Well, after almost playing this game straight for the past 3 days straight....I'm sorry, but I have to say goodbye Dynasty/Samurai Warriors, hello Sengoku Basara!!!

The 4 main characters of this huge fighting frenzy!
(left-right: Mitsunari Ishida, Yukimura Saneda, Masamune Date, Ieyasu Tokugawa)

Taking place during the Warring States(Sengoku) period of Japan, but with a twist, the country has been split into two after the fall of Hideyoshi, caused by one of his own subordinates, Ieyasu Tokugawa. Ieyasu hopes to conquer the land and build a stronger and more hopeful nation, while Mitsunari Ishida, who viewed Hideyoshi as a god, wants to punish and kill Ieyasu for his betrayal and will do anything in his power to make it so. Who will win this battle for the fate of Japan??

The story in this game is pretty easy and simple to follow(though it might take a story playthrough or 2 to help understand, or having played through Samurai Warriors might help). Though I covered the main plot above, each character has their own multiple storylines that they will go through, so each story will be different for everyone.

This game plays pretty much like the lovechild of Samurai Warriors and Devil May Cry. You have your standard attack buttons and combos normally akin to the Warriors series, but you also have the following, flashy and big moves and linking combos of DMC. Each character has their own set of normal attacks, but as well as that, you also get something known as Arts. You have your normal Arts, which are your character's special moves, like Magoichi's Shotgun or Mitsunari's Flash; then you have your Super Arts, which are even more powered up moves, and example being Yukimura's Fired Up which allows him to power up Super Saiyan Style (though you can only pick 1 Super Art per battle, unlike the 4 Normal Arts you always have). And you have even more moves on top of that! Each character has Basara Art(akin to a Musou Attack in the Warriors series) and Hero Time, which allows you to slow down time and juggle/get more attacks in.

Mitsunari Ishida causing some chaos

You also have 2 gameplay modes within the game to chose from; Heroes' Story, which takes you through your chosen character's journey through the battles that will determine the fate of Japan(either it be siding with Ieyasu or Mitsunari, finding your destiny, or just goofing about), and Quick Battle(akin to Free Mode in the Warriors series), which allows you to go and fight through any battle you have come across in Heroes' Story, with any character you want.

So through the 16 characters that the game provides, each with their own unique playstyle and multi-branching story arches, as well as 2 game modes that allow for co-op play, you should be stuck playing this game for a long long time.

Normally, I don't have a graphics section for my reviews but for this game, I'm making an exception. The Wii version of this game is gorgeous, mostly due to it being the first Wii game made by Capcom to use the new MT Framework Lite (MT Framework is the engine that Capcom has been using in all of their 3D games since Dead Rising). Through the use of the new engine, the Wii version essentially looks the same as the PS3 version of the game(the PS3 version was ported off of the Wii), with the PS3 only getting minor tweaks such as improved shading and HD because of it using the full MT Framework engine. Hopefully, this will allow Capcom to release more Wii ports for some of their upcoming titles.

The sound and music is always rocking as it is with these types of games. Perfect sword hitting, death gurgles, twanks of metal, and demonic wisps when need. The only bad thing in the sound department is voices. No, I don't mean the english voices are bad. Capcom hired some pretty decent VAs for this game, such as Johnny Yong Bosch, Reuben Langdon, Vic Mignogna, and others. The main problem most people have with it(which I don't have a problem with) is the lack of choice in using the Japanese VAs in the NA/EU versions of the game, so not that big of a deal, but might be a deal breaker for some.

The music though is overall excellent. Tons of rocking tunes to beat enemies to a pulp to as well as some pretty decent character themes, and a dang catchy opening tune done by T.M.Revolution.

If you are Dynasty Warriors fan.....why the hell haven't you picked this up yet?? Same for the DMC fans, it's a highly recommended title to you guys. For everyone else, pick it up or rent it and give it a shot, if you enjoyed the previous DW games, or just want a decent hack-n'-slash action game. It's unique style and play compared to the other titles in the genre truly sets it appart in the end.

I know I'm going to be playing this game for the next few months, maybe you should too.

I hope you enjoyed the review! I'd love to hear your opinion on the game or my review itself, and any critic-ing would be wonderful(hoping on improving my style).

I would also like to point it out 2 more things I would like to add to this...

1)This game is long! Like all of the other Warriors style games, each character has their own seperate battles and scenarios which make for a long playthrough. My brother and I have just crossed over the 100 hour mark and we still haven't gotten everything done yet.

2)While this game can be hard, especially on his hardest difficulty setting, it still doesn't feel quite hard enough, like it could have used an extra difficulty like Hardest or Ultimate, to get it into the Capcom difficulty range.

So ya, those are my 2 extra statements to just add onto the review....

*shameless bump*

Durxom:
I would also like to point it out 2 more things I would like to add to this...

1)This game is long! Like all of the other Warriors style games, each character has their own seperate battles and scenarios which make for a long playthrough. My brother and I have just crossed over the 100 hour mark and we still haven't gotten everything done yet.

2)While this game can be hard, especially on his hardest difficulty setting, it still doesn't feel quite hard enough, like it could have used an extra difficulty like Hardest or Ultimate, to get it into the Capcom difficulty range.

So ya, those are my 2 extra statements to just add onto the review....

*shameless bump*

Nice review, you really put some effort into promoting this game haven't you? xD

Nice review, I picked this up today and I think it's awesome! I'm still a Samurai Warriors man, but since I have a PS3 this in an excellent alternate take on warring Japan. Also, this game has seriously ridiculous amounts of content!

Now, if only they'd localise Sengoku Basara Utage, everything would be dandy.