Full disclaimer: I was already in love with this game when I stumbled upon one little piece of information. Renbu is gone. The dumbing down of an already simple combat system is over, and glorious tiered charge attack combos are back. Thank god.
Little did I know that when I popped this fresh new Warriors game into my 360 I was in store for several other pleasant surprises.
Now I'm not going to kid myself or anyone reading this review. This is a Dynasty Warriors game. You know what to expect for the most part. There are however, some pretty significant improvements to the formula that make Dynasty Warriors 7 worth a look even for people who have dismissed the series in the past.
Dynasty Warriors 7 is split up into two modes: Story and Conquest.
Story Mode is presented in a refreshing and quite frankly kinda
brilliant new way. Rather than grinding through X number of stages as a
single character, after choosing a dynasty you automatically switch
between characters based on who the story is focusing on for that
battle, sometimes even switching characters mid-battle. It keeps things
fresh over the course of each side's story, and means you won't be
grinding through the same storyline over and over to unlock so-and-so.
There are also some really nice touches that make the flow of the story and the battles feel more
natural. Instead of selecting a stage and then going to a pre-battle strategy screen like previous Warriors
games (where no strategizing actually took place) you typically go from watching a cutscene to controlling your
character freely inside of a camp, where you can talk to various people
and purchase weapons. When you're ready to start the battle you talk to
a particular person of interest and then... Viola! The gate swings
open and you and your troops charge onto the battlefield. The first
time I experienced this the stupidest grin must have crossed my face.
It's just cool. In other battles you'll transition straight from a
cut-scene into the action. So you are always experiencing story or gameplay (or a loading screen of course) and never navigating menus unless it's to tinker with your character. You're also no longer subjected to silly
cut-scenes
showing you that a gate has opened or that falling rocks are blocking a
path. Instead, the camera will simply pan towards the event if you're
near it. Cutscenes are reserved for the more deserving cinematic
moments of a battle.
In Conquest mode you make your way across a large board game style grid
completing battles and reaching hub cities. In this mode you accrue
fame points and develop bonds with other officers. You unlock playable characters in this mode by completing special battles on the grid. This free-form style mode is immensely more interesting than the 'Free Mode' of past Warriors games where you simply picked a character and a stage and played an out of context story battle.
As for the meat and potatoes of the game, cutting a path through hordes of dudes, probably the most notable gameplay tweak other than the axing of the
Renbu system, is a carryover from Strikeforce. You can now equip any
character with any two weapon types you want, so you're never stuck
waving a battle fan or firing a bow unless you happen to like those
movesets. Warriors 7 also sees the return of online play, so you can share your guilty pleasure with people over XBL or PSN.
As far as graphics go, aside from some obvious background draw-in, the game looks great. The playable character models look fantastic and are showcased particularly well during Musou attacks. Animations also get a thumbs up from me, with even the peons having some great looking attacks now.
-Musically, we're still being subjected to endless guitar solos, but there are some nice war drum beats during the camp scenes.
-The voice acting is still atrocious for the most part.
So that's my quick and dirty review of Dynasty Warriors 7. I think established Warriors fans will love this entry into the series, and anyone who's a fan of the beat em up/ hack n slash genres should definitely check it out. Koei/Tecmo really stepped it up with this release.
