Romance of Three Kingdoms XI Reloaded

Romance of Three Kingdoms XI Reloaded

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of those series that has a long and glorious history across many different platforms and finally we have the latest version of the series on PC. As the ruler of a kingdom you build and control cities, barracks, shipyards, markets, farms and much more using hundreds of NPC officers to control your realm. Use politics, military pressure, diplomacy and subterfuge against allies and your foes along with dueling, debating in 10 historical scenarios from the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the Nanman Campaign in a historical China.
Gameplay
One thing you should know about the game is the fact that Romance of the Three Kingdoms is NOT for everyone; in fact it is the type of game that I would say is more of a niche title then a title the average gamer would pick up and enjoy with out some solid experience playing historically accurate strategy games. These types of games will intimidate the average gamer, but in the end those who enjoy these types of games, will love this game.
The first thing you will do or should do when you play the game is start with the tutorial, due to the fact this is a very complex game with many gameplay facets to learn to be successful as you play.
If you have played any of the previous games, the games mechanics will seem familiar, but they have taken on a whole new level of complexity.
The first part of the game is similar to many world building strategy games with you placing buildings and managing resources, but as the game progresses you will begin to see the complexity as you enter battles, debates and duels.
Duels happen on horse back and as you play the duel you have various special abilities to boost your attack, do extra damage and the like, and you can also switch out officers at certain times to use a better officer in key situations and if you win the duel the officer you just beat the heck out of becomes yours. The duels are well done, but in the end they are not much different from each other and they do become repetitious.
The same is with the debates, they are repetitious but there is more depth to them as the ability of your officer does change the overall difficulty of the actual debate.
As I mentioned before the game has some complex gameplay mechanics to master and some of these include the use of ‘alliances’, ‘ceasefires’ and ‘prisoner exchanges’.
You may also ‘solicit’ the other city to surrender to you, which can lead to a debate but is often a great and easy way to win with out a battle. One of the best ways to use guile in the game to win is to force two cities to fight each other through the use of deception and this will disrupt their relations and make them easier to defeat.
Graphics
Graphically the game is hit and miss through out, with the main game map graphics being well done and for example the duel graphics are ok, but they are certainly not as well done as they should have been. There are static graphic images, very reminiscent of Chinese water color art which are beautiful and the one part of the game you will remember graphically over all of the others. The main game map graphics are great, with a 2.5D isometric view and this art style with some fantastic detail for the terrain, cities and events happening on it.
Audio
Musically the game hit a grand-slam with traditional Chinese music and the best music out of the entire series, it ranges from a stirring epic score to an adventurous exciting rhythm perfectly fitting to the gameplay and setting. The sound effects are good, but they could have been better but in the end they do their job well enough for their primary function. Where the audio could and should have done a better job would have been the voice over work, the VO is entirely in English and I would have preferred it in Chinese for the entire game to give it that extra ‘cool’ factor, like in many other games we have seen.
Value
While the game is not for the casual average gamer, if you find the game enjoyable, and most strategy gaming fans will, you will find one of the deepest and complex and most valuable games in years for you to enjoy.
Bottom Line
One of the few historical strategy games on the PC that is a worth while purchase now days and easily one of the best in recent memory and I have a long memory. This game is a must buy for strategy fans. Koei knocked this one out of the park and hopefully Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI will lead to a Romance XII with even greater improvements to the art and gameplay.

Download Link: