Gemfire Review

Gemfire is a fun and fast paced (compared to some of Koei's other efforts) strategy game set in a fantasy setting that was much more appealing to me than the usual Chinese settings.Best played with multiple players.Your armies will gain special units like skeletons and orcs in addition to powerful monsters from those kingdoms who hold gems.Anyone who enjoys strategy games but thinks that they are too slow or lack an interesting setting should give this one a try.

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Bandit Kings of Ancient China Review

... provided that you know how to play this game. Within this game, there is a maximum of 27 years to beat the Evil Gao Qiu. You have a lot of things to think about - your men, armors, the loyalty/happiness of your citizens, the resources of your land, how much food and gold you have, and the like, and you can only do ONE action from any one of these categories and others to take care of per turn.

A strategy I discovered later on was that it was better to play this game in 2 or 3 (user)player mode and play all of the characters. That way, you can concentrate on Gao Qiu instead of worrying about the other characters (who are otherwise played by computer.) Another thing to do is for each of your characters to swear in about 2 Eternal Brothers or Sisters ASAP (preferably stronger/skilled ones. She-Devil is one of my personal favorites) and have them take care of your initial territory while you travel to other territories to expand and recruit more characters. The nice thing about these Brothers and Sisters is that each character in the game, including Gao Qiu and his men, each have a turn (the system rotates through prefectures for turns) and the more Brothers and Sisters you have (max 9 for each character) get a turn where you can decide the action, just like with your original characters. That way, you can really work on the things you need, and sometimes your brothers and sisters can recruit people for you. Just concentrate on getting 2 ASAP and later on, as your ranks grow and you attract strong warriors, you can bring them in as Brothers (such as Red-Eyed Lion, Eight-Armed Lo, Nine Dragons, etc) Leave average comrades (not brothers) to run territories on the fringes of the map (where they're not likely to be attacked) and they can maintain these areas for you quietly and send you supplies or money as needed as well as gain overall support of that prefecture (as long as they have enough food and money to start with)

The military aspect of this game is also a treat. Make sure your men are well-armored and trained before you fight for more territory. You can have vanquished foes join your ranks, which is always a treat. Just one caveat, make sure you check loyalty every so often, you do NOT want the numbers to drop too low. Have a feast every once in a while especially if you have a lot of men and women in your prefecture - this goes for ALL of the characters you play, not just your original ones. Make sure to pay attention to your citizens too, because the more liked you are, the more you can recruit.

Overall this is a farily good game, more enjoyable when I was playing 3 characters (Leopard-Headed, Blue-Face Beast, and the Hairy Priest) since it gave me greater control AND made the game last longer.

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Romance of the Three Kingdoms II Review

Romance of the Three Kingdoms II is the one that got me started on the ancient Chinese saga.This game lacks the complexity of the more recent releases (IV, VI, most likely VII) but that is part of what makes it so accesable and so fun.
There is no research of any kind, minimal training, each general can carry 100 of their own personal troops, each general can purchase 100 of their own personal arms.Loyalty fluctuates like crazy (generals may lose 6 loyalty every month if they don't like you) but simply rewarding a general with a horse can boost his loyalty by up to 24 or 25 if I remember correctly.
The game basically plays out as follows:
1)Recruit generals
2)Hire troops
3)Attack
4)Repeat 1-3
It may seem a little simple and in fact, it really is.Once you get the hang of it you will have no problem rampaging around China doing as you please; the entire process makes for endless hours of enjoyment and gives you the opportunity to become familiar with many of the Chinese names, strengths and weaknesses of particular generals.To know that Huang Zhong is old.Know that Xiahou Dun is missing an eye.Know that Zhang Fei has a bushy beard.
Mulitplayer in Romance II is incredibly fun, partly because of the speed of the game.If everyone involved is familiar with the process there is no reason for anyone to take forever with their turn.There's no researching involved and developing your city is as simple as spending some cash on land value and flood control, or giving food to the people to gain their loyalty.
You will talk much smack to your friends as you play.
There is not much depth to this game as I stated earlier, but that is the charm of it.If I had to recommend any Romance of the Three Kingdoms game for someone starting out with the title or style I would recommend II.Also, I would recommend the Sega Genesis version if you have access to it.It plays smoother, has more pleasing graphics and has slightly less irritable midi sound.
I'm writing this review almost a decade after we used to play it and I know it doesn't stand up to the games today graphically and sound-wise, but I remember playing this game in 7th grade.Then in 8th grade.Then when Romance III came out we still played II multiplayer.Then when IV came out we still played II multiplayer.Even today with VI out and VII on the way, we will go back and smack eachother in a good game of Romance II when the feeling strikes us.
Get past the fact that it's done on a 16 bit cartridge with butt poor graphics and sound and you will unearth one of the greatest video game treasures of all time.

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