Recent reviews by rice

its cool

I would just copy paste my Crusader Kings II (CK2) review, but in truth this game is so much more than its predecessor.

Many were worried, before CK3's launch, that the game would be barebones and boring when compared to CK2 and the vast amount of DLCs that game received over its long tenure as one of the best grand strategy games in existence. No need to fear however, this game will be provided a massive amount of DLCs and those DLCs may be more influential to the game then any CK2 DLC ever was.

Paradox however, knew that if they had a barebones game release, people would just turn straight to CK2 again and never look back to the potential CK3 had, so they improved upon CK2. Paradox removed things that didn't work in CK2 and added systems that are completely fresh, such as the rally system.

Not to mention the 3D modelling every character has instead of the portraits in CK2, the models really add something special to the game, and now with the free release of the new and improved Ruler Designer, you can quite literally make the most beautiful king or queen you want, or the ugliest, its up to you.

I could go more in-depth into the newly fleshed out dynasty system, the new religion system, the new intrigue system, the new military management system, the new technology/culture system and more but that would take me forever and you wouldn't read it anyway so there would be no point.

TL;DR

The game is extremely fun, it's a different beast from CK2 and will benefit from the same DLC cycle that Paradox has for any of their games. The systems involved in CK3 are far more fleshed out and to be honest, improve on such a perfect game already. The 3D models really bring a life out that's never seen before in a Paradox game.

Plus we may see a far East Asia expansion which is pretty DAMN cool.

10/10

Total War: Three Kingdoms is the newest in a long line of Total War games, based in the later Han/Three Kingdoms period of China.

(Before reading any reviews, you must remember that this game will not have the same fantasy elements that will be found in the Warhammer games. There are no dragons, vampires or magicians. This is a historical total war set in a period of civil war for China, all characters are Chinese and there are few variations between a warlords units.)

Three Kingdoms has a unique focus never seen before in a Total War game, characters. You don't start the game picking a faction to play, you pick a warlord.

My first campaign was with Cao Cao, the capable minister during peacetime and a crafty hero in chaotic times. Cao Cao's exclusive ability is Credibility, you can spend these Credibility points to instigate proxy wars between two rivalling warlords, you can also use the points to increase or deteriorate relations between warlords. Effectively, you can play the campaign with limited warfare and an abundance of plotting. Cao Cao comes with two legendary heroes to aid with his conquest of China, Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan. Both Dun and Yuan are Cao Cao's cousins and will follow him anywhere, but if their satisfaction with the faction hits 0, they will desert to another warlords court.

Heroes, as mentioned before are the life of your armies and each hero has a class. I will go into what classes are good at and bad at in battle (Heroes have buffs for settlement administration too but I won't go into that here.)

Commanders - These heroes will have melee cavalry as their preferred retinue and provide buffs to the army they're in. They can duel but it is not advisable. (Yellow)

Sentinels - These heroes will have melee infantry as their preferred retinue and are the tanks in your army, being able to hold choke points easily. They can duel and don't deal a bunch of damage but they have insane defensive abilities and are likely able to outmatch other classes. (Purple)

Champions - These heroes will have spear and glaive infantry as their preferred retinue and excel at killing enemy generals in duels, but are weak when faced with a large group of people and are easily overwhelmed. (Green)

Vanguards - These heroes will have shock cavalry as their preferred retinue and are weak against other heroes but excel against groups. (Red)

Strategists - These heroes will have ranged units as their preferred retinue and are weak against both characters and regular units. Strategists cannot duel and are extremely fragile in battle but they're necessary to success in battle as their give increased ammunition for ranged units and give armies special formations. Strategists also have the ability to fight night battles and use fire arrows for their retinue, making them extremely destructive. (Blue)

This is just the start of new features implemented into Total War: Three Kingdoms, and I implore you to buy this game. You may not like the setting but I can guarantee you will like it after you've bought this game and witnessed the rich lore behind it.

TL:DR
The game is great, has a unique way of looking at a Total War game and has a bunch of new features. I recommend you buy it.

Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft's successful attempt at a competitive FPS.

5v5 destruction and tactics based game play, allowing even the least accurate player a chance to kill someone by sheer (luck) strategy. This game is one of my all-time favourite games, I've bought it twice now and spent over $300 on the game.

BUT

The community is toxic, Ubisoft have realised this and are working on fixes as I write this review, these fixes may end up working, but most likely they unfortunately won't. The hit registration is random, sometimes you can hit an insane headshot but more regularly you'd be "hitting" headshots instead.

I do recommend this game as I want others to experience the joy of clutching a round that keeps your team in the running to win the game or even those close calls where you managed to squeeze out an ace on an overtime match-point round, winning the game for your team. When the game works, it shines.

Europa Universalis IV is an in-depth grand strategy game by Paradox and is worth every cent (base-game), the game suffers from the same DLC policy as other Paradox titles, unfortunately. Regardless of potentially overpriced DLCs I will continue to play and support the developers, as they have created something truly special, only in Europa Universalis can I force the Japanese Daimyos to bend to Prussia's will!

Would recommend this game, especially for someone who enjoys history, cartography and geography!

A game of intrigue, war, religion and political turmoil. This game is the most challenging and rewarding strategy game you will ever play, there's so much to this game. I've only played 24 hours and I'm still learning new things, and it takes on a very unique way of strategy, you no longer play as an invisible head of a state like in Paradox Games' other titles (EU4 and HOI4) you play as one character, this character ages and dies. If there is no heir to the bloodline, the game ends.

10/10 game, if you have the time to learn I strongly suggest you pick this game up and give it a try.

EDIT: After roughly 250 hours in this game, I'm still learning about content and the different ways of doing things. The inclusion of mods has time and time again brought life back into the game and with constant development of DLCs and other expansions by Paradox, you will never get bored and you'll always get your CK2 hit until CK3 comes out.