In the 12th century, the Emperor Hui Zhong is faced with an internal rebellion led by Imperial Minister Gao Qiu. The Song Dynasty comes to an end, and Gao Qiu became the new ruler. You take the role of an exiled ruler, and you must build your stats up to be able to challenge- and destroy- Gao Qiu and restore Hui Zhong to the throne.
The game is a military strategy game, like most of Koei's games, but instead of conquering a country, the goal is to depose the despotic ruler of China. You start out lowly, and have to work your way up by conquering smaller prefectures, forming alliances, and fighting small battles. You have to earn the right to attack Gao Qiu's home prefecture, though- he is off limits until you are powerful.
In 1989, just one year after KOEI was born, Bandit Kings of Ancient China hit the market and started a strategy revolution. Its interface would become the backbone of other KOEI strategy games to follow. The game is perhaps one of the most detailed games in this genre. In order to succeed you will have to build a strong army to conquer the neighboring regions, but at the same time you need to make sure that your populace is thriving.
The entire game is controlled via keyboard commands. Although it might seem difficult at first, you will soon get used to the controls. Basically you type in a number and press Enter. If you have typed in the wrong command, simply press Enter once more (without giving any new orders), and it will take you back one step. Pressing Enter will also tell you which commands are currently available.
What distinguishes this game from many other games in this genre is that you don't win the game by becoming the only ruler; rather you have to capture the nefarious Imperial Minister of War, Gao Qiu. Once this has been achieved, the game ends.
The game is divided into four different scenarios, and you can choose among different heroes to play in each. This gives the game a high replayability value, as each hero will differ from the others, both in terms of starting-position and power.
The first thing you need to do is to settle down in a region, and start preparing for war. You will have to recruit men and other heroes, hunt for food and fur, collect gold and metal, create weapons and govern your regions to the best of your abilities. There are also a lot of political issues you need to control. Making allies is perhaps the most important one, but if you don't treat your allies well, they might leave you when you need them most. This game truly shows you the value of loyal generals in the midst of battle.
From time to time you will have to go to war, and as with the rest of the game, this is controlled via the keyboard. Before the battle commences you must position your troops. You will notice that some of the tiles on the map have numbers on them. You can only place your troops on these tiles. As for the actual combat phases, you move your troops with the num-pad and use the 0 key as confirmation key.
Bandit Kings of Ancient China is an all-out strategy game that will push any hardcore strategy gamer to his limits. You will need all your skills if you are to be successful. This is a game I would recommend to veterans of this genre. Newcomers are free to try it as well, but they will probably become frustrated over the controls and the fact that you have to govern all things yourself.
The game also supports multiplayer for up to seven players.
One of the best Hardcore-Strategy-Games I ever came across. It somehow reminds me of a Heroes of Might & Magic set in ancient China (of course it was made before HoMM). You can hire heroes have to keep an eye on your people, care for your finances. Politics as well as economics combined with strategy and even some RPG-elements.
When I started this game to have a quick look at it - not expecting too much - I was hooked for some hours. The simplistic controls are easy to manage and then you try your best to gain more influence. Very realistic gameplay and a nice story make this one a high-quality game for all Strategy-Fans.
Close to 600 years after the events chronicled in KOEI's better-known Romance of The Three Kingdoms, the weak royal court inspired the rise of legendary bandits who proclaimed themselves kings. This game is best described as a more difficult RTK, because although the setting and gameplay remain the same, you start out in exile and must fight many stronger opponents. Personnel management and resource allocation, therefore, become much more important here. A good game, if little differentiated from RTK.
How to run this game on modern Windows PC?
People who downloaded Bandit Kings of Ancient China have also downloaded:
Gengkhis Khan 1, Nobunaga's Ambition 1, Ancient Art of War, The, Age of Empires, Age of Sail, Battle for Moscow, Gengkhis Khan 2, Civilization 2
©2024 San Pedro Software. Contact: 
, done in 0.001 seconds.