Make a nation: Europa Universalis III

Paradox Interactive is dubbing their latest entry into the gaming market a “Grand Strategy” game. We’re not entirely sure what being grand has to do with being a good strategy game, but Europa Universalis III surely makes it a point to remind you that it’s a long way to the top of the world’s pecking order.

Europa Universalis III takes a nod from the well-known Civilization series and makes some tweaks of its own into the gameplay. You can actually choose to begin as a historically accurate representation of one of 250 different countries. While the idea of having to contend with 249 other AI countries seems daunting, the game is meant to be suited for the task of letting novices play without feeling overwhelmed.

In your quest to make your nation known, you can also mix and match micromanagement and overall decision making to help you out. For instance, the game will allow you to pick and choose important people in history to become your advisors as well as the kinds of troops you want to use for your army. At the same time, you can also lessen some of the micromanagement involved and control aspects of production and government, among others, by adjusting specific sliders to change your nation’s overall AI.

While the game’s still due for release in early part of 2007, there’s a lot of potential for this strategy game to be a very accessible strategy sim. Perhaps we should call it a Grand Strategy sim, instead, eh?

  

See more screenshots after the jump!

Paradox Interactive is dubbing their latest entry into the gaming market a “Grand Strategy” game. We’re not entirely sure what being grand has to do with being a good strategy game, but Europa Universalis III surely makes it a point to remind you that it’s a long way to the top of the world’s pecking order.

Europa Universalis III takes a nod from the well-known Civilization series and makes some tweaks of its own into the gameplay. You can actually choose to begin as a historically accurate representation of one of 250 different countries. While the idea of having to contend with 249 other AI countries seems daunting, the game is meant to be suited for the task of letting novices play without feeling overwhelmed.

In your quest to make your nation known, you can also mix and match micromanagement and overall decision making to help you out. For instance, the game will allow you to pick and choose important people in history to become your advisors as well as the kinds of troops you want to use for your army. At the same time, you can also lessen some of the micromanagement involved and control aspects of production and government, among others, by adjusting specific sliders to change your nation’s overall AI.

While the game’s still due for release in early part of 2007, there’s a lot of potential for this strategy game to be a very accessible strategy sim. Perhaps we should call it a Grand Strategy sim, instead, eh?