There are over 400 units divided between over 32 classes and 8 countries. The unit types found in the game range from Aircraft like Interceptors, Fighters, and Supply planes (and more) to Main Battle Tanks, Recon Vehicles, SAM units, all kinds of boats including Destroyers, Cruisers, Carriers, and Submarines. The countries included are United States, Japan, Germany, Russia, France, Israel, China, and Russia.
There are 25 Mission Mode (Story) battles to fight and over 100 Free Play Mode maps to choose from. In addition there is a Map Editor that lets you build your own maps up to 64x64 hexes. Each country can have up to 50 units on the map at once (for a total of 200 units in a 4 player game).
The multiplayer options are plentiful in this game. Each country can the allied with other countries. Up to 4 players/computer opponents can play on a map. Any combination of players and computer controlled players using any controllers (1 controller can be shared or multiple controllers can be used). The computer AI can be one of 3 levels: Easy, Medium, and Hard. Everything from Alliances, Fuel, and starting Funds can be changed for a Free Play map.
The game can be very challenging for strategy game beginners. Mission Mode will be pretty easy for those who are very familiar with Strategy Games but Free Mode will keep them happy. The graphics won't impress those who are looking for eye candy but they get the job done in a simple and fast-thinking way.
Hopefully this review was helpful to you. Thanks for reading.
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"Dai Senyraku VII: Modern Military Tactics" is a strategist's game. I'm going to say that before I say anything else. This game is not for the amateur strategist, or someone who isn't interested in a game you may never beat completely. This game has three levels of AI and a huge range of campaign (sort of, there's no plot) and Free Play missions, and even on Easy AI I found the game very unforgiving. Sustained wars in which both sides have a lot of money starting out can grind on for some time99 days is the limit for the longest of scenarios. The graphics are also none-too-impressive; while I have seen worse, and what you have here gets the job done, "Dai Senryaku"'s graphics weren't even state of the art in 2004 when it came out. Unimpressive graphics, an unforgiving and relentless AI, and long missionsmore than once, I got the feeling that in this game you don't fight battles, but wars. And the learning curve in this game is extremely steep. It hardly tells you anything about anything, seeming to expect you'll figure out how to read all the information it provides on your own. The English is often badly translated, which doesn't help.At this point you're probably wondering why I haven't returned "Dai Senyraku" to the store already. For a while I wasn't sure myself.
But.
If you stick with this game, if you try to learn and understand its vast range of complexities, you'll find that "Dai Senryaku VII" is a game like no other on the Xbox. Or on the 360, quite possibly. 400 units to choose from, and the opportunity to play as Britain, France, Germany, the USA, the PRC, Russia, or Israel. The amount of detail available is all but unlimited, and the possibilities truly are endless.
* Free Play missionsyou can choose Easy, Medium, or Hard AI difficulty, or set everyone as human for up to four players. You can set alliances any way you like, and while there are default nations for each map you can change those too.
* Unit detaileach and every unit has a statistics sheet, showing hit percentages for each weapon. And while a unit being attacked chooses what to shoot back with on its own, you can tell your units to attack with anything they have. The only limit there is that tanks cannot shoot their main guns at aircraft or helicopters. That's what the machine guns are for! Each unit has a story to tellas some others have saidand learning it will do you good. I found that the more I knew about a unit, the more useful it was in combat. And this game includes everything, from recon fighters to nuclear submarines and Patriot missile batteries. There's a world of possibility waiting in this game, if you make it over that learning curve.
* Campaignvirtually nonexistentRED Army must defeat BLUE Army!and the English is not translated that well. So... yeah. Go ahead if you want, and I highly recommend the tutorialsevery time this game volunteers to teach you something, never say no. But don't expect the epicness of "Gears of War" or "Halo". But both in the Campaign and Free Play, I felt like the game was leaving the reason for the war to my imagination. And if this game stimulates your imagination some, gets you to thinking up a campaign of your own, then that's hardly a bad thing.
* Graphics, as I said, are not that great. There are two kindsthose you see when viewing the entire map, and those you see when one unit attacks another. I'll call those strategic and tactical for short. Strategic graphics are a simpler version of "Shattered Union", in that units are colored according to what flag they fight under. GREEN Army units are green, and so on. While some might argue this makes the fighting look cartoonish, it is a system that makes the battlefield much easier to analyze. Get to playing this game and you'll be thankful for the coloring. Tactical graphics are a little better, a little more detailed, but again don't expect much. They do something "SU" never did, which is have the units be groups rather than individuals. A PzH 2000 unit is made up of about eight howitzers, for example and an infantry unit looks to be the size of a platoon.
* Musicit might as well be nonexistent. What little exists isn't at all interesting, and you'd best get used to it because it's gonna be back again. And again. In fact, basically the same song plays in the background all through a battle. A good soundtrack could have done some good, but at the same time nothing is being forced on you.
"Dai Senyraku VII: Modern Military Tactics" was so irritating at first I just about wrote it off the first day. But all that detail, those eight nations and 400 units, kept drawing me back. And when I began to get past the learning curve, this game was irresistible. In the end, after one month of trying it out, I not only kept my first copy but bought a second for my brother. This game rates a full four stars on Fun and Overall. The only thing I would have added would be maybe some Cold War scenarioslike the US, Russia, West and East Germany battling over the fate of the divided nation as the Cold War goes hot. And I also would have liked it if "Dai Senryaku" let us create our own nations, combining units from all the existing ones. The DDR, for example, could have easily been represented by having Russian units fighting under a German flag.
But, those gripes are minor ones, and don't in any way detract from what a fine, albeit very complex, game this is. Anybody who loves detailed turn-based strategy games will surely see past this game's faults, just as I did.
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This is an in-depth war gaming experience with a very steep learning curve. I actually had to do research onlne to ensure the right weapon PACs during game play. This is one of the best high level attempts at a "Squad Leader" level of game play I've enjoyed since "Advanced Wars 2". (AW2 is 1/8 the effort compared to Dia Senryaku). If you no longer have your group of "Squad Leader" buddies, this can and will fulfill your need for detailed war gaming. This game takes time to learn, is extremely addictive, but requires a significant head-space/user/time commitment. Low purchace price is a bonus not for the casual gamer.Honest reviews on Dai Senryaku
Dai Senryaku 7 is an old school strategy game, complete with a hexagonal grid map and units to move around the board.Despite the fully 3D intro sequence, once you get into the gameplay it's all flat. You have a seutp screen with very simple graphics, to choose sides and options. Once you're in actual gameplay, you can "zoom" above the map, but you're just getting a sideways view on the gameboard.
This is similar to Advance Wars. There are different levels of units tanks, recon vehicles, artillery, boats, aircraft and more. Each unit has a move rate, cost to buy, attack capability, ability to see a certain distance, and so on. With 400+ units, a lot of gameplay comes down to really knowing what your options are and choosing the exact units which will be best for your plans. Maybe you want a lot of fast, long-seeing but low damage units ... or maybe you want a few battlehorses of great strength to march towards victory.
The sounds are about as feeble as the graphics. There are a few clicking noises, clacking noises, and a repetitive background song. Still, again it's not about the view or the sound. You could pretty much turn off the sound and play your favorite songs on the stereo while you played. The terrain types are only vaguely hinted at on the hexes ... but that does the job. You know if it's going to be something your tank can cruise across easily or something that will block the way.
While I definitely appreciate the hexes from a battle strategy point of view, they are a royal pain with a joystick that moves in 4, not 6, directions. Also, if you're a fan of plots, you'll be disappointed. You get a RED ARMY!! going up against a BLUE ARMY!! and someone has to win.
There is a map editor but it's on the difficult side to use and you can only have a top-down view of what you are doing. It would have been nice if they made this more full featured. Also, you are given 8 "sides" (i.e. countries) to play with, but it would have been great if you could create additional sides, i.e. name your own country and mix up your own batch of units to fight with.
Still, if you can get over the various hurdles and just hunker down to treat this like a type of chess, focussing on the pure strategy in one-on-one combat, you'll find a lot to enjoy here. I just would have thought that a "version 7" of a game that they would have really polished up some of these aspects of the game.
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