Fun if you play with friends
STORY(3/10)
Sorry, this is all I can give this game. As you would expected from this kind of game, the story is just not a concern for this game. And it's not worth my time to retell it. Let's just say it's a mainstream version of the "Romance of the Three Kingdom" novel by Luo Guanzhong.
GAMEPLAY(7.5/10)
The game is all about action. You control an officer(hehe, what a silly translation, I would prefer it general) and take part in a huge battle where there are 2 sides with hundreds of soldiers and officers like you. Your main objective is often to capture a castle or kill enemy officer. At the start of the game you'll choose an officer to control from 9 initially available, each 3 from a kingdom. As you play the game and complete bonus mission you'll unlock new officer. Each officer has different style of play, but for me some of them are really unbalanced and not much different from each others. When I play the princess with the bow I can easily complete the game with Hardest difficulty just by spamming bow from a far. Also each officer has their own storyline... but that's just not worth mentioning. At the start of each battle, you'll choose your weapon and horse, review your mission and battlefield layout, check your army and enemy's.
Now onto the battle, you can start off riding on a horse if you choose one. Your horse can push the enemy out of the way if he's strong enough, jump over obstacles, and swim across river. You can attack in 3 style: Normal, Renbu and Special. Normal attack takes no energy and can be chained together. Renbu attack takes energy and can also be chained together. Energy (Renbu) is gained by attacking enemy and not taking damage. Special attack is a 1 time attack that can only be used by activating the tome which you picked up from a dead general. The action is satisfying with a lot of cool combo, great animation and effect, a lot of enemies to throw around,... The capturing of a base is much like a strategy game, where you must wound the enemy enough and hold your position long enough. You can level up with experience by using a skill tree. Your horse will also level up if they're alive after the battle. The boss battle is really disappointing with no real challenge. The single-play is not going to keep you long enough to unlock all of the remaining officer, as it gets bored after the first run. But it's fun to play with your friends.
BONUS(7/10)
There are a lot to unlock in the games, including officer, weapon, artwork, horse,... You can unlock them just by playing or completing a bonus mission.
TECHNICAL(7/10)
The character model is medicore, because of the large number of characters in the battle. The game runs smoothly most of the time, but when it matters most, when there are hundreds of soldiers on screen, it gets really lag. The English voiceover just seem so trashy for me, but then again, the story itself is. There are some great scenery in the game, and the battle animation from the officer looks good.
RATING FOR ACTION FAN:7/10
RATING FOR COMMONER:6/10