Kessen II is a sequel to the first Kessen game. It has moved away from pure strategy, and your generals now take personal part in the battles, adding an action element. It is still an innovative and unique game. Set in the time of the Three Kingdoms in China, Kessen 2 covers the war between Liu Bei and Cao Cao. You play the game through first as Liu Bei, and then it opens the ability to play as Cao Cao. Once you have beaten both new difficulty levels open up, as do two bonus battles, which gives the game good replay value. The game is very even handed in its presentation of the factions. Both sides demonise the other but come across as intelligent and ...  Read the complete review

Back in 1999 many of us were keenly anticipating the arrival of the (then) next generation consoles. Each month that passed brought with it a few new snippets of information. Then the images started to appear and one of the very first was a scene of dozens of warriors, some on horseback, engaging in an almighty battle. It turned out that this was from ?Kessen?, one of the initial launch titles for the Playstation 2. Set in feudal Japan, ?Kessen? was a real-time strategy game, a battle simulator if you like, featuring over one hundred 3D characters on screen at any one time. Basing the story on Japanese history it ...  Read the complete review