If only that same level of detail could have been applied to more characters. Ironically, the character with the most personality I came across is one that Creative Assembly created from scratch, a bandit queen called Zheng Jiang with a penchant for treasure and anarchy. The fact that there are randomly generated characters at all when the Romance Of The Three Kingdoms novel offers hundreds of minor characters is a disappointment. The leader duels would also be more exciting if I had an idea of my opponent's calibre. I feel not enough has been done to differentiate key lieutenants from their run-of-the-mill, randomly generated counterparts. But for a game supposedly driven by the personalities of heroes and villains, this is one of the many minor off-key notes that add up to a suspicion that the developers only skimmed the surface of the source material. Some 30 turns later, through no doing of mine, Liu's influence had been reduced to a single territory which was the opposite of what Zhuge accomplished in the novel.ДЇollowing the novel's storyline closely was never going to be possible in a real-time strategy environment like Three Kingdoms'. Three Kingdoms runs like a dream with no bugs in sight in the 30 hours I clocked for this review.Д«ut there are some rough patches that break the immersion.ДЇor example, I expected something to happen after receiving a pop-up alert that my rival Liu Bei had successfully recruited the legendary Sleeping Dragon sage Zhuge Liang. Managing food production and money is a mostly intuitive process, helped by how characters can be dispatched to oversee matters.Дiplomacy is the most transparent I have seen in a Total War game, as numerical values are assigned to how likely or unlikely a given faction will agree with a proposed deal. The familiar blend of Total War staples has also been refined to near-perfection. This is where the game shines as each faction plays very differently.ДЇor example, I chose to go with Cao Cao, who uses a unique resource called Credibility to manipulate his rivals, influencing their opinions of each other and even coaxing them into wars against each other. There are 12 factions you can play as, from the benevolent Liu Bei to the Machiavellian Cao Cao. They can also be equipped with weapons, armour and horses that increase their prowess. Generals have their individual skill trees that can be upgraded.

It is possible to interfere, especially if a prized general is losing a fight, but armies get a significant morale penalty for such a dishonourable act. PRICE: From $59 (PC, version tested macOS) Some off-key notes that betray a lack of familiarity with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which fans will pick up Varied gameplay with 12 factions that all play differently As polished as a Total War game can get well-balanced and runs smoothly They can also challenge each other to one-on-one duels. In this mode, generals become demigods capable of taking on 80-man units single-handedly. I was pleased to see that, in a nod to the novel, Three Kingdoms offers a Romance mode for its main campaign, which starts off in 190AD with the Han Dynasty in its dying throes and various warlords jostling for power.

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