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As if Lu Bu wasn't enough of a bastard to fight all ready, now he flies

Dynasty Warriors: Strike Force delivers what many complain has been lacking from the key Koei franchise for the last five years, innovation. Unfortunately the innovative features of this latest instalment are hampered by the technical limitations of the PSP and an over reliance on multiplayer as a draw card. As with many of the off shoots from the primary Dynasty Warriors series it’s a strong indication of what features may be appearing in the as yet announced (but practically guaranteed) Dynasty Warriors 7.

If this is your first dalliance with the Dynasty Warriors franchise and their Romance of the Three Kingdoms setting then gather round children, it is story time. During the end of the Han Dynasty, around about 184 AD, amidst famine, disaster and rampant government corruption due to eunuchs (those crazy eunuchs), there was a huge Taoist rebellion in China by a faction called the Yellow Turbans. Several powerful warlords banded together to put down the rebels, but after the war the collapse of the government fragmented China into three provinces under three rulers Cao Cao, Sun Jian and Liu Bei. The whole period was meticulously chronicled in a lengthy book called The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Dynasty Warriors is based during this period when numerous famous warriors fought with and against each other for one of the three factions. For more information on the Dynasty Warriors series you can read the excellent and detailed feature article about the series over here.

Series leading man Zhou Yu Gets His Fury On

The game series has long been a third person hack and slash notable for its big battlefields, high number of on screen units and large selection of characters to use. There are often at least forty characters for the player to choose from across the three factions. The basic formula and setting is still the same in Dynasty Warriors: Strike Force but the icing on the cake is a very different flavour from what long term fans might expect. Once you have begun your first game and chosen your character you find yourself in a village square with a shop, blacksmith, trainer and all the other facilities you would find in most RPG games. From here you can train in new skills and buy upgrades for yourself or your weapons. At first you won’t have the money or regents required to do anything. At the top of the square are a noticeboard and a guard, the noticeboard has side quests you can do for experience and gold and the guard has story quests to progress the game. The story missions are longer and more challenging than the side quests and you’ll want to level up a few times and buy some upgrades before you tackle them. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, the whole set up is very similar to another big selling PSP title (in Japan at least) from Capcom called Monster Hunter.

In fact Dynasty veterans may find the whole thing a lot more challenging than previous titles and will often have to battle several generals, enemy character as powerful as you, at once. There’s a simple reason for this sharp difficulty curve though, Dynasty Warriors: Strike Force has been made as a cooperative multiplayer game for four players. Not been made with the option to play it coop, made to be played coop. On one hand this is terrific; fans have been waiting on a decent Dynasty Warriors multiplayer experience for a long time and its just the sort of innovation to draw in non-fans. The catch of course is that there aren’t that many serious Dynasty Warriors fans outside of Japan, at least compared to how many are in Japan. Added to this is the fact the multiplayer only supports local play and not PSN play and you find yourself with few options but to gather three other keen warriors. I might be wrong in assuming this would be a difficult task for most people; you personally might have a faithful circle of Koei fanclub members, all equipped with PSP’s and a copy of the game bought on the first day. But I don’t. Apart from my son who plays with me I don’t know anyone more than passingly familiar with Dynasty Warriors and as it’s technically his PSP as well, until Sony send me a promotional one (nudge wink), we’re stuck taking turns. Not that the single player game is lacking, it’s basically the same game, but there is a lacking experience playing it on your own, such as when you get pummelled mercilessly by several enemies at once and you can’t help but think a friend would be useful. To put it nicely, the single player is challenging at the best of times.

Flashy death kill attack!

One of the most visual differences between this game and previous games is the addition of Fury mode. In past games you had your weak attack, strong attack and musou attacks to get by with. Now when your musou bar is full you hit circle and triangle to transform into Rage mode. Think of the super saiyan ability from Dragon Ball Z only flashier. In rage mode the character gets bigger and transforms dramatically into a god like warrior, you can move and attack as you normally would but with maxed out stats you make short work of your enemies, hitting circle and triangle again in rage mode unleashes a super attack. The transformations and the power attacks are a highlight of the game and it would certainly be nice to see them carried into the next console game.

Some of the Fury modes look a bit goofy, but most of them are pretty cool

Another change in the gameplay is the ability to lock on to enemies and to dash in the air. These two new abilities combined allow you to basically fly through the air and attack enemies with blistering flying combos. When you level up your dash and jump abilities you'll actually spend most of your time flitting around levels dropping on enemies like a whirling dervish. The game series is certainly leaning towards emulating the wuxia films (Wuxia is a subgenre of asian films/books/comics that feature fantasy kung fu elements, think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and you certainly get that Hong Kong movie feeling as you leap onto buildings and fly over battlements. The lock on feature, a long overdue addition to the series, automatically selects your biggest threat so you can always keep that general in site and just carve a path through his troops to get to him. Another new gameplay addition is a second weapon which can be selected by hitting the circle button. Strangely your character model doesn’t change but the weapon appears in your hands when you attack with it and returns to your primary weapon when you stop so the only way you know you have it equipped is to check your status bar. But the option of a secondary weapon combined with your customisation options at your village enhance the overall universe of Dynasty Warriors giving it new depth.

"Poke him in the eye", "no you poke him in the eye"

Dynasty Warriors: Strike Force is crippled by its reliance on multiplayer and casual players will probably be put of quite quickly by its difficulty in single player and the repetition required to level up your character on your own. If you're a Warriors series fan you'll probably be willing to put in more time to see some of the new features such as the Fury mode and flight based fighting. Hopefully these features and the lock on mechanic make an appearance in DW 7. Likewise if you're a fan of Monster Hunter then Strike Force might provide an interesting diversion while you wait for Capcom to release the next one. Naturally if you've got a cadre of PSP toting friends who are keen on the game as well then you'll get the very best experience out of the game, but its not a common circumstance to say the least.

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