A good game for strategists.
First of all the storyline of the game is almost however you want it to be. People change as you switch roles of commander and strategist and hire new Lieutenants and Generals. Since the storyline is so varied the idea of the game should be expressed. It is a conquest kind of game but what's so cool about this game is that all the people you can control were real people of their own dynasties. The generals and lieutenants were real people and now they are in your hands like human chest pieces. If you decide to go into Empire Mode this is where you will get some kind of storyline. You select an area and control the officers there in order to take over neighboring areas. Winning can gain you money, officers, land, and new areas to produce new items. Depending on your settings will affect what you do to win and lose from taking out the emporers to defeating each area on its own for winning; and the same for losing. Other than that how things go are up to you. You can form alliances and then annul them to strike an area while it's weak or busy or try and force the surrender of all your enemies. Either way, the story can and probably will change after each turn.
Ok now to get on to the gameplay. In a way it sucks. There are no real tutorials and the game is a basically a try-and-fail kind of game. If you start out on Novice than things should be ok at first, until you are being attacked. In battle just try and take all the bases and defeat all the officers before the time runs out. Also the camera seems to be back in the 90's style, which means its fixed and only moves if you turn in a circle (while walking because it will sometimes show you walking towards yourself and not be able to see what's in front of you. At first you'll start working out the attack combos which are a little easy to use at first but will get longer the more powerful your weapon becomes. There are some finer parts to the gameplay though. The different types of tactics and strategies and the politics in the game can make a simple strategist happy, although hard to grasp at first, but the more advanced strategists will soon find the system a little boring and choose to issue there own orders. The graphics in the game aren't real nice. In fact, there may be some N64 games with better graphics. The graphics aren't all that important in the game but with the 2D characters popping up to talk it seems pretty lame at times. The game is in 3D but with the restrictions on where you can go and the camera make it more like a sort of 3D comic book.
There is a good part to the graphics though. The combinations and attacks move fluently and look great, especially the musuo attacks and the true musuo attacks. Since the game is mostly a strategy game the graphics aren't the most important thing in the world but there was definitely more to be expected. And it is kinda sad that the introduction cinematic is so much better than the actual graphics and gameplay.
The music in the game is of course sort of a Japanese war kind of honor thing. Although it was to be expected it actually blends in very well with the surroundings but the constant voices that come up on screen are annoying enough to make me press mute and then break my remote. All in all the music goes well with the gameplay and are sometimes a good way of telling if you are doing good in your campaign or if you should quit while your behind.
All in all the game is an okay game. It doesn't bring too much into strategy or graphics but for the simple players like me, can get into the game and have some fun. I would say if you are not sure you want to get the game try it over at a friends house or rent it first.