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Dynasty Warriors 7 Review
Reviews are always full of clichés: a hack and slash title is a God of War clone, any sandbox game has to be compared to Grand Theft Auto, and sequels are rarely as good as their original counterparts. However, one of the most long-standing clichés in gaming reviews concerns the Dynasty Warriors franchise.
”It won’t do anything to sway those who are not fans of the series”. That, in a variety of different phrases and colours, is a summary of what has been tagged onto Dynasty Warriors reviews since the third iteration, and that’s only because the first was so wildly different. So let me start by saying this: it won’t do anything to sway those who are not fans of the series. If you hated any of the previous five titles and their numerous spinoffs, there is little here that is going to change your mind. With that in mind, it is easy to see why the game scores so lowly in reviews everywhere, yet is loved and sells well, especially in Japan.
So there’s no point in reviewing this like any other title. It isn’t really like any other title in the marmite effect it has on gamers, so this will take the form of a more fan-focused review. (I am a fan of the Dynasty Warriors series of games, for the record. I had the original beat ‘em up style game for the PS1, and absolutely loved the freedom and carnage that was possible in the first iteration on PS2.)
Dynasty Warriors is a series of games based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong*, which itself is loosely based on and around the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, and allows the player to immerse themselves on the battlefield under the guise of one of many characters from the book.
As it has done since the PS2, Dynasty Warriors uses primarily hack and slash as its gameplay mechanic, and whilst repetitive, the game handles it well, with many characters on screen at once for cutting down. Following backlash from the modification of the battle mechanics in Dynasty Warriors 6, Dynasty Warriors 7 reverts back to the light attack, heavy attack six button player derived combos that had served the series well from its beginnings.
And the rewind is very welcome, as the combo-driven gameplay did detract any sort of skill that was required to play the game. Additions to the gameplay this time come in the form of on-the-fly weapons switching, which allows even more impressive combos to be pulled together, and EX attacks. EX attacks are character-specific, weapon-specific special attacks that either give special powers or deal high damage, and go some way to healing the wounds of the removal of unique movesets that occurred in the generation switchover.
The game offers two main modes. Firstly, Story mode allows the player to experience the classical battles and stories between the three kingdoms of Shu, Wu and Wei, as well as adding the culmination of the story with the kingdom of Jin. Story mode is a little rigid in it’s playthrough, as the game chooses the officer that you will be using for each battle, which can prevent the player developing flow with the characters. Despite this limitation, it is interesting to continue beyond the Wuzhang Plains, which generally was the cut off point for the previous games. Whilst it can be a little tiresome heading through the four story modes, it is essential to unlock many officers (as the game has a very limited selection from the beginning)
The other mode is conquest mode, where the player traverses around China, attempting to gain fame and fortune. This is where the majority of high-level weapons and other things are unlocked (including some officers), and consists of a high percentage of the content for the game. Players choose from a plethora of different battles ranging from the historically accurate to the ridiculously absurd (which also tend to be the most fun battles in the game) in which many different actions during the skirmish give various bonuses.
Conquest mode also has a very interesting addition in the capital cities that are littered around the map. A scholar appears every so often to quiz you on your knowledge of the history and story behind the game. This is a very interesting addition and can aid in a greater understanding of the history that the game is based on, but the difficulty of some questions borders on the ridiculous, but kudos to Tecmo KOEI in attempting to teach about the game, and well compliments the encyclopaedia that had come with the last few games.
Graphically, Dynasty Warriors has never been particularly amazing; with fairly poor draw distances and the detail of characters, especially in blade fodder. However, the nature of the game can be used to explain this, and the details of more important things (such as main characters) are vastly improved. The quality of cut scene animations is also very good in comparison.
In conclusion, Dynasty Warriors 7 fixes many of the mistakes that KOEI made in the sixth game, and returns to a slightly more familiar experience. Conquest mode adds a lot more content to the game, but a lack of flexibility in the Story mode harms the replayability slightly. There’s plenty here for fans of the series, with many unlockables, and a chance to test your knowledge of the game and stories behind it, whilst the new tutorial mode allows new players to easily dive in and take to the battlefield. All-in-all a fairly good addition to series, but a major overhaul of the game may be required sooner rather than later.
Fan Score: 8.0/10
Normal Score: 7.0/10
*Might I suggest that anyone who has the chance to read this book, to do so. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels, and a brilliant read in my opinion.
Reviews are always full of clichés: a hack and slash title is a God of War clone, any sandbox game has to be compared to Grand Theft Auto, and sequels are rarely as good as their original counterparts. However, one of the most long-standing clichés in gaming reviews concerns the Dynasty Warriors franchise.
”It won’t do anything to sway those who are not fans of the series”. That, in a variety of different phrases and colours, is a summary of what has been tagged onto Dynasty Warriors reviews since the third iteration, and that’s only because the first was so wildly different. So let me start by saying this: it won’t do anything to sway those who are not fans of the series. If you hated any of the previous five titles and their numerous spinoffs, there is little here that is going to change your mind. With that in mind, it is easy to see why the game scores so lowly in reviews everywhere, yet is loved and sells well, especially in Japan.
So there’s no point in reviewing this like any other title. It isn’t really like any other title in the marmite effect it has on gamers, so this will take the form of a more fan-focused review. (I am a fan of the Dynasty Warriors series of games, for the record. I had the original beat ‘em up style game for the PS1, and absolutely loved the freedom and carnage that was possible in the first iteration on PS2.)
Dynasty Warriors is a series of games based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong*, which itself is loosely based on and around the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, and allows the player to immerse themselves on the battlefield under the guise of one of many characters from the book.
As it has done since the PS2, Dynasty Warriors uses primarily hack and slash as its gameplay mechanic, and whilst repetitive, the game handles it well, with many characters on screen at once for cutting down. Following backlash from the modification of the battle mechanics in Dynasty Warriors 6, Dynasty Warriors 7 reverts back to the light attack, heavy attack six button player derived combos that had served the series well from its beginnings.
And the rewind is very welcome, as the combo-driven gameplay did detract any sort of skill that was required to play the game. Additions to the gameplay this time come in the form of on-the-fly weapons switching, which allows even more impressive combos to be pulled together, and EX attacks. EX attacks are character-specific, weapon-specific special attacks that either give special powers or deal high damage, and go some way to healing the wounds of the removal of unique movesets that occurred in the generation switchover.
The game offers two main modes. Firstly, Story mode allows the player to experience the classical battles and stories between the three kingdoms of Shu, Wu and Wei, as well as adding the culmination of the story with the kingdom of Jin. Story mode is a little rigid in it’s playthrough, as the game chooses the officer that you will be using for each battle, which can prevent the player developing flow with the characters. Despite this limitation, it is interesting to continue beyond the Wuzhang Plains, which generally was the cut off point for the previous games. Whilst it can be a little tiresome heading through the four story modes, it is essential to unlock many officers (as the game has a very limited selection from the beginning)
The other mode is conquest mode, where the player traverses around China, attempting to gain fame and fortune. This is where the majority of high-level weapons and other things are unlocked (including some officers), and consists of a high percentage of the content for the game. Players choose from a plethora of different battles ranging from the historically accurate to the ridiculously absurd (which also tend to be the most fun battles in the game) in which many different actions during the skirmish give various bonuses.
Conquest mode also has a very interesting addition in the capital cities that are littered around the map. A scholar appears every so often to quiz you on your knowledge of the history and story behind the game. This is a very interesting addition and can aid in a greater understanding of the history that the game is based on, but the difficulty of some questions borders on the ridiculous, but kudos to Tecmo KOEI in attempting to teach about the game, and well compliments the encyclopaedia that had come with the last few games.
Graphically, Dynasty Warriors has never been particularly amazing; with fairly poor draw distances and the detail of characters, especially in blade fodder. However, the nature of the game can be used to explain this, and the details of more important things (such as main characters) are vastly improved. The quality of cut scene animations is also very good in comparison.
In conclusion, Dynasty Warriors 7 fixes many of the mistakes that KOEI made in the sixth game, and returns to a slightly more familiar experience. Conquest mode adds a lot more content to the game, but a lack of flexibility in the Story mode harms the replayability slightly. There’s plenty here for fans of the series, with many unlockables, and a chance to test your knowledge of the game and stories behind it, whilst the new tutorial mode allows new players to easily dive in and take to the battlefield. All-in-all a fairly good addition to series, but a major overhaul of the game may be required sooner rather than later.
Fan Score: 8.0/10
Normal Score: 7.0/10
*Might I suggest that anyone who has the chance to read this book, to do so. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels, and a brilliant read in my opinion.
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Dynasty Warriors 7 Review
Reviews are always full of clichés: a hack and slash title is a God of War clone, any sandbox game has to be compared to Grand Theft Auto, and sequels are rarely as good as their original counterparts. However, one of the most long-standing clichés in gaming reviews concerns the Dynasty Warriors franchise.
”It won’t do anything to sway those who are not fans of the series”. That, in a variety of different phrases and colours, is a summary of what has been tagged onto Dynasty Warriors reviews since the third iteration, and that’s only because the first was so wildly different. So let me start by saying this: it won’t do anything to sway those who are not fans of the series. If you hated any of the previous five titles and their numerous spinoffs, there is little here that is going to change your mind. With that in mind, it is easy to see why the game scores so lowly in reviews everywhere, yet is loved and sells well, especially in Japan.
So there’s no point in reviewing this like any other title. It isn’t really like any other title in the marmite effect it has on gamers, so this will take the form of a more fan-focused review. (I am a fan of the Dynasty Warriors series of games, for the record. I had the original beat ‘em up style game for the PS1, and absolutely loved the freedom and carnage that was possible in the first iteration on PS2.)
Dynasty Warriors is a series of games based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong*, which itself is loosely based on and around the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, and allows the player to immerse themselves on the battlefield under the guise of one of many characters from the book.
As it has done since the PS2, Dynasty Warriors uses primarily hack and slash as its gameplay mechanic, and whilst repetitive, the game handles it well, with many characters on screen at once for cutting down. Following backlash from the modification of the battle mechanics in Dynasty Warriors 6, Dynasty Warriors 7 reverts back to the light attack, heavy attack six button player derived combos that had served the series well from its beginnings.
And the rewind is very welcome, as the combo-driven gameplay did detract any sort of skill that was required to play the game. Additions to the gameplay this time come in the form of on-the-fly weapons switching, which allows even more impressive combos to be pulled together, and EX attacks. EX attacks are character-specific, weapon-specific special attacks that either give special powers or deal high damage, and go some way to healing the wounds of the removal of unique movesets that occurred in the generation switchover.
The game offers two main modes. Firstly, Story mode allows the player to experience the classical battles and stories between the three kingdoms of Shu, Wu and Wei, as well as adding the culmination of the story with the kingdom of Jin. Story mode is a little rigid in it’s playthrough, as the game chooses the officer that you will be using for each battle, which can prevent the player developing flow with the characters. Despite this limitation, it is interesting to continue beyond the Wuzhang Plains, which generally was the cut off point for the previous games. Whilst it can be a little tiresome heading through the four story modes, it is essential to unlock many officers (as the game has a very limited selection from the beginning)
The other mode is conquest mode, where the player traverses around China, attempting to gain fame and fortune. This is where the majority of high-level weapons and other things are unlocked (including some officers), and consists of a high percentage of the content for the game. Players choose from a plethora of different battles ranging from the historically accurate to the ridiculously absurd (which also tend to be the most fun battles in the game) in which many different actions during the skirmish give various bonuses.
Conquest mode also has a very interesting addition in the capital cities that are littered around the map. A scholar appears every so often to quiz you on your knowledge of the history and story behind the game. This is a very interesting addition and can aid in a greater understanding of the history that the game is based on, but the difficulty of some questions borders on the ridiculous, but kudos to Tecmo KOEI in attempting to teach about the game, and well compliments the encyclopaedia that had come with the last few games.
Graphically, Dynasty Warriors has never been particularly amazing; with fairly poor draw distances and the detail of characters, especially in blade fodder. However, the nature of the game can be used to explain this, and the details of more important things (such as main characters) are vastly improved. The quality of cut scene animations is also very good in comparison.
In conclusion, Dynasty Warriors 7 fixes many of the mistakes that KOEI made in the sixth game, and returns to a slightly more familiar experience. Conquest mode adds a lot more content to the game, but a lack of flexibility in the Story mode harms the replayability slightly. There’s plenty here for fans of the series, with many unlockables, and a chance to test your knowledge of the game and stories behind it, whilst the new tutorial mode allows new players to easily dive in and take to the battlefield. All-in-all a fairly good addition to series, but a major overhaul of the game may be required sooner rather than later.
Fan Score: 8.0/10
Normal Score: 7.0/10
*Might I suggest that anyone who has the chance to read this book, to do so. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels, and a brilliant read in my opinion.
Reviews are always full of clichés: a hack and slash title is a God of War clone, any sandbox game has to be compared to Grand Theft Auto, and sequels are rarely as good as their original counterparts. However, one of the most long-standing clichés in gaming reviews concerns the Dynasty Warriors franchise.
”It won’t do anything to sway those who are not fans of the series”. That, in a variety of different phrases and colours, is a summary of what has been tagged onto Dynasty Warriors reviews since the third iteration, and that’s only because the first was so wildly different. So let me start by saying this: it won’t do anything to sway those who are not fans of the series. If you hated any of the previous five titles and their numerous spinoffs, there is little here that is going to change your mind. With that in mind, it is easy to see why the game scores so lowly in reviews everywhere, yet is loved and sells well, especially in Japan.
So there’s no point in reviewing this like any other title. It isn’t really like any other title in the marmite effect it has on gamers, so this will take the form of a more fan-focused review. (I am a fan of the Dynasty Warriors series of games, for the record. I had the original beat ‘em up style game for the PS1, and absolutely loved the freedom and carnage that was possible in the first iteration on PS2.)
Dynasty Warriors is a series of games based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong*, which itself is loosely based on and around the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, and allows the player to immerse themselves on the battlefield under the guise of one of many characters from the book.
As it has done since the PS2, Dynasty Warriors uses primarily hack and slash as its gameplay mechanic, and whilst repetitive, the game handles it well, with many characters on screen at once for cutting down. Following backlash from the modification of the battle mechanics in Dynasty Warriors 6, Dynasty Warriors 7 reverts back to the light attack, heavy attack six button player derived combos that had served the series well from its beginnings.
And the rewind is very welcome, as the combo-driven gameplay did detract any sort of skill that was required to play the game. Additions to the gameplay this time come in the form of on-the-fly weapons switching, which allows even more impressive combos to be pulled together, and EX attacks. EX attacks are character-specific, weapon-specific special attacks that either give special powers or deal high damage, and go some way to healing the wounds of the removal of unique movesets that occurred in the generation switchover.
The game offers two main modes. Firstly, Story mode allows the player to experience the classical battles and stories between the three kingdoms of Shu, Wu and Wei, as well as adding the culmination of the story with the kingdom of Jin. Story mode is a little rigid in it’s playthrough, as the game chooses the officer that you will be using for each battle, which can prevent the player developing flow with the characters. Despite this limitation, it is interesting to continue beyond the Wuzhang Plains, which generally was the cut off point for the previous games. Whilst it can be a little tiresome heading through the four story modes, it is essential to unlock many officers (as the game has a very limited selection from the beginning)
The other mode is conquest mode, where the player traverses around China, attempting to gain fame and fortune. This is where the majority of high-level weapons and other things are unlocked (including some officers), and consists of a high percentage of the content for the game. Players choose from a plethora of different battles ranging from the historically accurate to the ridiculously absurd (which also tend to be the most fun battles in the game) in which many different actions during the skirmish give various bonuses.
Conquest mode also has a very interesting addition in the capital cities that are littered around the map. A scholar appears every so often to quiz you on your knowledge of the history and story behind the game. This is a very interesting addition and can aid in a greater understanding of the history that the game is based on, but the difficulty of some questions borders on the ridiculous, but kudos to Tecmo KOEI in attempting to teach about the game, and well compliments the encyclopaedia that had come with the last few games.
Graphically, Dynasty Warriors has never been particularly amazing; with fairly poor draw distances and the detail of characters, especially in blade fodder. However, the nature of the game can be used to explain this, and the details of more important things (such as main characters) are vastly improved. The quality of cut scene animations is also very good in comparison.
In conclusion, Dynasty Warriors 7 fixes many of the mistakes that KOEI made in the sixth game, and returns to a slightly more familiar experience. Conquest mode adds a lot more content to the game, but a lack of flexibility in the Story mode harms the replayability slightly. There’s plenty here for fans of the series, with many unlockables, and a chance to test your knowledge of the game and stories behind it, whilst the new tutorial mode allows new players to easily dive in and take to the battlefield. All-in-all a fairly good addition to series, but a major overhaul of the game may be required sooner rather than later.
Fan Score: 8.0/10
Normal Score: 7.0/10
*Might I suggest that anyone who has the chance to read this book, to do so. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels, and a brilliant read in my opinion.