Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII

"And you though conquering China would be easy..."

The year is 271, as a lonely Ronin there wasn’t much to do in China, so I decided to join the most powerful Ruler in China, Cao Cao. Right away Cao Cao and I hit it off and within a year we were best friends and we swore brotherhood. It wasn’t long before Cao Cao made me a prefect, giving me my own city to run. That’s when the real fun began, I started my campaign south crushing anything that stood in my way, and even the mighty Wu army was no match for my might. Soon I was viceroy with my own group of cities under my command. But things started to turn sorrow quickly, as I continued marching south, up north He Jin formed a massive coalition against Cao Cao. Cao Cao quickly lost territory up north before finally get captured and executed by He Jin. With my former ruler out of the picture the fellow officers nominated me the new ruler. So now with the whole kingdom under my belt I decided to pay He Jin a visit, and after sneaking past the guard I assassinated the S.O.B for killing my good friend Cao Cao. Next order of business was to form a coalition against Yuan Shao, who benefited the most from the previous coalition. Soon I was fighting my way back north taking what was once ours. It is now 278 I have a firm control of South East China, now I set my sights towards more personal goals, like getting married. Life in China has been interesting so far.

Romance of The Three Kingdoms have always been known for its massive strategy games, but just reading the above paragraph will tell you Koei has done a good job mixing the RPG mix into their latest strategy game. The result is challenging strategy game that doesn’t leave you bored when you aren’t fighting on the battlefield; now onto them all-important scores.

Story 9/10

If you haven’t been able to tell already Romance is not lacking in the story department. With a rich background of the era the game is set in the only real challenge is getting past the confusing names J

Game play 9/10

Can you hit the X button? Do you know how to use the D-pad? Yes? Good you should have no problem with the simple controls of the game. Navigating the menus for the massive amount of information available to you is surprisingly easy and anyone can learn it after only a short play through of the game.

The majority of the game is spent in your home town, where you have the option of doing such things as training yourself, talk to fellow officers, develop your city, or search other cities for potential talent. All of this is done quick and easy and can be accomplished with just a few pressed of the X button.

Every three months you have a council where depending on your position in your country you have a lot of option or very few. As a common officer your options are slim and limited to such things like trying to stage a coup to take control of the city your are in, spying on the enemy, or suggesting a march against an enemy. As a Ruler you have much my control like being able to form alliances and move officers to different cities.

The battles that happen unfortunately fairly infrequently if you are not the ruler are surprisingly fun and challenging at the same time. The battles are turn based where the use of your ploys and tactics can often spell the difference between victory and defeat. If you got good ploys and tactics you can beat an army three times your size. On the same hand if you decide to use brute strength you may find yourself beaten by a much smaller force. My advice, use your tactics they are your best friend.

Graphics/Sound 7/10

Ok so the graphics can easily pass for PS1 or even Super NES graphics, but that doesn’t distract from the marvelous game play. The cities you spend the majority of your time in are very well illustrated, and each one of the over 600 officers in the game have their own unique beautiful illustrated portrait.

Sound is just blah, nothing that you be snapping your fingers to, but at least you won’t be rushing for the mute button. Still I suggest you just put on the radio or your favorite CD while you play if you want to listen to some good tunes.

Replay Value 10/10

This is where the game truly shines, with over 50 different scenarios, each one playing out differently every time you play them, it’s safe to say this game can keep you occupied for quite a while.

And if you ever get tired of playing with them Chinese characters that all sound the same, add some fresh meat to the game, with the ability to create a 100 characters, its always fun to conquer China with Mega Man or Link, or even yourself.

Overall 9/10

Romance often gets a bad rap for only being for the hardcore romance of three kingdom gamers. But I’m here to tell you even if you do not know the difference between Liu Bei and Lu Bu, you can still enjoy the truly wonderful strategy game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/30/03