Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII

"It takes some brains to enjoy this Great game"

This is the eighth game in the series that started way back on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The goal is the same as any of the series.

Conquer China as one of the 3 kingdoms(Shu)(Wei)(Han).

STORY China is Divided be Three different Rulers who all want their own China. The story shows what each leader wants for their country, it is through your decisions who gets to be the next Emperor of China.
There are over 1600 Officers that lead army's for the different Rulers, all with the same goals to conquer China.

GRAPHICS 3/10 The graphics for the PS2 system never really evolve from the earlier series. It is one of the weakest graphic games for PS2. Nevertheless you can tell what is going on, and there are good graphics when it comes to fighting on the maps. Don't expect big characters,expect little army's on a big map.

SOUND 8/10 The sounds of the fighting is real cool, the swords clash nicely, it makes it sound like a cool battle. The Characters do not talk, it is a text game.The battle music is nice to listen to also. Good quality sound overall.

GAMEPLAY 9/10 There are so many options for you to choose in this game it is ridiculous almost. You can be a ruler,a Prefect,Viceroy, a vassal,a Warlord, regular officer, or you can just be a free officer and switch sides all the time, piss everyone off and have fun.
You start with a piece of China, Develop it, keep the people happy, then whenever you feel like it, go and conquer the continent. If you wait too long and just develop, you will be conquered. It is like a cat and mouse game deciding when to do what. You can steal officers from other kingdoms, send in spy's, make allies, pillage cities, or start a coup. When in Battles, you decide whether to fight or not.

Please be at least 12 with a good IQ before attempting this game. Read the instruction book and practice. There are in-game tutorials also. Game should be appropriate for 12 and older people. The game is real clean-no blood-no heads cut off, or offensive language.

OVERALL 9/10 This game gets plenty of 8's from the magazines and sites, I guess I give it a 9 because I really enjoy it.

REPLAY Tons of replay. You can start in different years, Choose 1600 officers, and any Kingdom. Also 50 different endings.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/09/03