Romance of the Three Kingdoms III

"A decent Romance of the three Kingdom game."

Introduction
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 3: Dragon of Destiny is the third installment in the strategy games made by KOEI. The game is based on the three kingdoms period in China (189-280). Romance of the three Kingdoms were also the basis for the popular Playstation series Dynasty Warrior. However, unlike Dynasty Warrior, this game is more strategical.

While this game might be pale to comparison with Romance of the three Kingdoms 4: Wall of Fire. Nevertheless if you compare it with the second game, you could notice huge improvement that have been made in this game.

Gameplay
With hundreds of officer that existed historically, this game will be entertaining, especially to ROTK fans. There were 46 cities in the game based on real cities on the real life three kingdoms period, and a lot of battlefield in which the war will took place.

It is also a great feature, that besides controlling military aspect of your country, you could control the economical and social aspect as well. For example, you need to garner the popular support of the townsfolk so that you will get much revenue and to prevent the town folks from rebelling.

There were 6 scenario in total that you could choose. Each with its unique challenge that will be appealing for the player. For example, there is a scenario that starts out with a lot of ruler with small countries, but there are other scenarios that contain only a few rulers. The Ruler you choose will affect the difficulty of the game.

In this game, you will also be able to create your own officer and ruler. This feature is another plus point for the game.

Graphic
The Graphic is okay for an SNES game. More significant character such as ruler and famous officer has their own unique picture. The battlefield was done quite okay as well. With castle and houses were shown in a quite captivating manners.

Even though the graphic of this game is yet to match the fourth game, definitely it is a huge improvement compared to its predecessor.

Music
In my opinion, the music is able to bring out the atmosphere of the game. However, after playing for sometime, you might find the music to be repetitive. It would be better if the creator of the game put on a more variety of music implemented in it.

Replay Value
This game has a high replay value, considering the fact that two games you play will never be completely similar. With a variety of rulers to choose from, this game could keep you playing for a long time.

Conclusion
In my opinion, this game is a game that all ROTK fans would love. Even if you are not an ROTK fans, this game is still a fantastic strategy game, which could keep you addicted to it once you know the basic of the game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/02, Updated 11/13/02