How dies Koei have enough moeny to make the same game over and over?..
This game is essentially a "more strategic" version of Dynasty Warriors 5. You have all the same characters from DW5, the same campaigns, same weapons, etc. This game also has expanded multiplayer modes.
The gameplay itself is extremely repetitive, as with most DW games these days. Since this version was built for gaming on the go, you don't play entire missions, instead, you have this new system taken from the first DW on PSP. You choose an officer and his bodyguards (you can choose from literally hundreds of real-life and fictional figures from the warring periods, and swap them with a friend) then you get to this board. It's almost like chess. You see all these units, strongholds, etc. Certain areas give you bonuses if you capture them, for example, if you capture a stronghold, you get extra times and sometimes some supplies. This seems to work well, and you can save when you're in the deployment screen.
The gameplay itself is what's lacking and makes this game fail. It's the same as any other DW game, run around, kill the Square button and rack up tons of kills until you meet all the conditions and win the battle. This is repetitive, and not fun after you get your 9,999 K.O. number. The game takes no skill to play, and even though this game requires strategy on the later levels, a monkey could probably still merge victorious.
As usual, you have your craptastic rock-chinese mix of music. This game uses tracks from other games besides DW5, but the music itself is pretty random and not that entertaining. The only track I really like is the End Narration theme. The battlefield sounds are mostly just slashing and battlecrys, which come from the deaths of the many people you kill or when someone does their Musou attack. There aren't any voices in the cutscenes or in gameplay, apparently an ill-fated excuse that they'd probably run out of space. There really inst an excuse if Syphon Filter and Killzone could pull it off. Sound overall is lackluster.
The controls are really similar to the console versions, except they removed the ability to use your Bow. I kinda liked using it in combos and whatnot, but the Bow button is replaced with a musou rage button. It comes in handy, but the bow...
The visuals are mediocre at best. The textures are muddy, even on character and weapon models. The game re-uses the DW5 textures and whatnot, but what do you expect from a casual PSP developer? (modify an already existing console game, add or take away a few features and call it a completely new game.) The draw distance is like the earlier PS2/Xbox versions, but the nice draw distance from the console DW5 isn't present. The graphics aren't that great, not even the particle effects.
Basically, only buy this if you want some action or if you like the DW games a lot. I had fun with it but I really want something new to the series, something groundbreaking, not just mere sequel after sequel and port after port...