For example, say I have a squad officered by Nobunaga with a support squad of archers. You can also outfit a squad with a support squad to help back you up during combat. KOEI is promising a multitude of different units, including the likes of foot soldiers, pikemen, male and female ninjas, archers, mounted archers, and even gun soldiers. While the officers may seem like they have all the power, the true strength of your army lies in its troops. But for those of you looking for a more varied experience (and one more akin to Dynasty Warriors) being able to control your officer and wrack up insane combos is a blast and an experience not to be missed. Granted, if you a stickler for the old-school and still want turn-based combat, the idea will probably be a turn-off. Given the games heavier emphasis on real-time action, the officer rampages seem to make sense. On-screen during a rampage is a combo counter that, if you manage to acquire a certain number of kills, will add time to your rampage.

The rampage scenarios only last for a certain amount of time, but allow you to sometimes decimate an entire squad of enemies if you manage to string together successful attack combos. Officers are also capable of performing their own unique attacks called rampages. When you initiate a rampage, the camera perspective zooms in on the battlefield action a bit and lets you take complete control of just your officer. Both officers and troops can level up with experience points won by defeating enemies, so throughout the game you can unlock new and more powerful abilities and skills. All officer skills are bound by how many skill points your officer is capable of, but after each attack theyll regenerate over time. Others included things like gigantic tornadoes or vortexes of fire tearing swaths through enemy squads. One summon that we saw has a gigantic three-headed snake emerge from the ground and tear through a squad of enemy soldiers. Each officer you have in your command can learn new officer skills, which range from things like raising your troops morale, decreasing the morale of your enemies, and even initiating earth-shattering magic attacks and monster summons. To add to the new focus on action, your officers also bring to the battlefield a host of new abilities.

T kessen iii