"A look back at my favorite game of the RoTK series"

It's been quite a while since Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI was released and yet I still feel it's the greatest game of the series. After finding my old Playstation games and replaying some of the classics I came to the conclusion that others should discover this game as well, especially upon seeing some ove the less-than-stellar reviews.

Graphics: 8/10

Not punishing the score due to being outdated, RoTK6 had some very attractive visuals. Character portraits are very well done and, during the games' initial release, were the best in the series. The strategy map is detailed and expansive, although the battlefield maps can be fairly generic. Another issue are castle walls, which are not programmed properly and do not line up with the ground that *should* be under where a defending unit is positioned. All said, RoTK6 has some impressive and attractive graphics with some minor issues.

Sound: 5/10

Not a strong point in ANY RoTK game to date. Background tracks loop and get extremely repetitive, though they seem well done while they are still fresh. Sound effects are generic and boring. Put a CD on while playing this one..

Gameplay: 10/10

Once again, RoTK6 is my favorite game of the series, out of every game in the series. Unlike RoTK7's RPG-style gameplay, RoTK6 retains the ''classic'' ''god-mode'', where you control an Empire from a god-like position. Vassals and rulers will come and go, you will still control every aspect of the Empire. Battles are also fun and fresh, even after so many years gone by....and years of playing. Also unlike RoTK7, and every other game in the series thus far, RoTK6 had ''real-time'' battles. Every three days you issued officers orders that they fulfilled in the given amount of time. Unfortunately this usually results in simply charging the enemy commander, unlike the more strategic play of the other games. Still, battles are always fun and keep you on your toes with the ability to issue orders only every few days. Barbarian tribes are in RoTK6. Unlike RoTK4, where you could only negotiate or defend against barbarians, and unlike RoTK7 where barbarians have their own kingdoms, in RoTK6 barbarians are special kingdoms that have generic officers and the inability to conquer neighboring land. While this may make them seem useless, barbarian cities can be quite powerful, and yield special bonuses when captured, such as a gold reward and the posibility of recruiting special units. Unfortunately there are balancing issues in RoTK6, as Heavy Cavalry overpower everything, with superior speed, ranged attacks and superior melee attacks. Luckily the computer never seems to abuse this unit, which segways into my next topic, advanced AI. Unlike RoTK7, where certain rulers (ie He Jin, Cao Cao, Sun Jian) are almost always bound to be successful, in RoTK6 it's possible to have even the smallest kingdom overpower the bigger players. Overall, RoTK6 is a balanced game with a unique and fun playing style and challanging AI.

Replay: 10/10

As I said before, the CPU AI presents a new situation every game you load, even more so than RoTK7. And with 100 (give or take) officers to create, 500 historical, many kingdoms to command and a unique, fresh and fun battle system you should spend many, many hours with this game.

Secrets: 5/10

Unlike RoTK7, RoTK6 lacks many secrets. Outside of cut-scenes and 500 characters/many kingdoms to explore, RoTK6 has next to no hidden items.

Overall: 10/10

Many days, weeks and months of my life were spent playing this game. Possibly because I was on probation when it debuted, but probably because it is a fantastic and unique game of the series and a must-have for fans of the genre.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/03, Updated 06/03/03