One of the games which will hopefully change the industry.

When I first read about Europa Universalis II back in December 2001, I thought there was no way that it could be as good as some of the reviewers were claiming. How could a game simulate the events of 400 years and do it well?

But I was intrigued by the concept. As a history major with a specialty in the era following the end of this game, I wanted to see if the outcome would be at all accurate. When I started in 1419, I was slightly skeptical... but by 1819, I was fully convinced that this was one of the best games I had ever played. In sheer depth and directions you could go, I was hooked. Just the idea that you can play any of almost 200 nations; a lot with historical events, well that alone should be enough to sell the game.

I am not a strategy game kind of guy either... I never got into the kinds of games with movement points and hex grids and turns. Luckily for me, EU2 is a continuous-time game, meaning time is always going by, meaning your decisions are usually happening over a course of days or weeks in terms of the game. Admittedly, there will be some quiet times in your country's history, so that is why there are simple keyboard commands to speed the game up to 1 minute=2 years, and slow things down to 5 minutes=1 month for those who really like to take things slow.

Your country engages in the things which were common in these times: exploration, colonization, trade, diplomacy, and of course, war. Battles are handled by the computer when two opposing armies meet, and factors such as the terrain, the technological level of the two armies, their relative sizes and their religion/morale all determine the outcome.

Religion also plays a major role in the game, as it was the cause of much strife in this period. Unlike the first title of this series, you can now convert provinces to your state religion, making them less likely to rebel against you and more likely to be economically viable for you. New Religions in the east have also be added, making games in Asia that much more interesting.

There is a learning curve to EU2 because of the complexity of interactions and the wide scope of activities you can engage in, so it will take a little time get used to, but for the most part, the interface is intuitive. There is also set of tutorials, though not the best I have ever seen, which can help you if you get stuck, but after an hour or so, the interface and commands shouldn't be that mysterious. Since there are multiple scenarios included with the game, a new player could start on a later one to get the hang of how to play, particularly in the 24-year Napoleonic scenario. The further back you start your game, the more your country is going to change the outcome of the game... so starting in 1419, you can radically change the world, whereas in 1795, things are pretty much set, so there are very few places to colonize.

As of the latest patch(1.05 at the time of writing), there is now a scenario editor, allowing the gamer to make their own games and situations. And since the majority of this game's information is stored in text files, it makes customizing your gaming experience that much easier. A whole community has formed around these modifications, but making new events, countries and leaders/monarchs is generally very easy, so after a half-hour, you should have the hang of it.

There were complaints by some of the first reviewers of this game that it was just an update from the first title, but in this regard, I would have to disagree. Paradox entertainment added a lot of new features, nations and other things which demanded a new game. Granted there are also some bugs, the major one at the moment is a Crash to desktop upon ending a game, so you don't get the option to load another game from the title screen, and an occasional change of resolution problem(when you leave the game, there is a slight chance your computer is going to have a resolution of 800X600, but it is easy to fix).

In terms of sound, the effects are merely ok, but where this title really shines is the choice of music. Unlike the first title which only came with a few pieces of substandard music, EU2 has a full, lush soundtrack which is determined by the century you are playing in... the eighteenth and early nineteenth century for example gets accompanying music by the likes of Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Handel, and since the file that the game uses to determine the playlist for each century is also an easily editable text file, you can add whatever kind of music you want to the game if you wish.

Graphically, EU2 will not be winning any awards for its realism, but the map looks good, with clean well defined edges which make viewing it even at the highest resolution(1280 X 1024), very easy on the eyes. The sprites which represent military units are very small, and not realistic(they have a few motions, but they change according to the country's culture and technology). But for this kind of game, I wasn't expecting in-game movies or a lot of sparkle, as I would rather my hardware be utilized to mimic the governments of 100+ nations at once rather than try to dazzle me with better graphics, as it is the AI which is the core to this game.

All in all, a very fun game, and one which I recommend on the highest terms.