Romance of the Three Kingdoms is undoubtedly one of the only games that allows you to step into the life of an individual from times past with so much depth.
As mentioned previously, in this game you assume the role of an officer in ancient China during the Three Kingdoms era. There is a huge cast of 500+ to choose from as well as an addition create-an-officer mode where you can edit their statistics, blood relatives, and a host of other interesting options. Once you've chosen an officer there are endless options of actions to do. There is also the factor of your officers standing. He or she may be appointed to ranks such as Liege, Warlord, Prefect, Officer, or even a Ronin. Each of the positions offers different options and abilities.
Now for what you can actually do in the game. From the main screen, or initial city view, you are presented with a row of shields all essentially functioning like trees. The shield lists the subject on it and all actions of that category are listed in them. A host of things are offered including diplomacy, military, ploys, buying/selling items, socializing, infrastructural duties, and even faction management if you're a Liege. You can't quite tell the depth that it offers just from what I've stated above and you really can't tell from anything I could say, but each of them has a great amount of sub actions, each bearing their own repercussions and rewards.
If you find yourself in a battle, you're in for a decent amount of fun. Battles are handled on a grid-based map using armies created and maintained from your initial city view. Each army is offered a choice of different ploys to make use of and offered a few options for strategy, such as surround or ambush. It's also probably worth noting that combat is handled in a turn based manner as is moving of armies. Overall, it's enjoyable if you don't mind combat that puts emphasis on tactics over heavy cinematic action.
The graphics are relatively dated, yet due to the style of game, are sufficient. Battle is handled via small sprites on a fairly simple map and characters are portrayed via portraits. It could be more graphically pleasing than it is. The soundtrack is a nice collection of music suiting to the era and is actually interesting to listen to, though repetitive after a while.
So in conclusion, if you're a fan of historical simulation/strategy games or liked the previous installments of RotTK, you'll most likely enjoy your time spent on this one.
