The Dynasty Warriors series has seen many spin-offs. Some of these spin-offs include the empires series along with the Warriors Orochi series. Both had their greats and flaws but, were more or less the same with some gameplay enhancements. That’s when Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce hits the scene. Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce was first release for the PSP about a year ago but, was soon release for console this year. Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce changes gameplay a lot and takes a different path this time around. Does this spin-off bold well for Dynasty Warriors or does it fail to see its true potential.

STORY:

For the people who have played the Dynasty Warriors series for years, you should know by now that the story/facts of ancient china and the wars between Wei, Wu, and Shu. In Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, the story is just the same just broken down in chapters. Each chapter takes you from the Yellow Turban Campaign to Wei and Wu final confrontation. Another thing is that the stories are one; each character/warrior has the same story just told in a different way as a whole army. For this spin-off its fine this way, due to the fact, Strikeforce is pretty much a different game on its own accord. Overall, the three stories of the three kingdoms are the same as the Dynasty Warriors in the past but, this time around it’s told as a whole and not each individual character.

GAMEPLAY:

Strikeforce gameplay features a lot of the same but, with a unique twist. This unique twist is called “The Awakening” in which transforms the warriors into some type of super saiyan form, just for the Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. This form effects both appearance and stats. This form is just really an upgraded version of Musou Rage. Overall, this twist is pretty cool and awesome idea for Strikeforce.

Like the said before, Strikeforce keeps a lot of the gameplay features but, just updates them to fit the gameplay. In Strikeforce, the player can choose weapons from the main weapon slot or the sub weapon slot. Let’s take Zhao Yun for example, Zhao Yun main weapon will be his spear and there will be many spears to choose from but, along with that he can choose any other weapon with the sub weapon slot. It also comes down to stats on which sub weapon you should choose for him. Each character has their own main weapon to choose but, can’t change the class of it, unlike the sub weapon, the player can experiment what weapon they would like for their favorite Dynasty Warrior character.

Another thing, that Strikeforce added was the ability to have your own hometown or base. This base can be upgrade and buy more weapons, orbs, chi, items and more. Besides buying things in your base, this base will be your multiplayer lobby, unique event place, chapter/side quest selection and more. Depending on how well you upgrade everything in your base depends on a lot on some of these events. What are orbs and chi? Well, these powerful little upgrades help your characters stats and weapons. Orbs can be combined with your weapons to enhance them and Chi improves stats of your character or adds abilities to that character.

Once you are done with decking out your favorite character with all the most useful things, you will be ready to select your quest. These quests will give you items to upgrade, make new weapons, orbs, and chi and more. Strikeforce has a big focus on grinding to reach a lot of your goals. Once a quest is select, the player will now go to the camp screen. If the player forgot anything in his/her base, you can complete it here like selecting weapons, orgs and chi, besides that tactics cards can be place here. Tactics cards are given by officers within the base and can be used to aid the player by giving him/her effects on the battlefield.

Once on the field, player will find out that it’s way different than previous Dynasty Warriors games. Each field is pretty small and linear with few bunching path. Other missions will have breathing room when others don’t. There are a lot of missions so don’t worry if some maps are too small, there are large maps too. Based on the mission the players choose, the main objective can be very different. Some missions will have the player fighting the commander, a gigantic boss/animal, fighting hordes/waves of enemies, and more. There is a big variety in missions, but these missions can be more enjoyable with friends.

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, features Co-op and Vs play. In Co-op the player can team up with three other to complete a difficult mission, help him/her grind, and much more. In Vs. it’s a arena type match on where, it should who is the better Dynasty Warriors player. When not on the field fighting hordes of enemies or battling each other, your home base will be for communication.  Players can trade items, and officer cards here, along with talking and planning out what to do next.

There are some mistakes that Strikeforce made. One and two will be the lock-on system and camera. Locking-on to an enemy helps but, when things get a little crazy, both the camera and lock-on well mess the player up. When both are in awaking form that when the worst comes out, when people are flying and dashing all over the place the camera just can keep up with a the fast-pace action. Another problem slow-down is a big issue. At times, the game will start to slow-down when action gets to intense and every will go into slow-mo for a little, till it get back up to speed. Overall, Strikeforce features a lot of new ideas for this new spinoff. Some are good, some are bad, but there is always some type of improvement. Strikeforce still has that potential to be that unique Dynasty Warriors spinoff.

GRAPHICS/SOUND:

Graphics are decent at best. The game looks good from afar but, when up close it doesn’t really have great graphics. Character models on each warrior are well-done, along with their new awaking form that provides a different look for them.  The soundtrack is pretty much of the same soundtrack used in Dynasty Warriors 6. The soundtrack is remixed with a hint of techno within. Some of the soundtracks sound great but, there are some that I did not like and sounded terrible. Overall, the graphics are decent, and the soundtrack is good but, with some tracks that need improvement.

CLOSING NOTE:

Overall, Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce has tons of potential to be a great spin-off of the Dynasty Warriors series. With some improvement here and there Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce can be an awesome game to play. The story is pretty much the same, just told as a whole and not individual character, its feature a lot of gameplay improvement over Dynasty Warriors 6, along with its new awakening. The base is a cool unique feature with tons of unique events happening, along with may quest and missions to player. The only problems it needs to improve on is the lock-on and camera to keep up with each other and the slow-down needs to go. Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce is a decent game but, with these little problems, the true potential will not be seen here. 

FINAL SCORE: 3/5 [starreview tpl=16]