Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire Virtual Console Review

Originally released for Super NES, January, 1995 Wii Points: 800 ($8) Review it yourself As one of the few strategy games available on the Wii's Virtual Console, Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire holds a certain charm. Through its goal of domination, either by capturing all of China's 43 cities or eradicating all enemy dictators from the country, the game calls to mind popular strategy-based board games such as Risk or Conquest of the Empire. Originally released by Koei in 1995 for the Super NES, Romance IV even retains the social element of such games thanks to its turn-based design, allowing for up to 8 players with just a single controller. The game begins simply enough, with players choosing from a range of different scenarios, covering 189 A.D. to 235 A.D. From there, players must pick from a number of contemporary historical figures, each with their own pros and cons. An established dictator, for example, may begin with a larger empire under his command, but some would argue that starting with a smaller kingdom, perhaps of merely two or three cities, and establishing that empire yourself provides for a more strategic and more satisfying experience. Fortunately, that sort of open freedom is Romance IV's forte. Once in the game itself, players face a daunting range of menu choices, with even more hiding behind each menu category. The main menu itself is split up into ten selections, each leading to more detailed options for that particular aspect of city management, such as Staff or Market. Within the Army selection, for example, seven options present themselves--Move, Send, War, Draft, Train, Build, Spy--all of which will require another few screens of player input. Choosing Train necessitates the player to specify which officer will be training the army and for how long. War guides players through the lengthy process of invading a foreign land, first selecting the commanding officers of the battle units, then assigning amount of soldiers in each unit, determining how much gold and rations they will carry, and directing their every action in battle. The number of choices a player has open to them is both impressive and overwhelming, supporting any number of different approaches. Instead of wasting the time and resources on a drawn out war, why not shower a potential ally with gifts and propose an alliance? Alternatively, you could spread gossip, commit arson, or even plant a few double agents in the opposing army, their eventual betrayal in the midst of battle lowering enemy morale and bringing more troops to your side. However, the overwhelming number of options also begins to grate, especially in the beginning stages of the game. The included Operations Guide, standard with each Virtual Console release, provides little assistance. It explains the basics of the game--conditions for victory, the city command interface, the battle interface and the overall progression of battle--but little else. The game itself does not offer much guidance either, merely presenting the menu and offering nothing more than an unclear sentence or two to describe each category. For example, the explanation of the City option reads "take care of the city's domestic affairs," which provides no help when deciding how much gold should be allocated to technology or agriculture. The lack of documentation leaves the functions and consequences of many available actions unclear, encouraging a trial and error approach to the multitude of available actions. This is an impractical way to actually play the game, however, as many of the choices, such as the development of agriculture, have no immediate effect. Poor explanation of the game's mechanics presents other problems as well. After gathering all of my most powerful officers and creating what I thought to be an unstoppable battle legion, I was thrilled to find a turn-based combat system similar to that of Advance Wars, with each unit capable of moving a certain amount of spaces per turn. That joy soon dissipated as I spent the fifteen minutes after my first enemy encounter commanding my troops to attack the same squad in the exact same position over and over again until my foe finally retreated. As it stands, I have no idea if this battle and the others similar to it that followed were typical of the game or hampered by some unknown decision on my end--an extremely frustrating situation, either way. Nor do I have any clue of the meaning behind the yellow numbers that appeared above my troops while they attacked, though I determined that the following white number indicated damage done. I am also unsure of the exact function the Duel option serves, though the resulting non-interactive cutscenes are laced with such questionable dialogue as "it looks like I ran out him." Ultimately, the baffling nature and unhelpful documentation of Romance IV ends up the game's biggest detriment, especially relative to its wealth of content. The game presents a wealth of gameplay mechanics and supports just about any play style imaginable, but with the massive amount of time and effort required to learn the game's intricacies, Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV is just too meticulous for its own good.