Prince Fu Su has a problem. Ordered by the emperor to commit suicide, the young warrior prince disobeyed, and has been branded a traitor. Arrest warrants have been issued and the prince must find out what is going on if he hopes to save the Qin Empire.

Prince of Qin is a role-playing game for the PC by Strategy First and Object Software. The game is historically set in the last years of the Qin Empire, a period 2,000 years ago brimming with chaos and death. Fu Su, a real person during the period, had stood up against the emperor when the latter ordered the death of Confucian scholars. As punishment, he was sent north to defend the empire from the Huns.

However, that did little but enhance his prestige. He was popular among the troops and immensely successful. That was when he received the forged edict to commit suicide. In real life, both Fu Su and General Meng Tian obeyed the order. That is where Prince of Qin diverges from real life.

In this game, Fu Su is on a path of revenge against his enemies while coming to grips with the injustices of his society.

While players take on the role of Fu Su, they will have the opportunity, throughout the course of the game, to add to the adventuring party. There are side quests as well as puzzles that must be solved.

All of this could have added up to a different kind of RPG, but – unfortunately – the game bogs down with graphics that blur up close, a script that is over-written and voice acting so dramatic it borders on silly.

The game begins with Fu Su encountering several troops out to arrest him. Not about to be taken, he engages in a fight and quickly kills them. Then he encounters a peasant who recognizes him and gives him clothes to disguise himself. As Fu Su exits and heads for the nearest village, more troops arrive and ask the peasant if he has seen the prince. Of course the peasant lies, and might have gotten away with the deception if not for the royal armor lying on the ground for all to see. The troops kill the peasant, his wife and their baby, and the game launches.

In the nearest village, Fu Su can heal, level up and help the villagers by annihilating venomous cave creatures, and bears who have walked away with a woodsman’s axe buried in them.

In this regard the game is like so many others. Fight, and if you are successful the corpse of the defeated enemy yields treasure. And once Fu Su levels, you can distribute points to a variety of traits and learn new skills.

The game also has a mystical aspect: the concept of the five elements – which have a correlation to each other and can either enhance or overwhelm mystical weapons imbued with an element. The five elements are wood, water, fire, earth and metal. It is important to understand how these elements are bound to one another.

The Prince of Qin does come with a variety of screen resolutions and a zoomable camera. However, regardless of the resolution, zooming in to the action only blurred the images. Only with the camera pulled all the way out was the game crisp. Aside from that, the game features solid animation and environments. The map boards are all blackened until explored and the entire world is quite large.

The voice acting leaves something to be desired. Overly dramatic and with a variety of accents, the game also comes with subtitles to carry the story along.

As an action game, Prince of Qin is average. The game is somewhat linear, and you can either accept or bypass the quests offered at each level. Accepting them, however, is the only way you will level up. Once Fu Su is joined, other characters will level with him, and players will have control over them – however, the computer will initiate some actions on its own.

As a role-playing game, this program is merely average. While the historical period is rich and fascinating, and the storyline different than many others, the escapade bogs down into mundane game playing.

Prince of Qin started with a good premise, but doesn’t deliver like it could.

This game is rated Teen.

Gameplay: 7
The story is somewhat linear, and while each level is seamless, with caves and buildings to explore as well as quests to undertake, it all seems more of the same.

Graphics: 6.9
Zoomed out, the graphical elements are solid and crisp. Zoom in and they blur, in spite of playing the game at a variety of resolutions. It would have been better to drop the camera control all together than present graphical elements like that.

Sound: 6.8
The sound of the game is merely average, but the vocal characterizations are overly dramatic. The dialogue is overwritten and the combination of the two is somewhat silly.

Difficulty: Easy
The quests are somewhat predictable (if told not to venture into a cave because of danger – duh, you go into the cave), and the puzzles do not seem overly complex.

Concept: 8
The game has a different storyline for an RPG, but bogs down into typical game playing. The five elements have come into play in other games, but that bit of mysticism is always welcome.

Multiplayer: 7.4
The game does have a different storyline in the multiplayer mode, as well as items unique to this style of play. You can 'group' with other players through the game interface.

Overall: 7
The folder on the hard drive shows 1.7 gigs of memory used for this game, so you will have to invest some hard-drive space if you wish to play it. The graphical elements need some help and the dialogue is overwritten and overacted. This could have been a wonderful game, and does have some nice elements, but is delivered in an average manner.