Europa Univeraslis is an ambitious attempt at simulating 300 years of European history during the height of colonial expansion. It is one of the first games I can think of in recent times that gives the player a more realistic sense of what it actually takes to run a nation. Thankfully, it is not just another Civilization spin-off, as it is actually based on an existing, though relatively obscure board game. Europa Universalis is grand in scale and scope, and accomplishes the goal of historical simulation better than most other titles that come to mind.

The story, while filled by researchers, rather than writers, couldn't be better. Europe, from 1492 - 1792 was chock full of violence, treachery and grand schemes. The latter half of the manual does a great job of filling the player in on what was going on in each country during this time period. In addition, they provide 'bios' of the monarchs of the era. It actually is amazing how much background they stuffed into the last 44 pages of the manual. It is easy to see why it was printed in two columns with a small typeface.

Gameplay:

Let me begin by stating that this is not a strategy game that your average 12 year old will pick up and master in 2 hours. In all honesty, this game seems to be targeted at adults (and especially people like me, who are history buffs.) The learning curve is a little steeper than I would like it to be, but this is due in large part to the documentation. While the 'instructional' part of the manual is, for the most part, well written in an easy-to-read conversational style, it lacks any sort of cohesive, easy-to-reference command list. Even after reading through the manual in its entirety, I still found myself stumbling back through it trying to figure out how to accomplish certain tasks, and not having an easy time at it.

That said, once I learned the interface, I soon became completely engrossed in this game. Europa Universalis does a good job of providing you with staggering amounts of options, upgrades, diplomatic choices, and economic improvements, all the while keeping micromanagement to a minimum (and this is a monumental accomplishment itself.) You accomplish most tasks by interfacing with the large map, which you can zoom in or out on at will. Pertinent information such as gold reserves, stability and military size are in a small bar at the top of the screen. When you select a province, city, or army, detailed information is displayed on the left in a sidebar. Commands are easy to issue, and the budget is handled nicely, with a set of self-balancing slide bars.

The game plays out in a pseudo-real-time format. Time always progresses, and you can tweak this setting to make it move faster or slower as you wish. You can also issue orders while the game is paused, though this really is not necessary unless you jack the speed up (and really just slows the game down, in the long run.) Eleven short (note: I use this term only relatively, they are certainly not quick to play) scenarios are included, as well as a 'grand campaign.' This 'grand campaign' features 10 different nations to play, and takes an estimated MINIMUM of 60 hours to complete.

Some of the most intriguing aspects of the game are actually its limitations. The game holds you accountable for your actions, and you cannot just run around and try to conquer everyone. If you want to declare war, you better have a damn good reason, or else your people while become extremely unruly. Also, don't expect to send out any type of scout unit and uncover the whole map in 20 minutes. Only explorers and conquistadors can reliably uncover hidden portions of the map, and even then, it takes quite a bit of time. Casual strategy gamers may hate these features, but true enthusiasts will appreciate the fact that it's just not probable for Portugal, or any one country for that matter, to take over the whole world. Thankfully, this game reflects that.

This is not a game of "take over the world and win." The standard game is won with 'victory points.' Achieving goals, expanding your empire and other factors will give you victory points. Winners are determined one of two ways. In typical scenarios, there is an "ending date" and after this time, the country with the most 'victory points' is the winner. Alternately, you can play a game of 'Power Struggle' in which the winner is the first to get a certain amount of 'victory points.' There are two more options available for people who don't like this system. 'Conquest' allows you to set a requisite number of provinces to conquer and the first one to this goal is the winner (although, in my opinion, this is contrary to the spirit of the game.) The final mode is 'mission', in which the computer assigns you a mission to complete based on what country you are controlling. One such example is, "Spain must conquer England." All in all, this amounts to excellent reply value.

Graphics/Sound:

The graphics are certainly not 'top of the line' but for a game like this, they don't have to be. Still, some aspects could use a little more 'polish.' Most of the graphics are clean and well defined, although some of the animated flags are a bit grainy. My major complaint is that when you have any army in a province and you are attempting a few upgrades at the same time (expanding a colony, promoting an official, etc.) the map can sometimes get a bit jumbled. This can also lead to difficulties selecting the correct item. I would also like to have seen more variety in the icons representing the armies. You can make an army consisting solely of 20,000 cavalry, and the icon still looks like a foot soldier.

The background music certainly fits with the theme of the game, and does help set the mood. However, after playing for a few hours, it can be repetitious. The sound effects are pretty standard fare: nothing exceptional here, but nothing horrible either. Expect to hear lots of clanging hammers and clashing weapons. I am always a fan of voice-overs, and I think some well-placed voice clips could have done wonders for breaking up the monotony occasionally.

Multiplayer/Gamevoice:

`Smaug here....

GCC wanted to do a 'head to head' review of this game with two writers who could play each other over the course of a full game. Unfortunately we could not allocate the time nor resources to get two copies. We may at a later time amend this review to reflect that idea. Europa is a little reminiscent of those ole' days of playing Risk in the Online Multiplayer area. Up to 8 players in Multiplayer games over LAN or the Internet.

For now we can tell you that Game Voice works perfectly with this history gem. Command recognition did not present a single in game problem and were all executed with correct timing. GCC will soon have a custom profile for this game available for you to grab in our downloads section. Over and out for me!

The Wrap-up:

This is a very ambitious title that I believe accomplishes what it sets out to do. It provides a very realistic simulation of 300 turbulent years of European history. Once you get the hang of the game, you are sucked into a very detailed and realistic historical simulation. This is definitely not an action oriented strategy game, in fact, Europa Universalis deserves being put in the "strategy" genre more than numerous other games that have been released recently. It is certainly a "thinking man's" game and is much more cultured and realistic than Civilization or its myriad clones.

If I could make one request of the designers, it would be to 'patch' the manual. Provide us with an informational, less conversational set of commands so that we can more easily find what we need to know while we are playing the game. Aside from this, Europa Universalis pretty much reshapes my opinions and expectations of what a historical strategy/simulation should be. With a little polish, this could be a phenomenal game. I look forward to a sequel.