Review.. A year later.
This is the first Dynasty Warriors to venture past The Battle of Wuzhang Plains, adding in the Jin Dynasty. While not all have returned, DW7 bring 65 characters from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. The first thing you will notice after starting the game is that there isn't a Free Mode anymore. While this will sour some Veterans, the new Conquest Mode and Musou Mode should keep you busy for quite some time.
Musou Mode is Kingdom based, so now when you go into battle the character is picked for you based on the Kingdom. In Conquest Mode, you start out owning a small region of China and you expand upon it by carrying out certain missions in each specific region. The Missions vary from 1 on 1, Peasant Rescue, to the All-out battles you would find in the Musou Mode. You are able to pick any character from the cast and play Online or Offline 2-Player Co-op. For fans of the Novel and Lore of the series, the Encyclopedia is full of Officer, Weapon, and Battle information. Options include BGM Edit, Stereoscopic 3D, and Voice Option, where you can change from English to Japanese if you have downloaded it free on PSN and XBL.
DW7 has done a visual upgrade which surprisingly, keeps a steady frame-rate in hectic situations. The playable character models look great, even though the enemies and stages still look very generic. The Core game mechanics for this entry are generally the same as before with a slight twist. You can equip any weapon you have unlocked in the game except 2. The Whip, which is locked to Female characters and The Great Sword locked to Male. The Weapons system is great and you can change them on the fly during gameplay with the Switch Attack. To keep characters balanced and not to have Xiao Ciao pummeling enemies with Lu Bu's Pike, Koei Implemented the EX attack system which the character can use only with their preferred weapon. These attacks tend to do a hefty amount of damage, so you usually want to have your default weapon equipped. In Battle you carry two Upgradable weapons with most Upgrades being stackable. Though some characters have the same Weapons and Basic Attacks, Each character now has 2 Musou Attacks and 6 Charge Attacks to keep you interested.
Even after a year, the game is still being supported on PSN and XBL with DLC. The Packs include Original Costumes, Costumes from previous entries, new Conquest Mode stages, Weapon Packs, and BGM from previous titles. If you've walked past this game at your local store with $40 hand saying to yourself "Maybe when it hits the bargain bin", you should do yourself a favor and go ahead and pick this up. The Dynasty Warriors Franchise has had its bumps along the road, but if Koei uses 7 as the foundation for future titles and evolve upon that, they can bring this series back to its former glory.