And there aren’t competing ethnic groups to shake things up on the level of Huns vs Romans in Attila since all the action takes place between factions that are decidedly Chinese. We’re back in the land of swordsmen, spearmen, archers, and cavalry in various configurations maneuvering to best exploit the rock-paper-scissors relationships between different troops. Spotlighting named characters helps make up for the fact that the armies themselves aren’t quite as diverse or interesting as, say, the Warhammer Total Wars’ or even Thrones of Britannia’s. The campaign really comes alive in Romance mode. But some of the fun and character is definitely lost if you’re sticking closer to the history books in Records mode. Both modes put a strong emphasis on the larger-than-life characters driving the action, including quippy banter both before and during battle that helps bring them to life. This turns your generals into demigod-like kung fu action heroes who engage in dramatic duels and can take on hundreds of normal soldiers single-handedly. The campaign really comes alive in Romance mode, which is based on the semi-historical novel about the era, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. That’s not a deal-breaker given how many other things are fresh and exciting on the campaign map, but I was never all that tempted to give it much of my time when the other option is so much cooler. It also led me to feel like I might as well be playing any other historical Total War game, though. Records mode is closer to classic historical Total War, where generals are mere mortals accompanied into battle by a bodyguard regiment, and real-time engagements play out slowly and less decisively. Three Kingdoms offers you two ways to conquer its sprawling, attractively exaggerated map of 200s CE China. A political and tactical landscape that’s almost never boring, filled out with gorgeous, stylized graphics, an excellent character system, and massive performance improvements over previous games in the series leave no doubt who the new emperor is around these parts. With this foray into ancient China, however, Creative Assembly seems to have finally hit an elusive sweet spot with its campaign tuning. In my opinion, there are some small little issues mainly with the very weak Battle AI, but this was otherwise a perfect attempt to please everybody.A turn-based grand strategy game on the scale of Total War: Three Kingdoms often struggles to present a consistent and meaningful challenge across hundreds of turns and dozens of battles. Both modes have their pros and cons and are aimed at catering to both sides of the fanbase. Fatigue is barely a factor for you or the enemy, your generals are essentially superheroes and can engage in epic duels, and battles end much faster. In Romance mode, these changes are reversed. Generals travel with henchmen, and are no more useful than other units. Fatigue is a huge factor, making battles naturally slower, and every order you give a unit matters that much more as they can’t just run across the map to fix a bad call. In Records, everything is more extreme in the name of realism.
The biggest changes are the differences between Romance and Records mode.
You deploy the legions you assembled on the world map, wage war in real time with pause, and try to kill all the enemies while keeping your men alive. Though to be fair, it is hard to improve on perfection. It makes the game feel more alive and the stories you create while playing that much more personal.Ĭrushing your enemies’ poor attempts at an attack is as satisfying as it’s ever been.Ĭompared to the 4X strategy level, the real-time battles remain relatively unchanged. Grouping your characters accordingly, monitoring their happiness, and maybe even banishing the bad egg you just can’t satisfy adds a layer of social strategy you really don’t expect from a game called Total War, but is much appreciated. When those with conflicting traits are forced to work together you’ll face discontent in the ranks, penalties, and high chances of characters leaving for better prospects possibly even starting a civil war in the process. Characters with similar traits get along better, gain bonuses to applicable activities when working together, and are far less likely to defect or betray. Every character, from your faction leader to your empire’s accountants, has a set of character traits that define how they get along with everyone else. The effects of personality traits extend beyond diplomacy. A satisfied general is a happy army, and a happy army makes very unhappy enemies.
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