Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII

Written by Andrew Fitch on February 17, 2003

Full Review: A girl in my college Chinese History class thought Lu Bu was hot...

It's no secret that the American public school system does a rather shoddy job of teaching Asian history (hell, some might say it does a rather shoddy job of teaching American history!). Luckily, since the early days of the NES, Koei has stepped in to fill this educational void, offering addicting historical simulation games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Nobunaga's Ambition and Genghis Khan. A generation of American kids (well, nerdy American kids, anyway...) grew up knowing names like Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Tokugawa, Lu Bu, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang without ever setting foot in a classroom or cracking open a textbook. But in recent years, Koei has gone the action route, putting most of its energy behind the Dynasty Warriors series. Their simulation games seem to have taken a back seat, but they definitely still have a small, but rabid fanbase. And with the release of Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII, this fanbase is once again satiated...for now.

Like Dynasty Warriors, the game is based on the famous novel (also titled Romance of the Three Kingdoms) recounting the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history. This story documents the fall of the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century, and the rise of three distinct kingdoms from the ashes of the collapsed government. If you've never played a Three Kingdoms game, but have played Dynasty Warriors, many of the themes and characters are the same. And if you're wondering why Koei makes so many Three Kingdoms-themed games...well, part of it is certainly that it's a well-established series with a built-in template at this point! But it's also because Romance of the Three Kingdoms is so significant to Asian history. To put it in context, the Three Kingdoms history/legend is to Asian culture what the King Arthur legend is to Western culture.

From its beginning in the late С80s, the Three Kingdoms games have a followed a familiar strategy game template -- start out with your home area, build up your army, and conquer more and more territories until China has been reunited. The latest incarnation certainly follows that formula, but with many more bells and whistles.

To begin with, governing has been redesigned. Rather than the Уeverything-in-one-turnФ model of previous games, Koei has now divided gameplay into two distinct periods. The first is city management, which lasts three Уmonths.Ф In this mode, you'll do things like cultivate land, make sure the city is safe from bandits, and go recruitin' for officers to join your cause. And unlike previous Three Kingdoms games, you can play as more than one character -- you can have up to eight, so this allows more direct control of things once your empire becomes more far-flung.

The second governing period is the new War Council, where you'll focus on matters of military and espionage. As Sun Tzu implored, in order to be a great military mind, you must indeed know your enemy as you know yourself -- and the War Council offers ample opportunities for you to do just that. However, it's not just about war -- you can do things like spy, incite riots and form alliances.

Once you get on the battlefield, you'll find more changes to the traditional ROTK gameplay -- and no fact could illustrate this more strongly than my own playing experience! As a veteran of the Three Kingdoms experience, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what it took to win, but I wanted to take the time to make sure my first battle went perfectly. I amassed a huge army, and had incited a riot in my target city. Before I invaded, I even convinced one of the enemy officers to switch sides mid-battle. Easy victory once I hit the battlefield, right? Not so. Battles now include a УTacticsФ feature, which can easily turn the tide of a fight. Archers can use commands like УFirearrowФ and УVolley,Ф while cavalry can use techniques like УChargeФ and УHarass.Ф There's even a УMagicФ command -- but I'm not sure I like that option, given that this is supposed to be a historical simulation!

I really like this aspect of the game, as it more accurately reflects the warfare of ancient times. In today's modern battles, whoever has the biggest guns wins. But that simply wasn't always the case in the ancient art of war. As any aficionado of Braveheart knows, the medieval Scots warrior William Wallace humiliated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, despite being vastly outnumbered -- and it was all due to his cunning tactics. And the same principles apply here. While sheer troop numbers are certainly important, they're by no means the most important thing in a battle. But speaking of numbers, battles are also much larger in scope than previous Three Kingdoms games -- you can bring up to ten units into a battle, along with up to five reinforcement units from neighboring cities.

Troop management is pretty standard for a Three Kingdoms game, though. You'll start out with standard foot soldiers, infantry and bowmen, but as you increase in fame and capital, your brilliant researchers will develop new technologies for you. As you become more powerful, barbarians from both north and south will offer their services -- in fact, these are most well-mannered barbarians I have ever seen. With China in the midst of chaos, they have ample opportunities to loot and plunder, yet they do neither!

Another area where Koei has broadened the scope of the game is in the relationships between various characters. There are now options such as Marriage, Sworn Brother and Mortal Enemy, so interaction between officers is now much more personal. However, you can't execute these commands yourself -- others must approach you with these offers. Personally, I'd like to have the ability to marry and swear brotherhood with who I want, when I want.

Speaking of officers, that's one area the game is certainly not lacking in. There are 611 regular officers, and another 100 spaces for your own created officers, for a total of 711. In contrast, Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII had 535 possible characters. There will never be a shortage of talented warriors to recruit -- there will also never be a shortage of confusing and hard-to-pronounce names, though! However, with the create-an-officer option, you do have the ability to infuse some more familiar-looking names into the game, such as Matt Smith or Jennifer Clark...or at least a more familiar Chinese name, like Jackie Chan or something!

The Three Kingdoms series has never relied on its visuals to attract players -- even on the NES, they were hardly spectacular. ROTK VIII certainly the best graphics ever seen in a Three Kingdoms title...but that's not saying much! I don't know if Koei can't improve the graphics due to the sheer number of officers and options in the game, or if they simply don't want to. Most of the time, the graphics aren't really an issue, but it's sometimes a little difficult to follow a battle. I have a decent-sized TV, but it was a bit difficult for me to clearly differentiate my units at times -- I can only imagine it'd be all the more difficult with a smaller TV.

The game's music is quite good, as has been the case in most Three Kingdoms titles. While traditional Chinese music can be somewhat dissonant to Western ears, Koei does a good job of putting some rather beautiful melodies together. However, many songs are quite short -- some last only a minute or so before repeating. But there's a good mix of classical Chinese music, Уvideo-gameyФ Chinese music, and Western classical music (in fact, much of the battle themes seem to be taken from the classical piece УMars, Bringer of WarФ by Gustav Holst.) Unlike Dynasty Warriors, this game's pretty much silent voice-wise -- however, a wonderful spoken quote by Sun Tzu (in Chinese) is the first thing you'll see when you turn on the game.

The weakest and most disappointing area of ROTK VIII has nothing to with the gameplay or graphics, however -- unfortunately, the game is riddled with spelling errors, like Уimperial thrownФ and УBattle od Chi Bi.Ф Mistakes like these were somewhat charming on the early days of the NES -- now, they're just unprofessional. What's frustrating is that I know there are many potential localization specialists out there that could prevent these kinds of things from happening. Hell, some of the errors are things an elementary school student could catch! However, I can't totally condemn a script in which people boast about their Уrabble-rousing abilities.Ф