Lords of the Realm III

"A fairly good game quite a change from the old one"

Graphics-6/10
The graphics are okay for a real time strategy game but they aren't really up to todays standards but they will get the job done. If you really care about the graphics in a game then don't buy this game. If graphics don't mean so much to you but a good solid game does than give this game a try.
Sound-7/10
In my opinion the music in this game is fairly annoying but if you get into that olden times music then it may be okay. The battle sounds are done fairly well and it has nice sound effects but the music is pretty bad.
Control-8/10
This game has fairly nice control and it is also fairly simple which I like in a game. First of their are three different screens the tactical screen which is a big overhead view of the land. The Political screen were you form alliances and peace treaties and declare war. Then the battle screen were you can go in and micromanage your battles. One of the nice things in this game is that you don't have to control every single little battle and you can just let the AI do it. Sometimes the AI does very poorly such as in sieging castles ( I usually do these myself). It would have been nice if they would have made better AI opponents but they are fairly intelligent.
Game Play-9/10
This game has a lot of depth you can make alliances, Peace treaties, and declare war. You can view things from a large overhead view and just maneuver around your armies and not ever have to micromanage a battle once if you don't want to. But if you do want to you can go in and micromanage a single battle if you want to make sure things are done a certain way. The AI does make some mistakes quite often. One of the neat aspects of the game I think is that time always passes so if you go in and micromanage one battle armies still move and things still go on outside so you don't have time to manage every single little battle which I feel makes it more realistic because in real life if you were a king you wouldn't be able to personally oversee every battle. Another thing that makes it unique is that you don't build units. You assign vassals to land you own. There are several kinds that do different things. Some vassals come with armies these are your knights. Some make money for you. Some grow food for you. Were as in the old one you built a bunch of weapons and formed an army on this one you don't build an army they come with your knights.
Replay Value-8/10
This game in my opinion was quite addictive. I play it quite often. There are many different scenarios you can play and if you just like playing the battles you can play historical battles and see if you can do what people did back in history. Also it has multi player which is cool you can play with your friends and you have access to a fair amount of maps so you can always play a new one.
BUY or NOT
I would buy this game if you like real time strategy games. It is also quite cheap I picked it up for 15$ I am not sure what the price in your area will be but it should be close to around their. This game should keep you entertained for a good couple weeks so it is definitely worth the money but if you still aren't sure even after reading this review try and barrow it from a friend and see if you like it.I think it has a good value for how much it costs though.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/04