Europa Universalis

List Price: $44.95 Discount Price: $0.55

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PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

A Strategy Game for History Buffs [Posted on 2002-08-04]
Conquering the world is a popular objective for strategy games, but in Europa Universalis, that is not necessarily the goal.

In EU's Grand Campaign, the biggest scenario from about a dozen you can choose from, you are in control of a number of European nations at the beginning of the 1400s. It is your job to lead the nation to a glorious future through exploration, diplomacy, trade, research, and good old-fashioned conquest. Your empire begins small, anywhere from a half dozen territories as Austria to twenty plus as France. In EU, not all nations are created equally. Some have very distinct advantages at the beginning of the game. However, even if you begin with a small nation, you don't have to conquer as many territories or make as much money as you would if you were a larger nation to win. The game uses a point system. You achieve victory points by completing missions, such as defending territories, discovering parts of the world, or conquering certain enemies. You have two hundred years to score as many points as you can to win.

EU is a very involved historical simulation. While you steer the fate of a nation and the world around you develops differently every time, there are many historical events that come up at more or less the same time that affect the entire European continent and add a historical flavor to the game.

The game is a good mix of diplomacy, combat, discovery and exploration. You can discover much of the world, though it is disappointing that many portions of it remain unexplorable, like much of Asia as well as central Africa and central South America. Combat is not very involved. You tell your armies where to go, and if there is an enemy army there, battle rages on and both sides take casualties until one side retreats or is destroyed. However, in order for your army to perform optimally, you need to think about things like the terrain of the territory, the composition of your army (infantry, cavalry, and artillery), the quality of your leader, etc. The system is fairly simple but effective.

Overall, EU is a great strategy game. It is a combination of a real time and a turn based game. The days run by at intervals that you can set to however fast or slow a speed you like. It is historically based, has fairly intelligent AI, and most importantly is good fun. On the down side, the manual is more of an explanation of why the game plays the way it does rather than an explanation of how to play, but the controls are fairly easy to figure out, so this is not a big deal.

great game [Posted on 2004-08-19]
This game provides me hours of enjoyment. I've been able to create different scenarios where different countries are the dominant one. Also there are downloads available online.

Boooooring! [Posted on 2005-06-15]
I'm a fan of turn-based strategy games, I love civilization (1,2,3), I also like rts games like rise of nations, but this one is simply boring... and complicated. It plays as slow as a turn-based, and doesn't even have half the depth! I couldn't play more than half an hour without wanting to run away screaming!

Horrible!

It's great, but... [Posted on 2005-07-07]
Let me preface this by stating that RTS games are my passion. Hearts of Iron is my favorite, which led me to Victoria (also great), which led me Europa Universalis. Having received great enjoyment from HOI and Victoria, I was looking forward to a similar experience with EU.
PROS:
If you like being challenged, this game will do it! I suggest starting out as Russia to learn the basics, then trying England on for size once you have some confidence with the system. Austria has an "interesting" strategic position to start the complete game with. For those who routinely beat the game, try Poland for the long haul; if that doesn't bring you back to a respectful view of the EU system, nothing will. The "historical events" can be used as good barometer of how you are doing; being rude and obnoxious to the AI will result in a short game, so be "polite" until you have what it takes to defend yourself. The basic unit types are OK to begin with, although as you become more familiar with the system you will wish for more variety. The research tree is also good, considering it goes for 300+ years.
CONS:
The economics in the game didn't do a lot for me. Maybe I'm biased by my focus on working the research tree to upgrade my military capabilities, and this really isn't a fair assessment. Maybe others think differently about it, but I'm looking for gaming simulation driven by the military, research, and infrastructure aspects, not trading partnerships. Another con is the constraints placed upon you by the EU system by the "family relationships" between countries. I agree it is historically accurate; I also better understand why Henry VIII ended up with six wives! Last but not least are the pools of leaders to choose from. Granted, there were very few generals of notable quality between 1492 and the inevitable tide of revolution. More (better) leader choices would have been nice, but the net effect is to make the game more challenging.

Europa Universalis [Posted on 2008-05-11]
This game is nigh on to impossible to play. I found the tutorial also very difficult to understand. Unless you are very bright or into self torture, I would recommend you take a pass on this version and get either EU II or EU III.

I am playing EU III and find it much better but I warn you this is one game you need to read the manual.

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