Although the series: Romance of the Three Kingdoms has gone on to make many sequels that have been for the most part successful, for me there is nothing like the crude original. While the original had it’s flaws and shortcomings, it was still one of the most fun forays into history that I’ve ever had in a video game. I think what I liked most about the original is that it got straight to the point. While many looked at it as limited, I looked at it as the real stuff minus the fluff. Like the title suggests, there are three kingdoms that you can choose from. Generals Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Ce were the ones if I remember well.
With these three kingdoms you can war neighboring countries, ally and send your daughter off to marry in order to strengthen alliances. You could also search to see if there is any hidden talent within your county. As I recall one of my favorite generals, Huang Zhong “The Tiger” was someone that I had to search for. I forgot the exact state that he was in, but my brother and I played this game so much that we knew exactly where to find him and other powerful generals. And speaking of powerful generals who could forget the godly Lu Bu? A general whose strength meter spanned the entire screen while other warlords didn’t even come close! Meeting that behemoth on the battlefield was always a tactical fight.
When it came to the battles, crude graphics aside, the game was amazing, you could either go at each other and rely on the training of your soldiers, or you could use tactics and rely on fire or flood to wipe out enemies within seconds. The goal of Romance of the Three Kingdoms was to unite every province China under one flag – your own. If there was a general or warlord in the way, then you would either have to bribe, ally or take him out. This was how it went until you had the entire country covered. While this was a lengthy task, it was very much a fun one to accomplish as the game was not only challenging, but full of surprises around every corner.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms was my first love in terms of strategy games and it was fun to flashback to the days when my brother and I were playing it.
