Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce Review (Sony PSP)

The Dynasty Warriors franchise has seen many iterations over the past few years, but none have been quite as remarkable as Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce for the PSP. Smoother gameplay, crisp graphics and a multiplayer that superbly uses the PSP’s Wifi capabilities all help to remind me why the PSP should have been able to stand more competitively against Nintendo’s DS. There are still some technical gripes with this release, like texture pop and clipping, but the button mashing mixed in with some cool RPG features make this an Action game worth playing.

If you’ve ever checked out any of the Dynasty Warriors games, you’ll notice a clear similarity between all the games. Not only does it take place in China’s Three Kingdom’s Era, but it also features a fantastical set of characters that makes the game fun to play. From the moment you start the game, you instantly get the feeling like you’re playing an RPG. Gamers choose from one of three factions: the Wu Kingdom, the Wei Kingdom and the Shu Kingdom. Each faction has its own set of abilities and will result in it’s own set of quests. However, regardless of faction, most of the landscapes you will come across during the course of the game will seem vaguely familiar and downright redundant. Dynasty Warriors is unforgiving in this area. Court grounds and castle areas are near exact replicas. The maps will have you wondering if one architect designed the entire Chinese kingdom. Don’t get me wrong, this is not accurate Chinese history in the least sense, but still a little variety would have added much to the game’s overall enjoyment. Once you chose your kingdom, you decide which character you will start the game with. As the game progresses, other characters in the kingdom become open to play with.

Once you decide on what Kingdom you want to represent, you are tasked with uniting China by defeating all the rival kingdoms and quenching any insurrections as you build up your power base. What this amounts to is a lot of level grinding, which is actually quite fun – especially in multiplayer. The story is what takes this out of the RPG category. There is no real story worth following in this tale. You’ll get overrun with text at the start of each quest, most of which you’ll just skip through.

Get your Party on Multiplayer Style.

As you move from city to city, you’ll fight your way through several battle quests or accept one of the many side quests posted on your city’s Quest wall. What’s cool here is that you not only level yourself up, but you level the city up as well. You obtain city cards from various military people who show up in town after hearing about your exploits. They’ll help you to build your city and eventually solidify your hold on China. Within each City, you’ll also be able to use items you find during quests, called spoils, to upgrade the Market, Blacksmith, Workshop, Academy, Exchange or Storehouse. Unlike most RPGs, where you gather gold to buy weapons or magic, in Strikeforce, you will also have to provide the storeowners with the required materials to create the item. This may sound like a nuisance at first, but each city comes with its own bartering station so you can easily exchange for the materials you need.

I’m almost upset that Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce isn’t designed as a full-fledged RPG. For one it breaks the rules on weapon usage most RPGs annoyingly adhere to. For one, instead of forcing different character types to be limited to certain weapons, you can use pretty much any weapon, from sword to claws, with any character. Also, even if you change characters, those weapons will still be available. The weapon system allows for a ton of unique combinations as each weapon can be powered up with several Orb types that affect Ability, Attack and Movement. Even your body parts get in on the action. Strikeforce features a Chi system, where you can also outfit each hand and leg with a different type of Chi. I always stuck with “Leap” on my right leg and “Spring” on my left leg, allowing me to jump and fly around quest areas like I was in “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.” This comes in handy, as most of the bosses tend to fly around the air, while their soldiers do the dirty work.

The character graphics are pretty nice throughout the game. But, again, most of the landscapes and even the cities are reused, robbing you of a sense of discovery. Plus several of the attacking enemies look familiar. What does stand out is the Fury mode. You have both a health gauge and a fury meter in quest mode. Once you’re Fury meter is filled you can hit the Triangle and the Circle button simultaneously to go into Fury mode. This transforms you into a glowing monster-like character that can more easily break through enemy defenses. I had the feeling I was Goku from Dragon Ball Z going Super Saiyan 3. Also, you can unleash a Musou attack, special attack, while in Fury mode.

Super Saiyans Around the World - Eat Your Heart Out.

Strikeforce is not without a certain level of difficulty. Single player can be extremely hard to play through. Enemies will overrun you at every turn, and there is no “clearing the board.” On most quests, enemies will continue to magically reappear and attack you from all angles so you’ll have to button mash your way through the game to complete the mission objective. The actual Enemy AI is only average. You won’t notice that some enemies tend to just be looking the other way at times since you’ll be so overwhelmed by the shear number of people attacking you. Luckily, the multiplayer is seamlessly integrated into the gameplay. You can switch in and out of multiplayer mode from within the town, getting up to four people to party up with on missions.

One of the most frustrating features is the enemy-targeting feature, accessed by pressing the L button. You can’t adjust which enemy you lock on to. This is painful because you can’t really fight without the locking onto a target. The controls tend to be clunky at times, and the camera shifts will have soldiers jabbing you in the back with spears.

The music is a nice mix of eastern rhythms to get you into the whole Chinese dynasty mood. The Voice Over tends to be annoying when you do hear it. During battles, your characters will make annoying exclamations that sound cheesy.

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce is a fun button masher with tons of RPG features that help keep the game entertaining throughout its mediocre story. There are a few technical problems throughout the game, but the multiplayer is surprisingly cleanly delivered. Hopefully, this franchise continues to do well so that Koei can invest more effort in creating stronger more memorable stories.