Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce is a reboot of the ubiquitous franchise that has spawned many versions across many gaming platforms. The focus of the game this time around is on local multiplayer quests centered on a Monster Hunter-like lobby where you upgrade and tweak your warriors. Taking most of its style and cues from Dynasty Warriors 6, Strikeforce will look and feel very familiar for any returning Dynasty Warrior veteran. One of the striking new differences is the Fury mode that turns your Chinese warrior into a magical, Dragon Ball Z like character capable of more destruction than humanly possible.

What's Hot
Starting with the basic character, there haven't been this many options to customize your warrior to date. As you fight enemies throughout the game, they drop items that are used by vendors in the game lobby to create better items for your quests. It sounds rather simple on the surface but the urge to collect all the weapons and gather all the upgrades is strong. Finding a good combination of weapons and additional powers is going to be vital for the fight you have ahead of you. The beauty of the lobby and upgrades is working with your friends to assemble a team of ultimate warriors.

The Musou mode is somewhat of a staple for the franchise but Strikeforce profoundly changes the mechanic. Before you unleash your special Musou move, your warrior will transform into Fury mode and sport a cool, magical look. All the moves are augmented and you can more easily plow through the groups of enemies. You can quickly exit Fury mode if you want by pressing the same buttons again to unleash your Musou as you traditionally would.

Strikeforce feels familiar but fresh. Overall, Strikeforce successfully sticks true to the core gameplay while diving headfirst into a new direction for the franchise. Fans and critics alike have been clamoring for a fresh feeling and Strikeforce answers that by changing the way the game is setup. The Dynasty Warrior franchise has always been a prime game to build upon what already exists, gameplay wise. Strikeforce is the installment that breaks the game out of its shell and builds upon the RPG elements found in the past games and adds tweaks that enhance what previously taken as constants and built on top of that.



What's Not
Strikeforce is meant to be played with others. The quests are designed specifically for more people than just one. If you do try to be a hero and go solo, you are going to be in for a world of hurt. You are given a handful of lives and pushed at the front gate of the enemy camp. The AI this time around isn't brain dead and will constantly pester you as you try and fight to complete your goal. Bosses are insanely rugged and you'll need to make sure you are well stocked before you start your assault. For the first time in Dynasty Warriors history, it is very difficult to play solo and still mow down hordes of enemies. Single-player balance is totally thrown out the window.

Because there is only a local multiplayer mode, it hurts the game. Trying to find a room full of gamers all with Strikeforce and PSPs ready to play through a bunch of quests is going to take a miracle to accomplish in itself. Since the game is tuned for multiple players, it hurts not to have a fuller featured multiplayer option.

The only area where Strikeforce departs from the tried and true Dynasty Warriors formula by going backwards and not building on it is the battlefields. Since the PSP is considerably less powerful than the consoles, the maps are broken into chunks and enemies are thinned out considerably. With smarter enemies, it gives a tiny reprieve for the adventurous solo player but the battlefields still feel empty compared to the hundreds of kills you get on any given quest.

Final Word
Strikeforce is one of the better Dynasty Warriors games to date. With all the new options and smart design choice to build on top of the existing gameplay while mostly staying true to the heart of the franchise works in Strikeforce's favor. This is great reinvention of the series. Only good things will come from this new direction, there just needs to be some balancing done to even out the experience.