To be honest, as an old guy who has been playing mobile games since the Saipan era, I am almost immune to mobile games with the Three Kingdoms theme. From the early stand-alone version of "Three Kingdoms" to the later "Three Kingdoms" and "Three Kingdoms Strategy Edition", to various reskinned card games, to be honest, this IP is almost worn out. But a few days ago, a friend forced me to try the "New Three Kingdoms" released by Xiamen Xinyou Network. I played it for two weeks, and I am not bragging. There are indeed several experiences that made me, a ten-year-old player, shine.
Let's talk about the advantages first. Although this game's "famous generals, beautiful generals, and king generals" system is not new in similar SLGs, its development rhythm is quite comfortable. Unlike some works from major manufacturers that dump you a bunch of orange generals at the beginning and then force you to spend money to break through, every time you get a general here, you can at least feel that "this will last for a while" rather than purely stacking card values. In addition, PVP gameplay such as dart capture, plunder, and siege are very smooth on mobile phones. Especially in siege, you can feel a little bit of the micro-managing pleasure of "The Heroes of the Three Kingdoms" back then. This is worthy of praise 😊.
Let's talk about the shortcomings. The game's "honey trap, counterattack, and chain strategy" sound rich in strategic gameplay, but in actual experience, the triggering conditions are a bit harsh, and the sense of presence is weak - at least in the early and mid-term, most battles are still dominated by military strength and general star ratings, and strategies are more like the icing on the cake. In addition, although the game is known as "cross-server dominance", the balance between servers still needs to be optimized. There are too many big players in the server in my area. If ordinary players do not stick together, the experience will be a bit different.
Compared with similar works on the market, I think "New Three Kingdoms" is more "mild to moderate strategy + strong social interaction". It's not as hard-core as "Three Kingdoms·Strategy Edition" where you need to open a small account to pave the way and send troops in time, nor is it like those fast-food card games that are as mindless as drawing cards and pushing pictures. It has found a middle ground: you can play the orthodox siege of cities and territories, and you can also chat with your guild brothers and grab escort cars between missions. The rhythm is just right for office workers to fragment their time.
One final word of emotion: From the Java Three Kingdoms games in the Saipan era to the 3D siege warfare on mobile phones today, the industry has indeed changed a lot. But some things have not changed - for example, we old players are still willing to spend time for a well-written Three Kingdoms game. I'm not bragging, but if you come from the era of "brother, you go first", you can give it a try. 😌