Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf

The Good
If you are fairly new to Koei's games, this is the perfect place to start. Koei's historical games can be rather complex at first when you first begin to play them.

It is fairly easy to build an army, and you dont have a loyalty meter in this game, you just have to trust your instincts on your generals.

There are four scenarios in the game, so its not like you are stuck in one scenario. You also get a choice of 6 rulers or so, although this is rather limited to what it available in the game, you are not going to get stuck with the possibility of being attacked right away, although there are times you wonder why you cant be someone like the Chin Empire, who is strong enough to command, but I guess thats how the game works.

The Bad
Japan Vs. US rules and what you could put into a game, you always get suspicious of the originality of a Japanese game when it is localized to be published over here (Im referring to meeting with the family and getting your wife to go to bed with you in the Japanese version).

When your ruler dies and your son take over, you get a bunch of people that start declaring independence, and they can be nasty if they are well fortified.

The AI is really predictable, they come after you when they attack you, and when you attack a castle, its rather easy to shoot your arrows at them and get out of the way and they wont attack you, theyll just stay in the castle.

The Bottom Line
This is a good place to start playing Koei's historical games if you havent done so already, Romance of the three kingdoms is best left to Koei veterans.