Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII

"This series has gone on long enough"

Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII is NOT my favorite game. The gameplay is confusing, and at times seemingly impossible. I do not recommend this game for newbies, but those who are good at this game may find it interesting. Do not get me wrong, there are things I like about this game, but I do not like it in general.

Gameplay: 2/10
The gameplay is pathetic and boring. While it is a decent idea, it gets extremely repetitive. Unless you play as a high-ranked character, you have very little control over what happens, and you never have total control unless you are a liege. It can be slightly interesting, when people ask things of you, and give you gifts, but it’s so pointless and repetitive that you will get sick of it fast. The tactical battle system is decent, but it involves way too much of boring attacking, and not enough strategy.

Story: Unfair to rank
I cannot rank the story, as KOEI (the developer) did not make it up. This is a true story twisted around. It can be interesting as all of the characters have different stories, and you can create your own character, but they are similar with the exception of names and land positioning.

Replayability: 5/10
This is totally dependant on whether you like the game or not. If you like the general gameplay of this game, you can play it for a long time. But those who get frustrated by it will have no desire to continue playing this game.

Graphics: 9/10 outside of battle, 2/10 in battle.
Visually appealing graphics outside of the battle system, but they do not push the PS2 by any means. Everything is clear, but the graphics are not exactly what I would call crisp, and there are no videos =p. Battle graphics however, are pathetic 16-bit graphics, with little animation and diversity,

Music: 8/10
The music is good as well as appropriate, although it would not have hurt to add a few more tracks to the mix, as it gets repetitive after a while. I cannot blame KOEI for the lack of voice acting, which would have been a tremendous amount of work or sub-par.

Overall: 4/10
While I like the graphics and music of this game, and I love the story of the three kingdoms period, the gameplay is absolutely horrible in my opinion. I am not bashing KOEI, as I like some of their other titles. I suggest if you are interested in this game that you rent it first, because you might like it and you might not. This is not one of my picks to buy as a gift, unless whomever you’re buying for is a fan of the series already.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/02, Updated 12/18/02