Refreshing changes with old-school gameplay.
In Story mode, you begin by selecting the kingdom you wish you play as. You can choose from the original three kingdoms, as well as the kingdom of Jin, but the game recommends you finish the other three kingdoms first. I played as Shu during my first time through, and was instantly gripped by the opening cutscene that seamlessly blended into battle. The first battle, as usual, is the Yellow Turban Rebellion. This battle, and as I came to find most Story mode battles, had multiple parts and would take quite some time to complete. One very important part of Story mode is that you don't get to choose your character for each battle. Instead, you're assigned a character important to that battle's story and have to complete the objectives given to you. This can prove frustrated because as we all know, some characters just aren't fun to play as. Possibly the worst thing about Story mode though, is there's NO multiplayer. None at all, seriously. My favorite part of past DW games was to play through Musou mode alongside a friend, but that's no longer possible. Generally, Story mode is fun to play through as each kingdom and is a great way to start playing the game.
Conquest mode is much different from Story mode, in that you choose who you fight as and where you fight. It's somewhat of a replacement for free mode, but not quite. You start on the corner of a China-shaped map of little hexagon tiles, each representing different types of battles or cities. Your goal is to clear the board, and you're allowed to do that in almost any way you choose. You can unlock characters by reaching the tile with their legendary battles, and completing them as that character. This can motivate you to go down one side of the map and fight through more difficult battles just to get your favorite character. There are chase, defensive, protection, and old-school army verses army battles. You can collect sworn allies to fight alongside you by improving your "bond" with them. You can also get guardian animals, which consist of horses, tigers, and even a magical healing panda. These aspects help keep interest in this game mode even if you're in a boring spot. It's a fun mode to play, and personally my favorite part of the game. I even have multiple accounts to play it multiple times, neither of which are very far though because of how massive the board is.
There's quite a few additional faces this time around, as well as, some characters brought back. There are two new Wei characters, two new Wu characters, four new Shu characters, and eight new characters for the new Jin kingdom. There's also been characters brought back from DW5 that had been left out of DW6, with the exceptions of Pang De and Zuo Ci. As usual, there are new outfits for everybody, as well as, the future possibility of downloadable outfits from prior games.
A big change this time around is the dual-weapon system. Each character gets to choose from two weapons to use in battle, and can change them on the fly with a semi-powerful attack. Many characters use a generic sword as their main weapon with the same attack sequence, but the addition of an EX attack adds some variety to playing between different characters. Each characters has two different Musous, each with its own particular use in battle.
Overall, the gameplay is the same as its always been. You play as your character and fight your way through massive amounts of soldiers, sometimes running across officers that require a little more skill to take down. With the changes made, however, you have different options of how to take care of each obstacle you face. There has been improved graphics as well which make the game much better to look at, with a greater view distance than you'd see on the PS2 games.
The soundtrack this time around is essentially the same as we've grown to love in dynasty warriors. Heavy guitars with speedy riffs that make the battle feel more intense than it honestly is. The voice acting in DW7 is yet another improvement on the game. Most of the characters seem more real now, but some still have their cheesy voice acting that makes you wonder if they really hired someone to do the voice, or if they just had a game developer throw his voice on it.
In conclusion, DW7 is a well needed improvement to the series. The changes make to story mode, while somewhat frustrating, do a lot to envelop you in the actual story of the Three Kingdoms. Once you get used to it, Conquest mode is a refreshing change from the monotony of Free Mode. New characters, a new kingdom, and minor gameplay changes keep things interesting for loyal fans of the series. This is quite possibly the most fun I've had with a Dynasty Warriors game since I started playing the series with DW4.