Total War: Three Kingdoms

Total War: Three Kingdoms is set to be released in a month or so, yet I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on this blog. That may seem strange because, if you’ve followed this blog, you’ll know I’m a pretty big fan of the series. So why, unlike previous Total War releases, haven’t I shown much interest?

You might think it’s the setting. Am I just not very interested in this period of history? Well, it’s true that I’m not very familiar with it, but I wouldn’t say I’m not interested in learning. No, I think the main reason I’ve had a lack of interest in the title is because of the Total War: Warhammer games.

The Warhammer games are fantastic, offering what I consider to be the most enjoyable battles of the entire Total War series. I just don’t see how historical titles are going to be able to compete with a game full of monsters and magic. No historical title, particularly one set within a single country, is ever going to be able to compete with the massive variety of units and play styles of Warhammer.

In a way, CA is a victim of their own success. They’ve done such a great job with the Warhammer games that it kind of makes the historical games feel rather limited and dull to play in comparison – at least in the battles.

For Three Kingdoms, or any future historical title to really grab my attention in the battle side of things, I think CA really need to up their game and offer us something we haven’t seen before. That’s not to say 3K doesn’t have some new battle features of its own – such as the duels or the character banter – but from what I’ve seen overall, the battles are pretty much exactly what I expected.

They also look pretty rough. There’s a lack of polish to the battles in terms of combat and movement animations that’s very odd to see, especially when compared to how fantastic the battles look in Warhammer. To be fair, we haven’t yet seen a finished build, but it’s strange to see the battles looking as rough as they do at this stage.

Visually, the battles also look odd. In some videos it doesn’t seem as if the shadows are properly enabled, making everything look flat and lifeless. In some, the textures look very low quality. There’s a very heavy depth of field effect applied across all of the battle maps which not only blurs the background to a ridiculous degree, but also makes it appear as if the textures of the map haven’t properly loaded. In some videos there’s a sharpening effect which is way too strong. And in some the graphics look very washed out, as if the saturation levels are set way too high.

It’s just weird to see the battle side of things looking so rough in 3K when they’ve done such a fantastic job with the battles in Warhammer. Oh, and I’m really not a fan of the green and red unit icons – they’re far too garish. I know a lot of players prefer the floating banners as opposed to icons, but I’m okay with icons, as long as they don’t look totally out of place. The current icons in 3K are pretty jarring to look at it. I think they either need to be changed, or at least tone down the colours to a deeper and darker green and red.

This may all sound very negative, but I’ve actually become far more interested in picking up 3K over the last few weeks despite these concerns. Why? Well, I always knew that 3K would struggle to match Warhammer in terms of battles, but if there’s one area it can (and should) surpass Warhammer in, it’s the campaign.

The Warhammer campaign is a pretty streamlined and simple campaign, which I’m okay with because it perfectly facilitates those fantastic battles, which is the real strength of that series. But if 3k can’t match Warhammer for battles, it really needs to step up in the campaign, and from what I’ve seen, that’s exactly what CA have done.

The campaign of 3K is looking great in pretty much every area. In terms of visuals and audio, it may just be the best looking Total War campaign yet. The expanded diplomatic options, the spying mechanic, the focus on characters and their interactions . . . it’s not only a wonderful way to immerse the player within this period, it also mixes up the traditional Total War campaign formula in a new and refreshing way.

It’s the campaign that’s really got me interested in Three Kingdoms, but am I ready to pull the trigger and pre-order? No, not yet. As much as I like what I’ve seen of the campaign, we still haven’t seen how well it operates in practice. And I obviously have my concerns about the battle side of things. But the good news is that we should be seeing far more of both sides of the game prior to release. I’m cautiously optimistic.