Conclusions
Goods
For anyone
who likes realistic historical simulations, look no further. Taking into account
things like weather, religion, trade, and even inflation. You can really see
the complexity of running a Empire which also makes it that much more satisfying
when you are successful.
The Game
uses a semi-real time playing environment. This means that you can pause the
action at any time and give troops order or survey the battlefields. This
is a very useful feature because the game can get pretty crazy and you simply
can't control everything at once. Of course, that is part of the challenge
of running a Empire. I sure know that without it, I'd be in serious trouble
(This option is not available in multiply).
When I first
started playing the game, so much was going on that it was extremely difficult
to keep track of. That's where features like the pause system and passage-of-time
settings can help a lot. If things are happening a bit too fast just slow
down the passage-of-time. Its that simple, and that's a good thing.
Bads
One area
that I was disappointed with was the manual. Flipping through it revealed
that it contained lots of useful information, but it was impossible to find
anything on the fly because it lacked both an index and/or a table of contents.
This isn't the end of the world, but it did make it an annoyance. I believe
that it is possible to obtain a table of contents off the net if you look
in the right places.
Another negative
was actually the sheer detail and complexity of the game. If its really possible
to be a bad thing. I mean the game is great because of this, but I think that
Newbies could be scared away and I doubt that many causal gamers will spend
enough time to learn the game. It is a real shame that this could be the games
greatest point and at the same time, it's worst.
Muiltyplay
The same
scenarios are used for multi-player, though the pause mode is not available
since you are playing live opponents. The host sets the initial passage-of-time
rate. With up to 8 human players at the same time and 4 different play modes,
including Standard, Supremacy, Deathmatch, and Mission modes. It can make
for some good action if you're tired of the boring old computer opponents.
Humans are always a lot meaner and sometimes use strange tactics!
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Review Box
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The
Goods:
Huge amount of
detail, lots of gameplay, very realistic, pause anytime you want.
Customizable alert messages.
The Bads:
Can be confusing
with so much happening at once, might scare away newbies, no contents
in manual. Music can get annoying.
The Final Take:
Paradox
has done a great job of recreating this period of time. The attention
to detail was amazing. Nothing else like it period.
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Conclusion
Overall
the goods in this game out way the bad things by far. If you can put up with
the manual, the music and are willing to invest the time it takes to learn
the game, you will really enjoy yourself. Its got some very unique features
in it, with the semi-real time environment going for it and the huge amount
of game play, you'll be enjoying this great game for a long time. I'm looking
forward to seeing what paradox releases next.
Tyler Waterhouse
April 26, 2001
