Europa Universalis 3 : Complete Edition

This is a seriously heavy strategy game. We have all played Command & Conquer, Rise of Nations et al, but compared to Europa Universalis 3, they are just for kids. 

Right from the off the game makes no qualms about itscomplexity. No jolly little unit animations here, single unit icons represent your units and fleets. Battles are fought out using very ‘table top’ war game methods, if this was being played out in your kitchen you would probably need 300 dice, a degree in astrophysics and a hefty logarithm book just to work out who won the first round of combat. 

Don’t however let this level of complexity put you off, it is this level of detail that makes the game what it is, after a few hours of playing I forgot about the workman like graphics and was immersed in a feud with Ireland, Wales and Scotland. I was aiming to control the British Isles with an ironfist. And this is another feature of the game; there are no missions, no set goals. It’s a map of the world, there for you to plunder and conquer however you wish. 

To start with you choose your starting nation, from one ofover 250, yes; you heard right 250 different starting nations. Personally I picked England,as I always liked the idea of being the King and running rough-shod over the French, Germans, and Italians. Well, that was the plan, but it’s not that easy. First it’s a good idea to make friends with some of them, whether it’s through trade agreements, royal marriages or peace treaties. As your wealth grows,recruit your armies and prepare for war, invade your neighbours and takecontrol of their territory. 

The game has naval combat too, I didn’t strike too much with my naval forces as they were more than a little thin on the ground initially and used the ships mainly for transporting my troops to the far flung battlefields of Eire.

This ‘little’ piece of the map had so far taken me over 6 hours to capture and successfully keep protected from counter attacks. I was amazed, the time just flew by. The game sucks you in rapidly, and doesn’t let go readily. Before you know it you’re feeling unstoppable, you declare war on Europe, all of it, at the same time, you don’t care, you’re the King of Britain and you want blood. However, suddenly, oh god, it’s all going wrong. You find yourself screaming at the screen as your entire army that you spent years building into a finely honed killing machine is cut down in seconds by the ravening hordes of the Eastern European countries. Not nice.

Now, the game is not perfect, there are some minor annoyances which might just be down to my playing style, but there is one massive and glaring bug. The biggest problem I had was with the tutorial levels;while informative they never really tell you what to do. It explains the interface well, shows you what button does what, all fine so far, but, and you know there was going to be a but, it crashed on my system at the end of each section which required me to restart the game and move to the next section. Not a greatway to instill confidence in your game. 

The copy we have for review is, as the title suggests, the complete Europa Universalis 3 pack, this contain both of the released expansions, Napoleon's Ambitions, and In Nomine. A mighty package and excellent value for money. 

This is a game I would highly recommend to anyone who wants something more than Rise of Nations offers, and hold gameplay in higher regard than graphical prowess.

Having played this game now for several months, I can do nothing but recomend it for serious RTS gamers. Its got it all. Just the right mix of out right carnage and possibly the best political model I have seen in a long time.