Played through the first level of Mamiya's story mode. These side story modes are very different than the main story mode, and are much more like the traditional Musou games, where you're on a battlefield and there's your army versus (complete with general type characters) the enemy. The difference is that it's all about conquering and keeping territory; beat the shit out of enough grunts and a sub-boss, and then your side comes to help you. Player-controlled territories have large flaming pots with blue flame; enemy ones are red. The mission point system is still in effect here, too. This mode had a LOT more enemies on screen at once compared to the story mode, and the engine does chug a bit when there's a huge amount of characters on screen in certain areas. It's not bad enough to affect the game play, but I shudder to think how this must be in split-screen co-op mode.
A few more points about Hokuto Musou's game play/features compared to the traditional Musou games. Since I have only played as Kenshiro and Mamiya (and a tiny bit of Rei), I can only really comment on them:
-There are fewer characters to play as, but they feel a lot differently from each other, and don't all play the same.
-The upgrade trees are pretty big. Tons and tons of stuff to buy with skill points earned.
-Each character has multiple Musou attacks. You can have up to four equipped (selectable with the d-pad) at one time.
-You cannot charge the Musou gauge on your own; it fills up from beating enemies.
-When enemies die, they release spirit aura similar to Ninja Gaiden/Devil May Cry/Onimusha, that flies to you.
-When you have enough power gathered, you can power up your character to do more damage. A small meter counts down until it runs out.
-During this time, you can unleash a death move, which is a different or powered-up Musou.
-There is a grab button. It depends on the character for what their actions are. Kenshiro can grab someone and use them to bash into other enemies for a few seconds before slamming them on the ground, for example.
-Environments are somewhat interactive; you can break or dent parts of buildings or various objects, and do more damage to enemies by slamming them into them. Note that Mamiya cannot do this.
-Occasionally there are objects that can be used as weapons, like steel girders. You can also come across missiles or flammable barrels that can be lobbed at enemies.
-The game's cut scenes appear to be using real-time models, but they are more detailed than the in-game models and the frame rate is MUCH higher, so perhaps not(?).
-The in-game models and background detail are higher than in any other Musou game.
-However, the frame rate is not as smooth. It's stable 98% of the time (I haven't tried 2P yet) and looks like it's 30 FPS.
-Characters show clothing damage. If Kenshiro loses enough health, he loses his upper body clothing. Mamiya shows a LOT more skin, etc.
-Mr. Heart's stomach fat is nice n' jiggly. So are Mamiya's chest and backside area.
-Although the characters have new designs, the game comes with a code to download a costume more like Kenshiro's original one. Assuming everyone else will get them too.
The game's biggest negative points are the slowdown, which seems to be manageable, and the much bigger issue of attacks feeling stiff and slow to start up. There is brief split second between the time it takes to input a button to start an attack sequence and when it registers, and once you have started a combo, you cannot stop it, so if you need to dodge an attack, you're out of luck. This is what will end up making or breaking the game for some people, I think, but I still think that Musou and HnK fans will eat this up.
Will this even come out in the US? 
Hokuto Musou has already been announced for Europe, so it's probably a good bet. Whether or not an Asian version, in English, comes out for the 360 is another story.
Why'd you get the PS3 version over the 360 version btw?
What Bebpo said, plus I have two other Musou games on PS3, so I figured why not.
Will this even come out in the US?
Why'd you get the PS3 version over the 360 version btw?
The Musou games tend to be made on PS3 and ported to X360 not quite 100% I know at least Gundam Musou & Sangoku V had some slowdown specific to the X360 versions.
Yes, and Musou Orochi 2 had HORRIBLE slowdown (like you were underwater) on the last stage before they patched it.
