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Most excellent game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 15
Date: March 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is for anyone who likes their strategy to be historical & fun, the game is set in Europe between 1492-1792 and covers nearly every historical event in that period and it is up to you to guide your nation through those turbulent times with diplomacy, trade and of course war. The AI is one of the best I have played against, for instance while I was playing the game I had a large army besieging a Russian city and a much smaller Russian army was coming towards me but they did not charge suicidal at me, no they cut of my line of supply thus forcing me to lift the siege and retreat. If you like strategy games with depth intelligence and historical accuracy then you will love this game as I do.

From Europe with love!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 17
Date: March 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

You will be amazed with the quality of this game from Paradox of Sweden. It may look like Risk and some might think it is a Civ game, there is a feel to this game. Ever wonder what if Austria got to colonize the Americas, or Russia? What happened if Columbus sailed more to the North? Turkish South Africa? This game allows you to do it all. A nice blend of political, historical and strategy. The grahics may not be like Quake, but this ia a thinking man's game. Each move has a chance to set the world in war. Marriage, alliance, and good old fashioned back stabbing. Well worth the money. Play and enjoy.

Highly addictive, some bugs though

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: September 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

As a college student I find myself with a great deal of unstructured time. Since getting this game in the mail, my time has been completely taken from my studies. This game is Risk X 100. It is an extremely complex and intricate game of World Conquest, except unlike Risk conquest is not the only path to glory. In addition, you are responsible for the daily lives of all of your subjects. If they don't like you, they'll revolt and make your life miserable. Although this game is great, there are a few problems with it. 1) There are several bugs that cannot be worked out even with the latest patch. For instance, sometimes when you win a battle your army will retreat for no good reason. 2)The sound gets annoying and is very limited. (Something I think they'll clear up in EU 2. 3) The graphics are a little old school. In some ways this adds a certain charm to the game however. 4) This game will completely take your time away and make you a shadow of your former self. But if you want to let the tyrant inside you out buy this game!

The grandest strategy game ever made

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 16
Date: February 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game will leave you breathless. Its scope is huge and anyone remotely interested in history or strategy will have more than asked for. It is getting a cult following, sharing new scenarios and modified game variants over the internet.

It is for up to 8 players with a feeling that the more you play this game, the less you feel you know - and you play A LOT.

Close, but no cigar

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 15
Date: April 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game based on the 5 star rating. I have enjoyed this game, but it does not deserve anywhere close to a 5 star rating. If it was a car, you would take it back.

While the styling is a solid 4.5. The game has a good historical feel...

Dependability is a 2. This game has bugs. 1 example: an annoying and constant screaching sound starts half way through the game and never stops. And there are more.

Ergonomics is a 2. The user interface is poorly conceived. Example: When a battle or other event takes place, a dialog box opens to tell you about it. Problem is, sometimes events trigger other events at a fast pace and you get hundreds of dialog boxes opening all over the place. Exceptionally annoying to constantly keep closing dialog boxes. (I will admit, there is a workaround for this in the game, but it also has its problems) Suggestion for Strategy first: Don't put dialog boxes in a realtime game. Duhh.

If you are a wargame/history freak (as I am), you will enjoy playing it. The styling is a Porsche. But don't expect a 5 star game. The motor is a Hugo.

Everything a hardcore Strategy Game Needs.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: May 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First off being a huge Civ fan like many people who enjoy this game one can't help but try and draw comparisons, but I believe it would be wrong to do so.

Civ is more of a micromanagement empire game. Although you might disagree with that, you will agree compared to this game.

Technology and military is a part of this game, but they are NOT THE GAME. The technology tree is linear because its mainly there to show improvement to military over the span of three hundred years, but don't expect to be flying around in Stealth Bombers by 1650. I like the technology because its not overly important, but important enough that you shouldn't ignore it. (It could cost you that crucial battle against Turkey for Judea)

Plus the fact that only three military units exist should not be held against the game. There are still subtleties such as whether to build a siege army or an army to go head to head with the enemy forces. The main thing to know is although war is a big part of this game it is not the central part of the game, as might be the case in Civilization.

I find it absolutely amazing that a simple little war in a far flung hodpodge can trigger the great alliances and embroil the world in warfare. (Trust me it happens all the time).

The only thing that keeps this game from getting five stars are some of the bugs. I find it real irritating when I click on a button and find myself starring at my desktop rather then playing the game. Too many crashes in that regard. The tutorial and manual suck, but I never use those anyways. The best way to learn this game is to wade in and go down in flames a couple of times.

Plus this game has one of the best online communities around. Anything you want to know can be found on the games website including mod's and scenarios.

A great game for anyone that wants something to occupy themselves until Civ III comes out.

The Best Strategy Game Ever Made

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is truly the most complex, interesting, and at the same time accurate strategy game I have ever played. Taking one of the great powers in the year 1492, the player does basically everything a late medeival king would do. The player manages the economy, military, diplomacy, exploration, and so much more. There are too many dimensions to this game to be written in a short reveiw. Another great thing (and then I'll shut up) is that historical events, such as the Reformation and the Revolt of the Netherlands actually occur during the game. They occur not in the exact year that they really occured, but in the time period, and not always to the same effect they had historically. This is a great game for anyone who longs for the past and the time when European explorers and kings began to rule the world.

Buy this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: March 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you call yourself a wargaming fan of any type and you do not buy this game... YOU WILL MISS OUT ON SOMETHING GREAT!!! This game is awesome. I managed to get it a day before it was scheduled to be released and have been playing it since then. The political model is amazing and the economic and military models are not lacking much.

Besides such it is able to be played on lower end computers. Needing only 200 Mhz processor, 180 Megs of hard drive space and 68 Megs of RAM, it is not like many of the newer games that require you to spend several thousand on hardware to be able to play them.

BUY THIS GAME!!! YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED!!! As for me I'm getting offline to play it some more.

Balanced and entertaining for the most part

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: June 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First of all, I must stress that you get the EU 1.09 patch and install it before playing this game. It will save you a lot of trouble with crashes and other bugs that infest the game. That being said, Europa Universalis is a game that demands one's total attention: that is, no internet connection, no winamp player, a near total absence of programs running. Otherwise, the game will turn your computer into a rattling hunk of plastic, and gameplay will be incredibly stilted as the processor, RAM, etc, try to process the huge amounts of data that passes every month in this game. You'll want at least 128 MB of RAM and at least a 800 MhZ processor if you want gameplay to progress silently and smoothly. Technical problems aside, EU is in a class of its own among its genre: namely, it is firmly balanced. No horde tactivs here; you'll need to use every resource at your disposal (trade, diplomacy, colonization, religion, as well as military) to keep your nation humming alone. Plain out-and-out consistent wars eventually result in huge coalitions of states aligned against you cutting you down to size, and your country will lose stability to the point where threats from within are as deadly as those without. On the other hand, peace is rewarded by increased revenues, better foreign relations, etc.. The folks in Sweden (Paradox) who created this game have made hyper-extensive research on historical figures and events, and it shows in the names of kings, emperors, military commanders, and explorers, all of who were real people. Basically, EU is a board game akin to Risk whose scope is far greater and complexity so great it had to be played on a PC. This is not for everyone, however, as only dedicated gamers will be able to comprehend it initially. Play Civilization II and Starcraft before getting EU, or you may find yourself completely overwhelmed.

A veritable jewel in the strategy-gaming crown!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: March 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Europa Universalis is an incredible and deeply satisfing game, it combines some of the aspects of award-winning games such as Imperialism and Civalization II while adding a rich historical and cultural backdrop. While there are alot of aspects to master and the game does seem daunting at first, I found myself realy enjoying the experiance as I progressed. One word of strategy, though, in order to fully enjoy this game, you need to play it with a Machiavellian(sp?) bent. The only negative comment I would add is that the manual isn't nessisarily very well organized since there is no index which complicates matters if you're looking for a particular bit of info on a given facet of gameplay.

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