Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX

"Going back and moving forward at the same time."

I've played Romance of the Three Kingdoms (RTK) game since RTK7 and plan on getting every RTK games that will be made.

But for those of you who are new to RTK, allow me to introduce you to the serie.

RTK9 is a war game based on the Three Kingdoms novel (aka Romance of the Three Kingdoms) The context is China of 2nd and third century. You play one of the rulers trying to re-unite the Chinese empire.

The game system is partially turn-based and partially real-time. That is, at the beginning of a turn (which represent 1/3 of a month) you give orders to your officers. This is the strategy phase, the turn-based part of the game. Then you trigger the action phase. During the action phase, you witness in real-time the consequences of your decisions and those of your enemies.

Develop your cities, find and recruit officers (including your enemies' officers), deploy military units, execute plots, all those things lead to unification. But don't forget your enemies will also do all that.

If you have played RTK7 and/or RTK8, you will notice major changes were done. A major upgrade is that all actions occur on the same map. This global map is no longer just a flat map of frontiers and roads, but a detailed map where you can see your units move and fight. All the fighting in the whole empire will occur on the same huge and detailed map. It also means you must take into account the time delay it takes before reaching your destination. And now you can cross an area without conquering it even though you must take into account the possibility of being intercepted. Reinforcements will make it in time only if you think of sending them ahead of time and the number of kingdoms involved in a single battle is no longer arbitrarily limited

It sounded weird when I first heard of it, but when I saw it, I could just agree it was a great idea.

A minor inconvenient of this new global map is that you can't follow (at least not easily) two battles that occur simultaneously. But since you can't do anything during the action phase, it's really a minor inconvenient since you'll be able to witness the result during the next strategy phase.

The next change is a downgrade, in my opinion, because I believe some people will feel otherwise, the fog of war has completely disappeared. Forget about the idea of concealing your troop movements, everyone see everything. It decreases the possible strategies both in term of what you can do and in terms of what you must guard against.

Another downgrade, tactics are no longer performed when you want to, but triggered randomly instead (somewhat influenced by how you setup your units). I understand that with the major changes that were done it couldn't be done the way it was in RTK7 or RTK8, but having them trigger randomly make winning a battle more a matter of luck than a matter of skill.

Finally, it is no longer possible to play a subordinate. It wasn't the most popular option, but some people enjoyed it and it made a great tutorial mode too and now this possibility is gone. With it is also gone most of the social dimension of RTK7 and RTK8.

So the breakdown

Graphics: 4/10

Well, tradition demands that RTK games be one or two console generation late in the graphic department and this game is no exception. RTK9 graphics could almost be done on SNES. The only difference with a SNES game is that RTK9 feature graphics with a much more important color palette and a few nice visual effect. It is very below average for a PS2 game.

Sounds: 7/10

RTK games usually fare better in the sound department and again, this one is no exception. The game boast a "beautiful score of 23 orchestrated pieces". I'm no expert in music, but some of these 23 pieces were bland and boring. And those that aren't bland aren't extraordinary either.

Gameplay: 7/10

Obviously, this is a strategy game, so if you were looking for actions and button mashing, look elsewhere. As far as strategy games go, this one has quite a bit of depth and the AI is smart enough. Smart enough to frequently form coalitions against you when you begin to be powerful for instance. Invasions and defenses require thoughtful planning. That being said, the lack of any kind of fog of war limits the strategical possibilities, so forget about surprise attacks, ambushes or cutting supply lines. These are all impossible now. I'd say RTK9 is not quite what it should be though it is good enough to keep me hopeful for a greater RTK10.

Three Kingdoms factor: 8/10

You read the novel, now you want to play the game? For starter the global map I spoke about will make you understand where are all these cities and how close or far of each others they are. Invading Tian Shui from Han Zhong is not the same thing as invading Xin Ye from Xiang Yang and now more than ever you'll understand why. As in the novel, recruiting able officers is a foremost concerns.

However, forget about carefully planned deception or elaborate diplomacy and/or negotiation the way they do it all the time in the novel, that's just not possible.

All that being said, it still feels a lot like the novel (though the point of the game is not to repeat the story, but to carve your own story). So, fans of Three Kingdoms might very well enjoy this game for that.

Rent or Buy?

If you are new to RTK, rent it first. This kind of game isn't for everyone. If you aren't new to the serie, this review and other reviews available on GameFaqs as well as your past experience will probably give you a good indication of whether or not you will lke this game.

That being said, the changes between RTK8 and RTK9 are rather important so there's plenty of reasons to buy this game. Of course the cautious thing to do is still to rent it first.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/27/05