Roland Tellzen | June 24, 2008
FOR all the infighting between the proponents of console versus PC games, there is probably at least one area where it is safe to say the PCs have the wood on the consoles: grand strategy.
This is one for the true enthusiasts of the ancient world
Sure, that most popular of strategy games, Civilization IV, is set to make its console debut in the near future, but even then the pickings will be meagre against the wealth of such titles available for the desktop platform.
The reason, of course, is that few grand strategy titles offer the type of action and gameplay that consoles do well. That is not to say they are not a popular genre among aficionados.
Paradox Interactive is a games house that specialises in such titles. Indeed, its Europa Universalis series is among the most complex and dense of the genre.
Previous versions have put players in command of princedoms and kingdoms of medieval and Renaissance Europe.
This latest version takes players back a millennium earlier, as far back 278BC, to an era when an obscure Italian tribe based on the city of Rome was on the verge of challenging powers such as Macedonia, Carthage, Seleucia and Ptolemaic Egypt for mastery of the Mediterranean and European world. Yes, this is one for the classical scholars - and I mean true enthusiasts of the ancient world. People who want richness of detail, historical accuracy and complexity rather than action.
It is a real-time strategy game. In many ways it is almost like a melding of the Civilization series with Microsoft's Age of Empires titles.
That said, the level of detail is far, far greater than either of those titles, as fine as they are.
You are the ruler of a provincial nation in the late classical Mediterranean world. You must build it up, head off challenges and hopefully build up your nation into an empire spanning the known world of the time.
This involves many complex tasks. You must manage trade, the economy, social and political stability, religious development, technological research, diplomacy, dynastic and family rivalries, barbarian threats, provincial infrastructure, cultural expansion and, of course, military and naval capabilities. Each of these factors has its own set of intricate rules and controls.
Even scratching the surface of these controls would require more space than this review allows, but suffice to say its richness of detail is matched only by the intricacy of the data available.
For example, the game drills down to the point where you even have to appoint individual citizen magistrates to different roles: each magistrate based on real historical identities, rated for aspects such as military acumen, popularity, charisma, incorruptibility, finesse and loyalty, and fitting within an extended family and network of friends and rivals.
Indeed, apart from warfare, most of the action seems to take place through tables and spreadsheets than through the traditional games staples of furious and bloody action.
Saying that, of course, might tend to put off some people - and it is certainly not going to be everyone's cup of tea. It is unlikely to challenge the likes of Halo or Grand Theft Auto in market popularity.
That is a pity, because when it comes to trying to recreate the ebbs and flows of history, and the social and political forces that shaped civilisation, it is really absorbing and fascinating.
SPECIFICATIONS
• Publisher: Paradox Interactive Platform: PC
• Price: $69.95
• Rating: 7/10