Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce (Xbox 360)

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce has to be one of the most slept on games in today's market. With advertising constantly pumping big name games, DWSF is forced onto the back-burner. Not to mention Koei did not advertise the game in the US.

For long standing fans of the series, there is a bit of a change, but in my opionion still equals a good time. DWSF has a more fantasy feel to it with the introduction of "Fury Mode." Fury Mode allows your character to transform in a manner such as a Saiyan to a Super Saiyan. This mode allows for increased damage, speed, jump, etc. and can be followed by an ultimate musou attack.

Another change to get use to is the lack of mounted animals. When I say lack, I mean complete dismisal of the idea of riding a horse. You will ride/control no animal in DWSF (you can jump on giant dragon's backs however, as well as other crazy boss')as there are no animals to mount. This however makes perfect sense once you see the speed of the game and character abilities, riding a horse will simply slow you down.

Another major change in the series is the RPG type elements & upgrades. Past games threw experience at you and it was all clumped up in one category. In DWSF you can now level specific weapon types, as well as your characters abilties such as speed, strength, defence, attack, etc. You also can create weapons and add upgrades and abilities to increase weapon strength and effectiveness against certain enemies.

There are also no one on one duel challenges issued in game-play, something I personally miss but is acceptable with the new style of action presented in DWSF.

Koei still has issues with slow-down/lag even on the Xbox 360. You'll find yourself in a battle against several officers, surrounded by fire and you'll notice it takes 30 seconds to swing your weapon, not to mention jump or simply move. Slow-down is not terrible, it's definately playable and is experienced only in specific corners of certain areas and stages. Once you step to the left of change your camera angle, everything will return to normal speed.

There is no split-screen play as the game supports only one player per console. Thankfully Koei has finally brought co-op multiplayer back to the game (as well as multiplayer duels). In multiplayer you will be able to trade materials to create weapons, orbs, and other items with other players. If you're having an issue locatiing an item you can simply ask for the item from another player. You can also trade Officers with players online. This allows your traded officer to upgrade Chi abilities and gain experience at a faster rate ("Chi" is a power or attribute that aids your officer(s). Any one character can have up to five different chi abilities.).

As of now those are the most noteable matters I can think of sharing. I loved DW:4 for Playstation 2 and found myself quite disappointed with DW:6 due to no multiplayer/online support. DWSF however, is quite fun. It takes a bit of getting use to even for veteran DW players, but it's well worth the money. I'm into 102 hours of gameplay and as far as I can tell I've got many more hours to go.

**Notice**

The DEMO available on Xbox Live is quite misleading and does not represent the full game accurately. It will give you only a slight taste and will restrict you from customizing anything.

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Ok I played the DW series since DW 2 and loved them all. I love the hack and slash games against a crap load of enemies. Strikeforce, however, has changed the game that I loved and turned it into...well, let's say they had good ideas but never seemed to follow through and perfect the idea. First of all, the aerial combat just plain sucks...why? The camera never stays on target for more than a few seconds...and half the time im trying to find my flying enemy who goes off screen and disappears. Further more. you don't really fly but dash a little in the air... Another is the targeting system. It seemed difficult to target a specific enemy if he isn't right in front of you. Even if he was in front of you, it was still difficult to target a specific enemy. Doesn't sound too bad but try targeting a enemy when you have like hundreds of lackeys and 2-3 boss types attacking you at once. Gets old real fast. Another issue i had was the giant animal bosses like the lion, demon unicorn, and others. The problem i had was once again the damn camera made the fight difficult and awkward since it seemed to zoom out every few seconds making me trying to locate my character. really annoying after like the fiftieth time. I was expecting an epic game but instead koei comes out with a game full of flaws and annoyances that prevent me from really enjoying the game. This is probably one of the worst DW game to come out on any system.

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Like many other DW fans when I heard about this game I was estatic. I needed to have it. I read the reviews and I watched the gameplay videos. They showed me the same thing Ive seen in every DW game, but this one was severley lacking in many areas. I hated this game right off the bat. It's a watse of money, I recomend that KOEI tries REAL hard to make the next one better. This game could kill the genre.

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