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deep, perverse and compelling

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I love this game for its deep alt historical gameplay. I've had the Turks conquer India and half of Germany, I've had France carved up into pizza for all Europe to enjoy, I've had the English Civil War come a century early. so cool.

the good stuff, noted by many many other reviewers, is all true.

the bad stuff:
a)this is a tough game to learn, and i believe you need experience with board strat games to really crack the nut.
b) and the box lies on the specs you need to play the game. even with patches etc., i am unable to finish any campaign game i start unless i want to buy more hardware.

the silver lining
since i can't finish any game i start, i now have my life back. i found this game very, very compelling.

A Keeper

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: May 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is another tough game. Anytime you combine war, money, religion & conquest you are looking at sleepless nights. I played and barely won as the Austrian and I am winning as the Spaniard with most of the 1600s yet to come. Very challenging.

Am I the only one???

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 19
Date: June 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I know that this game is supposed to be GREAT, I know...I read the reviews of it. So, either I must be the stupidest person in the world, or I must be missing something in the game. FIRST--The bugs that infest this game are HUGE. I have been kicked back to my desktop, so many times it aint funny. I have problems running a game with sound. SECOND--The game is limited. Three land units and three naval units??? Yup. Sure there are upgrades, but you can only make the SAME number of units. Hmm... THIRD and THE MOST IMPORTANT--In my opinion this game just is not FUN. It may be realistic, but afterall it is a GAME. It needs to have some aspects of fun. The battles are lacklustre, the play action is repetive.

If you are a student of history, you MIGHT like this game. If you are not, chances are you wont like it....

It's great, but...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Let me preface this by stating that RTS games are my passion. Hearts of Iron is my favorite, which led me to Victoria (also great), which led me Europa Universalis. Having received great enjoyment from HOI and Victoria, I was looking forward to a similar experience with EU.
PROS:
If you like being challenged, this game will do it! I suggest starting out as Russia to learn the basics, then trying England on for size once you have some confidence with the system. Austria has an "interesting" strategic position to start the complete game with. For those who routinely beat the game, try Poland for the long haul; if that doesn't bring you back to a respectful view of the EU system, nothing will. The "historical events" can be used as good barometer of how you are doing; being rude and obnoxious to the AI will result in a short game, so be "polite" until you have what it takes to defend yourself. The basic unit types are OK to begin with, although as you become more familiar with the system you will wish for more variety. The research tree is also good, considering it goes for 300+ years.
CONS:
The economics in the game didn't do a lot for me. Maybe I'm biased by my focus on working the research tree to upgrade my military capabilities, and this really isn't a fair assessment. Maybe others think differently about it, but I'm looking for gaming simulation driven by the military, research, and infrastructure aspects, not trading partnerships. Another con is the constraints placed upon you by the EU system by the "family relationships" between countries. I agree it is historically accurate; I also better understand why Henry VIII ended up with six wives! Last but not least are the pools of leaders to choose from. Granted, there were very few generals of notable quality between 1492 and the inevitable tide of revolution. More (better) leader choices would have been nice, but the net effect is to make the game more challenging.

Very good ... not great ... not yet anyway

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: October 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I've only basically played for 2 days so far, but i do like what i've seen ... to a degree. The emphasis on trade, diplomacy and religion is great. Its not just another explore and conquer game which is awesome. Although after a while you get bored and lapse into starting wars ... and doing so will get you punished by the AI... in a hurry. The manual is horrible. The grammar and spelling in the game itself is horrible, you can tell these programmers failed English in school. I've just downloaded the 1.09 patch and hopefully it will improve somethings. But, all in all very fun game. Very easy to spend hours upon hours playing in one sitting ... which i did yesterday( i think i played 15 hours straight... lol) I would very much recommend it for anyone who likes strategy games and especially loosely based historical strategy games.

close, but no cigar

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: December 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The idea behind the game is certainly great. The simulation of the time (including the Gold Standard and Balance of Power in Europe) is excellent. Gameplay, however, is too difficult and intricate, making it less fun, in my opinion.

boring

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: October 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I love strategy games.
I still play CIV2, Master of Orion2, CTP2.
And remember others fondly.
This isn't one of them.

This one is just a lame game.

It's slow. Game play is close to non-existent.
conquest is not fun, but tedious.
Marching a group of your soldiers from one of your towns to another and a significant percentage of them will die.
Same with sailing your ships. If you had 3 ships and sailed them from England to Germany, how many would you reasonably expect to make this short voyage? How many if you controlled all the coastal regions in northern europe? If you think all your ships should typically manage to sail for an entire day without sinking, your vision does not agree with this game.
As I said, it's a very lame game.
Save your money for CIV3 or Arcanum.

Waste of Money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 14
Date: July 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!! I have played this game for about 16 to maybe 20 hours. How, I don't know. Atari from the stone age made better games. It sounds cool, but it's far, far from that. If you have played Age of Empires II (Age of Kings) then I know what you are looking for. So was I at the time I purchased this game. This game is the exact opposite of Age of Empires. I use the CD as a coaster, the box as a door stop and the case to keep other cds safe. You will regret purchasing this game. I do!

Meglomania?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Based on the famous (infamous?) French wargame by the same name, Europa Universalis turns the unplayable boardgame into something manageable. It is a very ambitious grand strategic game which generally works. If you are a grognard you don't me to recommend this game - you would of already bought it.

If you are not a wargamer but have an interest in the period covered or want to see if you can beat historical Russia to the Pacific (historically 1659) this is the game for you. Be warned that the game has a steep learning curve and will take a few tries to truly master.

Be aware that you are very limited in terms of what you can do (limited by history). You are not totally forced into a historical mould but you are limited. It is almost impossible for Russia to compete in the new world, but you can get Siberia earlier then historical. Essentially, if the nation you are playing did something historically, you can usually do it earlier. If you try and do something a-historcal for that nation, it will be almost impossible.

OK, but not great!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 13
Date: August 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I have to vote with the folks who recommend not buying. Terrible manual, clunky-awkward interface, awful tutorial, exceedingly steep learning curve - to name a few problems. It could have been a great game, but it's not. Personally, I think they should take lessons from Sid Meier on how to make a game playable AND enjoyable. Save your money and wait for Civ III, due out in October, 2001.

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