

They've now announced Romance Of The Three Kingdoms XIV, once again battling armies to decide who rules China. That said, we did enjoy our time here and we will revisit in the future - not straight away, but not too long or we might need to do that tutorial again.If Total War: Three Kingdoms has made you fall in love with the Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, you might fancy a gander at Koei Tecmo's decades-old take on turning the historical epic into a strategy game. In our opinion, while it is an improvement over the last one, it doesn't have the same depth as other strategy games like Civ. The various stats of the generals can affect the abilities of their troops, including their numbers and attack ability - they also have their formations that affect the way the troops are deployed.Īll in all, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV will appeal to the gamer who likes fast-paced tactics games, and we can see it appealing to Risk lovers too. This is a large-scale strategy game after all. There's still quite a bit to think about. For example, the alcoholic general might not have restraint and not be willing to retreat. We've mentioned their stats, but some of the characters have special traits due to their personalities. It felt a little too disconnected, however. Sadly, in our opinion, the combat was a little superficial, more a case of drag and drop, with the occasional interjection to hopefully affect the outcome. You can also issue commands while your troops are fighting, ordering fire attacks and the like. For example, when moving your troops you may want to send them into battle from different directions so you can also cut off supply lines, rendering their forces weaker. You still need to think about many things. That's not to say the game is easy or mindless.
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The Romance series has carved a niche between the likes of Civ and Total War, and for those of you looking for something that will make you think but that offers a bit more zip, it should prove a welcome change. The navigation around the menus and options seems pretty intuitive, and there's not an overwhelming amount of things to do either. The ability to move around and conquer made the game inviting and fun, in the same way that Risk looks complicated on the surface but is much simpler when you get down to it.
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In stark contrast to the tutorial, the game feels quite light and free and easy to play. The provinces are easy to set up and manage, the battles don't take ages, and for all intents and purposes, it makes the experience fun. Because it never gets too deep or involved, it's got real snappy pacing. The board game is one of our childhood favourites because while it offered deep strategy it doesn't take forever to play the thing we love about Romance is its fast-paced nature. In fact, as we wrote before, it reminded us more of Risk. Nor does it have the grand elaborate battles of something like the Total War series, which recently explored the exact same period of history to excellent effect. Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV does not have the in-depth city or region management akin to something like the Civilization series. Building up and managing your armies, while not in-depth, is still enjoyable and becomes a balancing act between power and finances. This is a basic overview of what you do, but the real fun comes from plotting the course of your forces, deciding when and where to attack. Then, when you're happy: send a general out with some troops, choose a formation, and then off you go to conquer new territory. All of your characters have numbers (a bit like Top Trumps) that will show you how good they are at the job you've assigned. Then, allocate other characters to act as trainers and recruiters. The basic idea is that you must allocate governors and select your focus for each province under your control: for example getting more troops. This adds a great strategical element to the game, enabling you to cut off supply routes and effectively divide and conquer your opponents. One thing that we really liked was that you are able to plot your troops' course, allowing you to move exactly where you want. You move your forces around, discovering and conquering new regions to build your power. This beautiful top-down map is filled with territories and little hexagons and it's a delight to behold. The first thing that really caught our eye is the world map.
