HomeVideo GamesDynasty Warriors 7 Empires - Game Review

Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires – Game Review

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DW7ECoverTitle: Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires
Developed By: Omega Force / Koei
Published By: Tecmo Koei / Mindscape (Australia)
Based On: The long running Dynasty Warriors Series
Console: Playstation 3 Exclusive
Genre: Hack ‘n’ Slash
Classification (AU): This title has been classified as M for Violence (Gaming Experience May Change Online)
Review Conditions: Australian Edition, Playstation 3, Physical Media


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Each numbered installment in the Dynasty Warriors series is generally based off the Romance of the Three Kingdoms saga, and Dynasty Warriors 7 is no exception. As of Dynasty Warriors 3 on the Playstation 2 – Omega Force and Koei have chosen to release a number of spin-off titles based on the same technology of the respective main game often with an altered gameplay experience. The longest running additional spin-off series has been the Xtreme Legends expansion which generally offers new scenarios and other bonus features not included in the original release. The Empires titles on the other hand are more notable different – where they switch the focuses a bit… from a more storyline oriented conquest of China to a user-directed unification of China and where you can use both original and custom characters with the goal to unite the country under your rule.

Considering the game is the twenty-something’th installment in the Dynasty Warriors series that began in 1997, it has been running for quite a while now. Each title in the series has maintained the same core gameplay with tweaks to set itself from the other releases – in particular with more recent releases as they have made the jump to current generation consoles. Does Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires offer anything past what some people have come to expect as a button mashing game? Granted it will most probably not win many new people over to the series – for current fans I felt it offered quite a different experience from previous Empires installments and was pretty enjoyable to play through (More so if you play on the more challenging difficulties). Read more to find out why.

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Storyline

The games only playable mode is the “Empire Mode”, where you take on the role as a character out there to make it big during a number of big events heavily featured in the series – whether it is a free officer, mercenary, loyal officer or even a ruler set upon leading your Kingdom to complete control through any means possible. The five primary events you can choose to play through are “The Yellow Turban Rebellion”, “The Alliance Against Dong Zhuo”, “Battle of Guandu”, “The Battle of Chibi” and “Coup d’etat”. As Empires is a conquest rather than a storyline oriented game – generally this sets up what forces or character controls what region and a few general events, with you able to join up with any group as a free officer, alter history and essentially by the end claim the land as your own – or your rulers.

While the game offers these five more structured scenarios, they also offer a sixth “A Gathering of Heroes” campaign where you can set up the land to your desire. Will you start off as a ruler looking to spread your reign? Will you make custom characters of each of your friends, make them all rulers and see who survives at the end? Despite being limited to some extent, this extra scenario does offer quite a considerable degree of control over the events, and is the only one to fully embrace the “Edit” concept of the Empires series.

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The game includes many more events than its previous Empires predecessor, including events when your warrior increases their rank with their ruler, marries or a handful of other events. Where the game does lack a bit is the endings – where the earlier installment offered a series of different endings depending on your actions during the game – it offers one depending on your warriors fame and another couple depending on the rulers (or your) rank when they claim control. While this was disappointing the inclusion or more event scenes throughout the game was welcome – and I could have gone for more even.

I always like a solid storyline in any game I play, but given how the game has been developed it doesn’t offer anything more than necessary to integrate you into the user-controlled conquest element of the game. DW7E could have done with more event scenes, and more dialogue/in-game events for that matter to pull off something good, but overall it was average – not great but nothing that really hinders the experience. If you want storyline I recommend Dynasty Warriors 7 instead.

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Design

The visuals in Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires came across as disappointing, and while they just managed to do the job they were overall below average – suffering from visual issues, occasional lag spikes and bland environment designs with the only real highlight being the Musou Warrior (Including Edit Characters) designs. When I first played Dynasty Warriors 7 I was excited given the visual style they brought to that game the problems of the previous Empires game may have been resolved, and for the most part they were.

Environments in DWE7 earned a complete revamp and were both open and vibrant and didn’t suffer from as many design flaws as DWE6 (Eg. Almost every hill irrespective of length being jump-able). While there were only one or two new weapon designs, many of the designs and animations carried over from DW7 – with a wide variety of Musou attacks to go with them. Granted you will most probably not be paying much attention to the animations when you are inundated with hundreds of the same looking soldiers jabbing you with spears… but it does its job well. The character designs are carried over from DW7 and offer several different appearances for you to select from – including clothing from earlier installments (DW4 onwards from memory). In terms of edit characters, the Edit Mode system has been carried over and improved from DW6E with the same hairstyles and clothing options with the addition of many more – and greater customization of facial features. Additional costumes can be purchased using Bonus Points obtained after each battle and completing playthroughs.

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Music / Voice Acting

While DW7E comes with a standard set of tracks which are pretty enjoyable for menus and other areas of the games systems – once you enter a battle you are given the option of either using the standard battle theme for that area or a number of tracks from the history of the Dynasty Warriors series. It offers variety and I think it is a rather nifty addition.

For the first time in the Dynasty Warriors series, Tecmo Koei have decided not to include an English dub and instead offer only the original Japanese dub. It comes down to personal preference and would be one of the major reasons why it is only available as a digital download in North America (In PAL regions it has recieved a physical release). Overall the English and Japanese dubs in previous installments were both good – so it comes down to personal preference. It is not a deal breaker when it comes to purchasing the game and the voice acting is solid – but I personally wouldn’t have minded an English dub with the option to switch.

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Gameplay

If you have played the demo, you may already aware that one of the games key features is its Edit Mode, where you can create more than 100 custom officers which you can either control during your time in Empire Mode or alternatively have appear during it – especially during “A Gathering of Heroes” which fully embraces the extra functionality of this title. The characters can be named and then customized through some rather extensive customization tools and options.

Fortunately unlike Dynasty Warriors Next (PSV) which required you to manually unlock weapons, the entire set of weapons and a variety of musou attacks are available for you to add to your custom characters. The game offers a wide variety of normal and unusual weapon options, and while you are only able to set one default weapon they can be upgraded during Empire Mode and you can also wield another weapon of your choice during the playthrough. Another new feature is that you can choose to associate any edit character with one of the regular characters in Empire Mode – allowing them to take the name and appear in their place during any of the Empire modes. This can easily be switched.

Moving on to the main gameplay, it offers a few changes from the original Empires formula. For one you feel more integrated into whatever role you are positioned as by actually standing in a planning room with fellow officers – a visual quirk but it worked. From there you can choose to initiate policies and build diplomatic ties, train your army, manage / interact with personnel, go to battle or even do a spot of shopping in town. Depending on your rank, some options will be locked to you – and gameplay between being an officer and ruler is different (Although being an officer or even a vigilante are more interesting options to follow). It is by far a much more improved system from earlier Empires installments and especially on harder difficulties can play an even bigger determining factor on your victory than battles themselves.

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Battles are split into two types – Skirmishes which take part in surrounding regions and are generally mini-missions to build up fame and weaken enemies. On the other hand, actual battles can be performed either defensively or in an invasion attempt and are generally initiated by the ruler. Every six months (January and July), a War Council is held where you are granted individual missions and the focus for the next six months is determined. Options include building wealth and power, invading or defending or planning for an attack. While you can sway the decision with your own proposal, I found on my playthroughs that the rulers were conservative about invading other nations when there were one or two left, but other than that the system adds a sense of sophistication and helps players embrace everything the game has to offer rather than charging into battles all the time.

The most important aspect to your game experience is tied to six types of fame (Brave, Wise, Kind, Orderly, Affluent and Evil) – for which each character are initially associated with one and are changed / built upon by almost every action you take in and out of battle. These offer different promotional opportunities, acquisition opportunities, the ending you recieve and stratagems… perhaps the most surprising and welcome change made to this title.

In earlier installments Strategems were things associated with an officer which you spent funds on – from setting fire to the first base you set foot in to recruiting an extra officer that term. This time around depending on the levels of fame and types of fame you have you will unlock cards which allow you to use skills on the field – from summoning an Elite Guard to causing water levels to rise to barricading your bases for a set time, there are plenty of options and can be the determining factor in your victory during a battle. Other characters can use them to – so expect to find yourself locked in a base against your will once in a while.

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The value of the games actual battle system depends on the level of difficulty you have set it at. Overall, Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires is partly about taking out as many enemy officers as possible eventually taking out the leader and their main base (or essentially moving around and “button mashing”) – but on the other hand its true value lies in the journey to the main base. In the Beginner and Easy difficulties, you can generally be a one-man team and go through successive enemy bases until you reach the main base – but on harder difficulty settings where enemies (Even the generic ones) are more durable and can pack a punch – it becomes a matter of managing your bases and fellow warriors in assuring you stay alive and you don’t lose more bases than you are taking. That being said, you have six different Empire Mode campaigns to play through and five difficulties – so working your way up to a difficulty you are comfortable with may be the best way to go.

Asides from a few gameplay quirks (An example being characters refusing to fight to the death in water and will harmlessly paddle to the next available surface), the battle system is what you would have come to expect from an Empires game but with a few added perks to keep it fresh. It may not win too many people over, but for current fans it should offer enough to merit a few playthroughs. In addition, the game offers an “Extra Mode” – which allows you to create teams of custom characters to have appear in “A Gathering of Heroes” and also allows you to share and download individual officers and teams from other players. Other officers downloaded or not will also appear during “A Gathering of Heroes” – primarily as free officers.

Dynasty Warriors Empires 7 supports two players – both locally and through online support. Unfortunately 2P online wasn’t a popular option when I was playing and only got a single multiplayer playthrough in at the beginner difficulty. The system worked, there was no noticeable lag on my end and provided people embrace it more I think it could end up being a fun system to use. Helping others does not have impact on your own save files or characters, and the number of times a shared character/team is downloaded is not trackable.

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Overall, in my opinion Empires is a great improvement over the earlier Empires titles that brings back features that fans have been wanting as well as introducing many new gameplay dynamics for newcomers and veterans of the series to enjoy. I would most probably still recommend Dynasty Warriors 7 for newcomers as the presence of a storyline helps build appreciation for the characters and setting – but otherwise in terms of strategy and conquest gameplay components…. DWE7 was an enjoyable game and I look forward to pooling even more hours into it in the near future.

Fun Fact: My first Platinum trophy on the Playstation 3 was for Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires – although the requirements to unlock it were very simple in comparison to DWE7.

FINAL SCORE
Storyline/Character Development: C
Design: B+
Music/Voice Acting: A
Gameplay: B
Replayability: B
Personal Opinion: B
Overall Score: B

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.
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