Total War: Three Kingdoms review — Game has epic setting, but something’s missing

Total War: Three Kingdoms recreates conflict across ancient China. But despite the epic setting, here’s why some fans of the series may be disappointed.

WAR. War never changes.

This is partly why Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is still as relevant today as when it was written 2500 years ago, and also why as gamers, you know what you’re going to get when you delve into a historic war-game, regardless of whether it’s set in World War II or, as this title is, Three Kingdoms-era China circa 190AD.

Developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega for PC, Total War: Three Kingdoms has a lot going for it on paper. An epic setting, huge armies, a colourful backdrop where myths and legends mingle with historical record — it’s all there.

Like the previous Total War games, Three Kingdoms combines a top-level strategy map (not entirely unlike a game of Risk) where the player upgrades settlements, moves armies about and engages in diplomacy and statecraft. When it comes to battles, the action shifts to a tactical view, played out in real-time, where the player controls their armies, directing troops and hopefully securing victory against their opponents.

Total War: Three Kingdoms is unmistakably set in Ancient China.

Ancient China does indeed have a rich and storied history, however, and one of their great works of literature is a multi-volume epic entitled The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, written (or compiled) by writer Luo Guanzhong, covering the events around the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the rise of the Three Kingdoms period from roughly 169-280AD.

As with any great epic, there are countless battles, heroes, villains, intrigue and adventure involved, so it’s not surprising someone decided to turn it into a computer game focusing on the clashing of great armies in a quest to reunify China.

Part of the challenge is that Ancient China doesn’t have quite the same cultural mindshare in the West as say, Medieval Europe, Sengoku-era Japan, Ancient Rome, or even the Warhammer fantasy world.

Armies clash on the battlefield, with terrain offering strategic advantages.

That’s not to say it isn’t a fascinating and rich setting, full of legends, lore and adventure — it definitely is — but to most people it’s a sort of a generic period where things like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Kung Fu Panda are set; in other words a great backdrop but not necessarily associated with a specific period of history.

I admit to being largely unfamiliar with the Three Kingdoms period except as it being the subject of an epic story I hadn’t gotten around to reading, and I got the feeling this may have dampened my enjoyment of the game to an extent.

There are two ways to play Three Kingdoms — ‘Romance’ or ‘Records’. The Romance mode focuses on your generals as individual heroes who can do impressive feats, develop skills and engage in single combat with other heroic individuals, while the Records mode is more like a traditional Total War game.

I opted for Romance first — because who doesn’t love a good historical epic? — but quickly found myself getting lost in character development side of things; the change from the faction-focused nature of previous games wasn’t entirely my cup of jasmine tea. Some of the innovations were good, though — I did like the way your generals can engage in one-on-one duels with their enemy counterparts, which was a nice way of making them more significant elements of the battlefield and the game generally.

I tried again with Records mode and had a better time with it, it was closer to the Total War experience I love from previous entries in the series, with a focus on units and traditional military tactics and strategy. Again, this is was purely a personal preference and I can completely see why the developers have included it, ensuring they keep as many players as happy as possible.

In Romance mode, your generals are heroic individuals who can turn the tide of battle single-handedly. Picture: Supplied. Source: Supplied.

Character development is important in Romance mode, with RPG-like elements helping shape destinies and make a big difference to the game. Picture: Supplied. Source: Supplied.

Being set in 191AD, your military unit options are fairly basic for the most part; there were no really cool units that made me think “Oh, I can’t wait to unleash these on my unsuspecting foes”, although I fully expect they will show up in DLC or expansions down the road.

There’s a lot going on in Three Kingdoms and I found the screen to be cluttered and confusing, with too much information at times, especially in some of the larger battles, although the veteran strategist will likely find it to be helpful in planning their moves.

I thought the game didn’t do a great job of explaining who was who — I couldn’t keep track of whether I was friends with Hong Zhou and enemies with Cao Hong, or vice-versa, and the fact the game never really explained who the other factions were; as far as I could tell we were all vying to reunify China. This meant a lot of the role-playing stuff just went straight over my head because I simply couldn’t remember all the characters and if Li Dong was some minor retainer in a distant outpost or commander of my main army, and therefore whether I should care about his relationship changing with another character.

It takes a really long time for Three Kingdoms to get going, but once it does you can really start to appreciate the depth of the game. The map, like China, is enormous and beautifully realised, capturing all the different regions and environments of the country. A full campaign to unify the entire country is going to take a long time and isn’t going to be a casual stroll through pleasant gardens either.

China is a big place and the campaign map is very well done, showing off the different terrain and environments throughout the country. Picture: Supplied. Source: Supplied.

While I didn’t find the actual battlefield combat that inspiring, due to the lack of impressive weapons and units, it had the full depth and complexity the series is renowned for and there’s a lot to keep those of a strategic bent occupied at higher difficulty levels.

While it’s not reasonable to expect dragons and gyrocopters a la Warhammer II: Total War, or cannons and muskets (on account of the game being set a millennia before the development of firearms), the only siege engines I encountered were a battering ram and catapult, and they simply lacked a strong presence on the battlefield.

That’s not to say Three Kingdoms is bad — far from it — but I just couldn’t get into it the way I have been drawn into the previous games in the series, which was surprising, considering how much I’ve enjoyed many of the previous entries in the series (Empire and Shogun II: Fall Of The Samurai are permanent fixtures on my hard drive).

I applaud Creative Assembly for trying a new approach for Total War and hopefully they can use the groundwork they have lain with Three Kingdoms to make something with wider in-game technology and unit options, while still focusing on historical China — say, something set during the Opium Wars, the Taiping Uprising or the Boxer Rebellion.

Ultimately, if you are really into your Ancient Chinese history, want a very in-depth game that offers history and myth in the one place, or you’re a hard-core Total War fan, there’s plenty to keep you occupied here, provided you have the time to invest in it.

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