A game made to appease fans of the Genre, and has many updates that people had wanted to see in Koei's games.
Visual Presentation
The game is bright colourful to say the least and has a very anime style to the world and characters. Every aspect of this game on a visual bases was built to look like anime, and in a way its smoother and more powerful looking on the surface compared to Koei's titles. However its needed to be said it isn't without flaw. Many unimportant characters they didn't bother to animate even there mouth movement when speaking and often these same characters are ugly and not very detailed. Like they gave up animating some things after finishing only so much of the game. Perhaps they had to cut corners to release it on time? Its unclear why they avoided some details.
8/10
Sound
On its own it is alive with voice actors and music, and the voice acting also much improved from Koei titles. On its own however its still sounds a bit generic in the voiced cast, and some are great while other you wish would stop talking. You'll find recognizable voice actors amongst some of the main cast, but the lower end characters sound like there not even trying sometimes, but my only real big gripe about the voice acting is the lip sync is so off its almost funny.
7/10
Gameplay
This is where this game is at its best. You'll find yourself hacking away like any other Koei beat em up, but this time it feels a bit less repetitious as many titles of this type have been known for. Capcom looks to switch of the formula a tad bit and give the player a handful of special attacks to bring up a chain combo to insane numbers, and they are gained through leveling and many by themselves level as well. Each Character also feeling a bit different in there own way. A improvement that feels very welcome. Another way Capcom switches it up is with objective based maps. Each map in the game is based objectives that need to be completed that always make you feel like your actually doing something important in battle rather than Koei's destroy everything on the map. This new tactic system is incredible refreshment from Koei, but doesn't quite feel deep enough most of the times, but at least its a step in the right direction. You can also build accessories from materials and find powerful unique looking weapons to equip. You can even unlock Allies on your journey that will follow you into battle. Some are General "who are you again?" characters while others actually have an attachment to the players character. Finally the best improvement is making boss encounters unique and challenging. Some make you think of optional strategies while others implore you to duke it out in an endurance grudge match. This is the best saving grace of the game and something that has been needed for much to long.
All in all its good to see someone trying to spice up a somewhat bland genre.
10/10
Overall Judgement
The Game as a whole is not without flaws, but in its own right attempts to breath life into a stale system. Some great, others not so much. While riddled with holes it always feels good to pop in an game where you can relax and watch the kill count stack up. This game is just plain old fashioned fun.
8.5/10