Namco Bandai and Tecmo Koei surprised attendees with the sudden last-minute revelation that they would be bringing Wii U titles to this year’s Tokyo Game Show. Basically, up to about a day or so before the show, nobody really expected to see anything for the system.

One of the Wii U titles Tecmo Koei brought to the show was the next entry in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 12 (or Sangokushi 12 in Japanese). The game, released earlier in the year on the PC, is making its way to the Wii U on December 13 in Japan. I got to check out the experience on the Wii U and see if the system’s touch screen was a good solution for real-time strategy games.

Screens are from the PS3 version.

Being somewhat unfamiliar with the Romance of the Three Kingdom series (I have a SNES version on Virtual Console, which I stopped playing after 15 minutes), I really wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the demo. The demo has a ton of text to wade through just to get to the action, and I spent over half of the demo navigating through menus and setting up the warriors who would be in my army. While the game displays on both the GamePad and the television screen simultaneously, the setup and early parts of the demo don’t let you use the touch screen on the GamePad to select what you’re doing. All of that is handled by the physical buttons, which works just fine, but I was honestly expecting a little bit more integration.

After getting to the first battle of the game, the touch screen comes into play. Players can choose their units by touching them, and then touch another area on the screen to move them. This can also be done by using the left analog stick on the GamePad, which is more or less a carryover from the PS3 version of the game. Both ways work well. Your units are divided into various types: archers, cavalry, spearmen, etc. Obviously, each unit also has its own traits, and using them inappropriately can cause you to lose the battle rather quickly. Apparently, rushing your archers in for a face-to-face fight against enemy cavalry is a no-no.

Screens are from the PS3 version.

Visually, Romance of the Three Kingdoms isn’t going to blow you away. Menus and still shots of characters look sharp, but when you are playing through the battles, the graphical style changes and looks kind of like an RTS title from 10 years ago. The characters are pixelated and the map and geography look antiquated. I know most RTS titles don’t typically astound with their visuals, but for a console like the Wii U, that aspect is underwhelming.

To be perfectly honest, RotTK is a pretty slow-paced game. Setting up your forces, directing where they are supposed to go—these things take time. Fortunately for those waiting in the long lines at TGS, the demo allowed players 15 minutes to play. With only two demo units on the floor, however, this made wait times borderline ridiculous, but I’m glad I stuck it out and got a chance to play. In terms of features, the Wii U version is supposed have an online mode. Not only that, but the Tecmo Koei rep told me the game will more than likely support the Wii U Pro controller, as well. Players in Japan can grab the Wii U version shortly after launch for 9,240 yen.