Same game, new graphics, more expansion packs on the way!
You can climb ladders.
You can swim.
You can see further.
You can play as a character with the same move-set as about 7 other characters.
You lose a hefty chunk of characters from the last installment.
You get the same basic fighting system disguised under a new name.
And now for the elaboration. In the past few installments, the core gameplay of Dynasty Warriors has slightly changed, which isn't all that bad, but it never really drove the series forward. This however, has changed! Players will now have the ability to swim and climb ladders! Hoo-wee! Oh...wait a second...that's it? Oh, wait, we can ambush forts by jumping in unexpectedly! What's that? The troops inside can't attack you then? Oh well, they never really pose a threat anyway. Yes, that's right. 5 installments in the hack-n-slash series, and all Omega Force can muster up is the ability to climb ladders and swim. Ho'boy, can't wait!
Ah, but let's not forget the new Renbu system added into the game! The Renbu system is basically this; the more you attack and kill, the more capability you have to attack and kill. Basically, you start off at level one; you're charge attack is basic, and you're limited to three combo attacks. As you rack up your combo, your Renbu bar increases until you hit level 2, 5 attacks, and a longer charge attack, level 3, 7 attacks, and an even longer charge attack, and then you hit infinite Renbu, where you get endless attacks, and a full-fledged charge attack. Here's the kicker though, you have to level up your Renbu through the skill tree! Imagine sitting through one or two levels having only three attacks at your disposal! I can feel my eye twitching already!
This brings me to the skill buildling. It's one of the better changes, as it eliminates the need for collecting all of those pesky items, and it adds at least a slight bit of customization to your character. However, all of the skills are mostly recycled, but who cares, this is a chaotic hack-n-slash.
One of the greatest letdowns of this game is in the characters. Sure, some of the costume redesigns are great, and work well, while some other are atrocious. Cao Ren looks like a mech, and Zhang He is further turned into a transvestite with his eye-gouging outfit. That's not the worst of it however, the worst part is that more than half the characters have shamelessly recycled moves. While this was done in previous installments, yes, it wasn't done to this horrible of a degree. It's a shame too, the weapon redesigns are great.
And now we waddle our way to the positive notes. You can see farther. This may seem small, but it sure as hell beats other installments where enemies would seemingly materialize out of the thick fog that stood before and stabbed you right in your spine, paralyzing you and making you thrust your controller at your screen at ungodly speeds. Now, you can see the fighting unfold from miles away, leaving little materializing bastards a thing of the past.
While the overused move sets are a disappointment, the newer move sets work well. For instance, Liu Bei's dual-swords combo look great, and do a good job of destroying everything in sight. The worst of all however, is Dian Wei' gigantic swinging chain, which is so slow you may as well make a sandwich, deliver it to your neighboor, go to a swingin' party, and come back before his 7 hit combo finishes.
Shying away from the positive notes, the levels are lacking in numbers compared to previous installments, and the levels are a tad bit bland, not that you should pay too much attention to it. Dueling has been reinstated into this version, but it is fairly annoying, and can only take place in those annoying forts. What happens is, you confront a random general in a fort, then everyone forms a circle around you and you fight one on one, with other generals waiting to kick your ass. The major drawback is that every time you get slightly too close to the edge of the circle, enemy troops smack you around the ring in an attempt to fling you back to the middle, but what ends up happening is that you get juggled by those annoying asshats while the general is making mince meat out of your rear. To make matters worse, the enemy general is pumped up, which is utterly retarded. I can't imagine Guo Jia ever being able to beat Zhang Fei in a duel, which I have had happen to me. Is it because I suck? Partially. Is it because I was busy being juggled by enemy soldiers and Guo Jia at the same time? Mostly.
This brings me to the difficulty. Wait, what? Oh right. The game has a difficulty setting. It doesn't really matter, since the enemy soldiers mostly sit there because they have no clue what the hell that thing in their hand is, and feel like taking a sentimental beating. Chaos mode is basically easy mode except everyone's defense outnumbers yours threefold, and all of your allies lack a brain, die quickly, and leave all of the fighting to you. That's right, your allies once again sit back and do just about nothing short of dying at the worst of times. This leaves you being the only person on the battlefield doing anything productive. All the difficulty setting does is making your enemies harder to hit, make you easier to die, and actually make the soldiers attack you more than 0 times a minute.
So what are we left with? The same game you played 3 years ago with new graphics, the ability to swim, and climb ladders. Is this a bad game? No. Calling it bad insults it. Is this a great game? No. Calling it great insults the word great. It's as good as the others after Dynasty Warriors 3 have been. Which isn't the worst thing of the world. Fans of the series will love the game, hell I love the game, and it pains me to attempt to be unbiased towards it. It's a traditional Dynasty Warriors game, and that's its biggest flaw. It does nothing to push its genre forward, and is content with it staying the way it has been. You should by no means avoid playing this game, you just shouldn't expect it to be something great.