"Conquer a country, all from the luxury of your own living room"

Romance of the Three Kingdoms for the NES is the first in a long series of war strategies by Koei. The story is filled with betrayal, honor, and revenge. It takes place in late 1st and 2nd century China. It all begins with the fall of the later Han Dynasty and ends with the rise of the Chin Dynasty. However, you can change history in this game, which makes it interesting each time you play. Now, on to the review...
Graphics: 8/10
Pretty good for its time. The characters look too anime style, but it's still cool. Most of the generic lesser-known generals have the same appearance as one another, but the more famous ones are distinguished. When you perform miscellaneous tasks, it will show a clip of the action that is happening. ie. Building dams, recruiting enemy officers, going to war, and so on. The war graphics are quite boring though. It shows a battlefield and all generals present. When you attack enemy soldiers, a small scene will appear.
Music/Sound: 6/10
I turn the music down everytime I play. It's horrible...very...There are three different tunes when it shows your side. There are also two battle themes, both of which are semi-decent. Not a lot of variety of music huh? Sound FX is hardly present. No big loss though.
Gameplay: 8/10
Press ''A'' to confirm commands, ''B'' to cancel. That's about it...The real fun of the game comes from building up an army, getting the spoils of war, and unifying the country. The difficulty can be adjusted when you begin. You can set the enemies battle strategies, and power in war.
Replayability: 10/10
This is one of the most addicting games ever. You can pick any of twelve different rulers in over five scenarios. As I said before, it is a different game everytime you play. You can divide and conquer or take a more diplomatic approach to win. There are too many generals to name, but trust me, there are a lot.
Story: 10/10
This is all based on a novel written in the 16th century by Lo Kuanchang. If you are interested in this, there are many sites devoted to this excellent story. ^_^
Generals: Each general has many stats, each which will help(or hinder) them throughout the game. They are...Age, IQ, Power, Loyalty, Health, Charisma, Luck, and Experience.
Miscellaneous:
Battles can be a bit unbalanced. A general with high power(97-100) and only a handful of soldiers can defeat a general with low power with an army twice the size of their own. You can use this to your advantage...Also, if you have played any of the sequels to this game, then you probably won't like this first one too much. Can't forget natural disasters either. Floods, plague, locusts, and rebellion(which really isn't a natural disaster) will stop you in your tracks.
Buy or Rent?
considering you can't rent this game anywhere, I would recommend that you buy it. I've had mine for over 10 years, lol.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/18/01, Updated 07/20/02