Dynasty Warriors series may have lost its hype, but this latest entry sure makes it self as the best installment.
Before I start, this game is based on the famous book called 'The Romance of the Three Kingdoms' which is based on the history of China in the 1st and 2nd century. The biggest difference in this game is the 'Story Mode'. In the previous DW games, you used to choose a character and play its own story in 4 or 5 or 6 stages. This time you choose one of the Three Kingdoms of China. Once you choose a kingdom, you will play several unique stages and most stages star a playable character. For example, you may start the story mode with the king of the kingdom you chose and later continue the story with his own sons or with his subordinates. This gives more insight to story of the Three Kingdoms thus making the story mode more interesting and rewarding. Another great mechanism that makes the story mode more interest is the seamless transition of in-game cut-scenes and the game itself. You will never lose the pace of gaming. Rather than having the Three Kingdoms, you will have a new kingdom called Kingdom of Jin. For the first time, you will have more insight to the story after the decisive battle called Battle of Wu Zhang Plains. This new kingdom also features more new characters which makes a total of 62 playable characters.
The combat and battle system is just like the old DW games but with more elements. You can now use 'Charge Attacks' and perform more tactical combos just like before, which this was absent in Dynasty Warriors 6. Finally 'Musou Attacks' are more helpful and powerful. Each character has 2 unique musou attacks which can be either radial attack, linear attack, grapple attack and aerial attack. You will learn new attack moves, musou attacks and skills by using Skill Points earned by defeating enemy officers. The skill tree is very basic but each character has its own unique skill tree which makes them different from each other. Another new great features is the ability to carry 2 different weapons and switch them in the battlefield. If you hate your character's main weapon, switch up to your favorite weapon. You can also switch weapons to increase your combo and make yourself completely lethal. Although every character has its own proficiency for each weapon, which adds some depth to the characters. The item system is missing but this time you will equip skills to your weapon's skill slot. Apart from these elements, you can still climb ladders and swim in the water which gives a little bit of strategy to the game. You can also use catapults, arbalests and tank like machines where it shoots flames. Finally the battlefield is more interesting with these elements.
To complete all kingdom's story mode, it takes around 10-15 hours and some missions can be quite challenging. Once you are done with story mode, you must play 'Conquest Mode' which replaces 'Free Mode'. In this mode, you will have the ability to enter towns, hire officers, collect unique weapons, guardian animals, solve quizzes and unlock special characters that were not in the story mode. To do so, you will have the map of China divided into hexagons. You will start from one point and captures or conquer hexagons by succeeding their missions. You will earn stat bonuses, weapons, guardian animals and towns by completing the missions. You will also get to play every characters' legendary battles and unlock them for you roster. It takes quite a while to finish the conquest mode but you will also unlock huge sum of achievements in that way. You can also connect to LIVE to co-op hard missions and share loot with your friend.
When it comes to graphics, it is below its standards. The game supports 720p but you will not have the potential of it. There is real time shadows, sun glares, shining metal pieces etc. but the textures are horrible. The main characters do have great costumes and hairstyles but the awful voice acting ruins everything. You may download a 2gb free DLC to have Japanese voice acting which improves this issue. The sound effects are bland as always but the BGMs are nice and suits the games pace.
In the conclusion, Dynasty Warriors 7 sure is the best DW game with its new elements that gives some refreshment to its series and the fans will be quite happy with it. The game also have costume, weapon, BGM and stage DLCs that gives more content to a huge game. If you love countless hours of hack n' slash this game is for you.