Intelligent Game Reviews

Intelligamer
Intelligent Choice

The period of history from 1492 to 1792 was one of near constant warfare in Europe combined with incredible technological change. It also saw the world “shrink” as the European powers carved out empires that literally spanned the globe. This is the subject matter of Europa Universalis, an impressive attempt to simulate this unique historical era that also makes a darned fine game.

Basics of Play

To say that Europa Universalis is a real time strategy game is to grossly mislead those familiar with what that typically means, but it is. The game is played while a clock “runs” with each minute representing from a month to six months of time historically. The game can also be paused to issue orders, evaluate the situation, etc. But play in “real time” it does.

You play the part of the unseen hand behind the throne of a great power in Europe during the period. Your decisions impact whether war is declared, alliances are formed, colonies founded and so on. There are a small handful of scenarios with predefined victory conditions (such as taking certain locations within a given time) or the Grand Campaign wherein the entire 300 years is simulated and the power that scores the best “wins.”

The game is based upon a detailed economic, political, religious, technological and military simulation of the period. And all of these aspects play a part, some more than others for certain powers. Economically you must build your empire in order to fund your political and military maneuvers. Politically you must neutralize opponents and foster alliances in order to preserve your military and economic gains. Militarily you must hold on to what you have and take what you need to insure that your power is predominant.

The game is played on a map of the entire world divided into hundreds of regions. At the start of the game most of the world is unknown, and your power only knows of areas it would have historically. Alliances and exploration let you see what is going on in other parts of the world. You score points for various actions: discovering new lands, improving your economy, researching new technology, colonizing provinces, forcing your foes to yield territory in a war, and so forth. The most points at the end of the scenario or campaign wins.

It’s a little like Risk on mega steroids… grand strategy, diplomacy, religious struggle, it’s all here. And despite fairly simple game mechanics, this is a deep game, rich in potential strategies. You can more or less follow the historical pattern or break out on your own in any way you want.

In addition to the major powers, a host of smaller nations are represented. All of the small states of the Holy Roman Empire, Asian nations, the Iroquois, Inca and Aztec, and more. Each of these powers has it’s own agenda, aspirations and plans. The AI controls all powers not controlled by the player. Smaller powers will form alliances, wage war, expand and colonize new territory, etc. In a way it is a race for power and influence, you against everyone else in a ruthless battle for supremacy.

It’s this multipolar mayhem that gives the game undoubted appeal. The possibilities are endless both politically and militarily. While I played the scenarios, I prefer the Grand Campaign. In several runs through the full game I tried Russia, Portugal and Turkey. As Portugal my strategy was purely colonization of the new world while retaining a foothold in Europe. It didn’t work entirely, the Spanish edged me out in the end overall. As Turkey my strategy was military conquest. I systematically destroyed my rivals Venice, Austria, Persia and Hungary and reigned as the supreme force in Europe, even though I had few allies and everyone hated me, they feared me… and my gains crushed all those who would dare oppose me. As Russia I struggled initially, but once I managed to secure the proper alliances with France and Austria, the Swedes and Danes fell before me.

The point I am attempting to make here is that Europa Universalis is a game that is eminently difficult to adequately describe but completely addicting. I found myself awake at 4 am on more than one night… true testament to how involved I was with the simulation.

If you like grand strategy games you owe it to yourself to try Europa Universalis. It is the most unique game I’ve played in years. The combination of multipolar diplomacy, religious wars, exploration and military conquest is superbly balanced to make a game that is far far more than the sum of its parts.

Though Europa Universalis is undoubtedly a wonderful and unique game, it is not without flaws. Most of these are technical rather than by design. For starters, it does crash or hang once in a while. Starting the game will play a video and sometimes then exit to the desktop; skipping the video can also lead you back to the desktop. There are a number of typographical and grammar errors in the various text messages (translation was too quick one suspects) and loading saved games without quitting the game you are playing is problematic.

All of that is annoying, but the only serious potential problem is the computer AI. It does an excellent job of exploration and expansion (as the Spanish and Portuguese for example) but is far less competent when it comes to waging war. Add to this an odd penchant for declaring war and then immediately accepting a peace proposal and there were times when I found the AI too easy to spoof.

Graphics, Sound, etc.

You get your choice of 800×600 or nothing in this game. I admit to wishing there were higher resolutions since you often can’t see very much of the world map unless you are zoomed way out, and then you can’t really control your forces very well. The graphics themselves are nothing spectacular, but they are attractive and do the job of relating the information they need to.

The sound was similarly adequate. Battle effects were annoying when they looped while you were paused and other effects were so nondescript as to be meaningless. To wit… the sound for the completion of a unit build sounded like a phone book dropped on the floor, I kid you not. The music was good however, period chamber music that fit the game well and blended into the background so you could concentrate on the task at hand… world domination.

This is not a trivial game, and with as much detail and depth as it has a good manual is a must. And while the historical background and other information is great, the information on how to play the game and how diplomatic, economic and military actions are done and how it all fits together is simply so scanty that you are left to learn by doing for the most part. Even the interactive tutorial was a bit like this, woe unto you if you did something wrong, since there were places that if you did you could not proceed!

Multiplayer

You can play Europa Universalis over the Internet or a LAN. That said, this isn’t a game that I’d suggest you try to play that way. You could play a few of the scenarios this way, with speeds cranked way up or with limited time constraints, but trying to play most of them would lead to games that would never be finished. Still, for those that are addicted and willing to set aside a consistent time to play together, there is nothing better than human opponents to compete with and performance was certainly workable over the Internet.

The Verdict

There are few games that manage to stay on my hard drive after I am done with a review, but Europa Universalis certainly will. It has a unique blend of subject matter, game design and play depth that makes it totally engrossing despite some technical problems. If you are looking for a truly different strategy game with enough intelligence, challenge and style to keep you hooked for weeks or months,
Europa Universalis is it.

Europa Universalis Screenshots

No wonder there were so many wars in Europe from 1492 to 1792… you can’t turn around but you run into another nation.	My mighty Turkish Empire is both feared and loathed by all of the other powers by the mid 1600s of a Grand Campaign game.
Trade is as vital as diplomacy and military might, your coffers need plenty of gold to finance your operations/	Though there are not a plethora of scenarios to choose from, there are enough to add variety.

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