Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce PS3

Date: 29 / Jun / 2011

Subzerosz

A review from a solo player

Lots of people have talked about the online and multiplayer aspect of this game. I'm not going to be one of them. I bought this game pretty much when it was released, but got frustrated early on because of some insane difficulty. I didn't really want to play online, but wow, was it tough. Now, months later, I have rediscovered the game. And you know what? This is probably the most original DW title to date, with tons of good ideas, some of which aren't properly implemented. First off: The Good: 1) The giant bosses are great. Seriously, when siege weapons were introduced in DW4, this should have been the focus. It is a blast fighting through Yellow Thunder, or Bi Xie, or Tian Lu, etc. etc. In single player, you really have to work, but it's very satisfying to take down multiple generals and a giant statue breathing fire and thunder at you. 2) I love the fighting in the air. With the new "fury" state, you can really fly to new heights. Of course, the bosses can do the same, and it opens one of the biggest problems in the game, but the idea is sound. 3) The hack-and-slash action is as good as ever. The peons can fight now, so you'll have to mind yourself around them. The new enemies (such as tigers, arbalest cannons, and wall-mounted lasers) add to the enjoyment. The Bad: 1) The weapons are way too unbalanced for a solo player. Sure, I love using Xiahou Dun's cudgel, but when it's crunch time, there's really only one choice: the bow. Nothing else really compares, as it offers a ranged, guided attack, allowing you to snipe from afar without getting into too much danger. The one negative is that the bow requires the lock-on function, which is just a nightmare, as I'll explain below. 2) The camera is more atrocious than ever. You will feel nauseous more than once as it swings around. Controlling it is a necessary function of the game, but wow, is it a pain. I imagine this comes from the fact that on a small screen, you wouldn't care nearly as much, but as the game was scaled, the camera wasn't compensated very well. Or something. Whatever the problem, it's horrible. 3) The lock-on function. Seriously, I can't imagine who designed this thing. While it's generally easy enough to lock onto an officer, it's impossible to move between normal targets. You can be sitting in front of a cannon, trying to lock onto it, and the lock-on will constantly target a solider in the distance. Unfortunately, if you're going to use the bow (and you will, if you play solo), you will need the lock-on at all times. Prepare for hell. There are a lot of minor annoyances in this game as well. For example, some bonus objectives simply don't work the way they're supposed to. In one humorous instance, I killed almost 400 enemies for an objective that asked to kill only 100. I still failed the objective. But all in all, this game provides some necessary overhaul to a decaying franchise. If KOEI would just put all of its ideas together, it would have a formidable game. As it stands, this is still a nice game, but it needs work.

Age: 25-34

Gender: Male