Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI: Awakening of the Dragon

"Quite possibly the best installment, thus far."

Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI:

This game, being the sixth installment of the popular KOEI series, has been the only one coming closest to perfection. It’s a turn based Role-playing/Simulation game that puts you at the helm of a powerful (or weak), 2nd Century China Fiefdom. The game has some very nice new features, such as an extensive new character personality characteristic, which determines how they view their master, and which tasks they like and dislike. Also new to this particular installment are the additions of new types of battle units. In past installments, limitations allowed you to only have infantry, cavalry, and archery units. Now, KOEI has introduced some new units such as armored cavalry, tribal infantry, and hillmen (mountain terrain elitists).

But battle isn't the only aspect of RTKVI, unlike many strategy games, civil and economical aspects of the game are equally important. As such, you are responsible for building your economy, flood control, farming, and public safety levels. The civil engine is quite simple, which I found rather disappointing. You’ll assign officers in your services to certain tasks, to develop your resources. Unlike previous installments, such as RTKII and RTKIII, you won’t have to perform this task every month, as the game allows you to set them to the task for a long period of time. Unfortunately, like in RTKIV, every city in the game has upward peak limits on each individual category of development. For instance, Xu-Chang, a larger city in central China may have an economy level limit of 180, whereas Bei-Ping, a city in the mountainous northeast section of China may only have a limit of 50. This can seem unfair at times, especially when the computer has control of the cities with the larger limits. I don't think that there should be limits to development, so for me, that detracted from the gameplay a bit.

Just as in RTKIV, city management is about the same, as you may peruse your cities by moving back and forth on the map. Instead of ending your turn in one city and moving to another, now you may do all that you like, whenever you wish, provided your officers have the energy to do the tasks you ask of them. You have the ability to also move your capital and relocate your base of government, just like in previous installments.

Another nice, new feature that this game provides, is the allotment of titles. Not only does this give the game more challenge, but it helps make things all the more interesting. Rulers with greater titles, have much more power than ones without prestigious titles. The Emperor will occasionally visit certain rulers that seem to have the power to change the land, and ask certain tasks of them; this can allow you to move up in title, if you accept them. Titles also allow you to assign titles to your officers. This is a great benefit because it lets you assign more and more men to them in battle, depending on the title. Officers with no title are only allowed to lead 5000 men into battle, whereas officers with greater titles can lead, up to 20000 men into battle. Titles also effect your prestige, which determines what your officers and prospective officers think of you as a ruler. Generally, if you gain a title rank, your prestige takes a nice jump. This said, it is also possible to become the actual Emperor in RTKVI, which is a rather cool feature. All of this title stuff makes winning the game very quick, impossible, and adds a great depth to how you develop your strategy to win the game.

The diplomacy engine is relatively the same to that of RTKIV. There aren't a great deal of new things to do. You may still exchange prisoners for goods, or negotiate alliances and truces. You may also still ask other rulers to submit to your power. Unlike RTKIV, diplomacy is a bit easier, and no longer requires a fat wallet to get any sort of cooperation from other rulers.

The new intelligence system for spying is rather interesting. Instead of sending an officer to a certain city in hopes to infiltrate it, you new assign up to 3 people to an intelligence arm. If your intelligence arm is good enough, you can see information from every city all around the map, and scout for officers. It may also be mentioned, that you can now recruit officers long distance, as in previous RTK installments (From RTKIII and RTKIV), you had to neighbor the target officer's location in order to recruit him. The intelligence option will also allow you to know what's going on around you, with your enemy's military. If someone makes a move against you, and your intelligence arm is strong enough, you'll be given a heads up warning, and be able to call for reinforcements or check the approaching army's size so that you may plan better.

The battle engine isn't all that different. Traps are still allowed (though you must set them in non war times under the military command, and they now cost some money to set up). Troop movement is based on the commands you give them, and lasts for a period of three days before you get your next turn. This can be annoying at times, but you can generally adjust for it. I really wish that KOEI had improved the battle engine a bit, because it still seems lacking. Though duels are now more interesting, with many new skills, which helps some.

Graphics: 8/10 The graphics are okay, but they surely could have been a bit better. More movies or animations would have helped this department. But with games like these, graphics aren't the most important aspect. The battlefields are the most lacking in this department.

Sound: 7/10 So-so. It isn't very bad, and its certainly better than the repetitive tunes from some of the older RTK’s, but that isn't saying much. The battle music is quite good and suits the occasion nicely, in my opinion.

Gameplay: 9/10 Gameplay overall is excellent. You have a lot of control over what happens, and the strategies that you develop become very interesting at times. The only thing that this game loses on is the battle control. I liked having control over my units each day. A 3 day spread makes things more difficult to predict; of course, that makes the game all the more challenging, so it may not necessarily be a bad thing, all the time.

Replay: 10/10 This game certainly gets a 10. Why? There are tons of different scenarios you can choose from and no one game is ever the same. Each game has its own unique setting that is never repeated. You can also try to play the game and follow the historical footsteps of the real people – and be rewarded with some cool historical events that surface if you mimic what history truly entails. That can make the game very fun, interesting, and educational about the time period. Many people that play these games are interested in that sort of thing, and KOEI has finally delivered a game with that reward. The addition of titles also makes the game have a better replay value because some games you'll be stuck without a title for a long time, and that makes for an extreme challenge.

Overall: 9/10 Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI is very good. It’s the best installment so far in the series, and I'm very impressed. Every avid fan of the Three Kingdoms Era in history will find this game most challenging and very fun to play. I commend KOEI for its fine work and look forward to reviewing their Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII, which is planned for English release, Spring of 2002.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/11/02, Updated 04/11/02