For years now, the cycle has repeated. The heroes of the three kingdoms would line up, resplendent in their arms and armor, and await judgment. For years, the judgment has been the same - a near universal chorus of negative voices. The games were too similar to their previous iteration, critics said. They didn’t change enough, critics said. Koei has been accused of repackaging the same game, accused of making only the most superficial of alterations between releases. Whether or not those criticisms are true, with Dynasty Warriors 6, they can finally be silenced forever—with the release of the first Dynasty Warriors built from the ground up for a next gen platform, Koei has answered their critics with an entirely new game.

When I say ‘an entirely new game,’ I mean just that. Virtually everything about the game has changed. The fighting system has been rebuilt from the ground up, the characters totally redesigned, and the Musou, or ‘story’ mode, strengthened and refocused to provide a series of unique experiences for each character, rather than a run through the same levels with only a unique intro and ending cutscene. Koei has also added a skill grid system, letting you purchase upgrades to your officers with each level you gain, In effect, this means your Guan Yu has the potential to play totally differently than the one your friend has created.

Fans of the genre (and make no mistake, Dynasty Warriors is its own genre) are familiar with the usual conventions - you memorize a set of combos, combining normal and charge attacks. While every character has their own weapons and style, you know that every character will have a stun attack, every character a crowd clearing attack, and every character a single target combo attack. In DW6, the only thing that’s remained similar is that each character still has both normal and charge attacks. The way they work, however, is entirely different - now, your normal attack button unleashes a constant stream of attacks, slowly growing in power as you rack up hits without being damaged in return. Koei calls this the ‘renbu’ system, and it’s at the heart of what makes this edition so different from any other game in the series.

As you increase your combo account, a ‘renbu’ gauge at the corner of the screen slowly grows, moving through four different levels of power. Each time you go up a level, your normal attacks become more powerful, and your charge attacks become more elaborate, gaining new moves. Initially, moving to a system where you spend most of your time using only one button for attacks may seem like a dumbing down of the DW formula, but in practice, the game has become more challenging than ever. The control simplification has given the game a feel more akin to Devil May Cry than to previous Warriors titles.

Now, your primary concerns are finding a way to keep your combo chain growing, while avoiding attacks from enemy officers, sub officers, and grunts. To assist you in this task, the game now features a more robust defensive game. With a single button press, you can roll away from most incoming attacks, or go into guard stance. When guarding, you’re able to deflect most incoming attacks, but move slowly, and become vulnerable to grapple attacks. Grapple attacks, another newcomer to the Warriors series are powerful defense breaking attacks, allowing you to grab a blocking enemy, seriously damage them, and throw them into the air to continue your combo. Despite initially seeming simple, you now have more tools than ever before to attack and defend.

And you’ll need them, because along with the new fighting system comes a dramatic increase in difficulty. Veterans of the series may be surprised by just how easy it is to get batted around like a baseball, even on the normal difficulty level. Even lieutenants, formerly nothing but power-up piñatas, can send you flying if you’re not careful, killing your renbu chain and putting you into a world of hurt. Vets will also be surprised to find that every character has been redesigned from the ground up. They look and play differently, and virtually ever character has entirely new weaponry. Xiahou Dun has traded his scimitar for a club, and Taishi Ci has traded his dual clubs for a giant trident, for example. Similarly changed are the stages - not only has each level been totally redesigned, they now feature a ‘target’ system. The target system sets three specific challenges for you on each level. While completing them is not a requirement for victory, each target you meet will award you with experience, skill points, and weaponry.

Unfortunately, not all the changes are positive. Some characters were cut in the jump to the next generation, and of the 40+ characters remaining, only 17 are playable in Musou mode, the single player story mode of the game. All of the remaining characters are only playable in free or challenge mode. For a series which has always been about telling the stories of near mythological heroes, to have so few stories to tell is a massive disappointment. Also falling by the wayside are ‘create an officer’ mode, bodyguards, fourth weapons, and items. Instead of each character having an ultimate weapon to unlock under specific circumstances, all characters now have randomly generated weaponry.