead of going into battle with hundreds of soldiers and a dozen officers on your side, you're all alone on the battlefield unless you team up with other people over the internet. 3- Loading during battle is pretty bad. Seriously, Koei? Instead of making the whole battlefield connected like all the other DWs, they decided to keep the formula they used for the PSP version and have the battlefield broken up into "areas" that have to load every time you walk through a barrier into a new area. Now, this worked for PSP since its obviously not as powerful as a PS3, but unless you install the game data to your hard drive (which is NOT required) the load time between areas can somewhat put a damper on the pace of battle, and even IF it is installed, you still have to go through a "Now Loading" screen for a few seconds.
Alright, now that that's all outta the way, let's get to the positives which very heavily outweigh the negatives.
Koei completely revamped the story mode, going from the beloved "Musou Mode" to having you start all your missions from the City. The City is where you can upgrade your weapons, skills, and buy items with the gold and materials you have earned from battle. As I said before, the RPG elements to this game are a nice touch and a welcome change of pace to the traditional DW formula. Instead of just progressing through "Acts" in Musou Mode, you have to do side quests before you can get to the main battles of each chapter, such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion and all those battles associated with it. Generally, these side quests are a good way to do some level grinding (which is very necessary depending on the difficulty you're playing on) and a good way to earn gold and find materials that are necessary for forging new weapons or upgrading the ones you have at the Blacksmith. Materials and gold are also used to purchase "Chi" which are essentially upgrades to your characters stats or movement that can be assigned to your extremities (Left Leg, Right Leg...etc.), and having highly upgraded Chi can really depend on whether or not you'll win or lose a battle.
Now the battle system is slightly improved as well. It blends some new concepts, while at the same time it goes back to the older versions. Instead of like in DW 6 where you could just keep doing normal attacks forever and ever, you actually do have to buy the next level weapon (which can take a little while) like in the older DWs. However, one thing that was trult surprising change to the battle system was that there are actually special moves for each weapon type in the game, and they can be very effective! There are also Tactics that can be used by placing the Officer Cards you get from the City into certain areas of the battlefield before the battle starts, assisting you during battle in many different ways.
And while the online mode somewhat has its problems, it is still a lot of fun to tear up a battlefield with 3 other people. The biggest concern with online play is that everyone on your team looks like they're constantly lagging, even if you they're not or even if you're not. It is nice, however, to be able to go online and fight the battles you're stuck at at any point in the main quest line with other people. Also, during battle online, if items drop on your screen, they're only on your screen so you don't have to fight with your teammates to get them.
Overall, this is the most addicted I've been to a Dynasty Warriors game in a while. The most recent ones became rather stale quite quickly, but Strikeforce does a fantastic job of mixing the old and the new and keeping you in the action and wanting to level up your character and buy new items and weapons. As a longtime fan of the series, I'd say get this one even if you've already played it on PSP. There are more than enough changes made to this game for it to feel fresh to even the most skeptic of DW players. Enjoy!