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Req.: Win 95/98/NT/2000, P3 800, SVGA video card, 128MB Ram, 4x CD Rom, 1GB
hd Reviewed On: P4 2.5Ghz, 512MB, GeForce 4ti, SB, Win XP Pro | |||
Intro Paradox returns with another epic, this time taking on the world when England was enjoying the height of its power. After the beloved Europa Universalis titles and the buggy-then-fun Hearts of Iron, gamers are treated to Victoria: Empire Under the Sun. Like its direct predecessor, some bugs, along with some strange omissions and lack of cohesion, keep it from being the classic it aspires to be. Gameplay: 5.5/10 Let's get one thing over with real quick: Paradox Entertainment does not like you. You know how I know they don't like you? They give gamers a complex title with no tutorial and a paltry manual. I mention this before anything else because it greatly surprised me to see how few aids there are available to the player. Sure, the manual goes over the absolute, bare-bones basics, and there are little pop-up menus of information for most icons and options, but that's like using a slingshot to take out a tank. Slowly, as progress is made and more things become known, Victoria really begins to shine… … and then it crashes. After having problems with it on this machine, I tried it on another. Not only did that not help, but it was like the initial crash was Gizmo and the new system was water, spawning more evil crashes, one after another. It has been a very long time since I had a game crash this much on me. Because of this fact, Victoria will be the first game to feature two overall scores for its review; the one seen above is the average of the two. So, for the copy gamers will buy off the shelf, it gets a 3. I don't want to give it a 3, but with so many crashes, and the problems I will mention later, that's what it gets. Now then; with a patch out, and the game gaining more stability - although not as much as it needs - gamers will get to really sink their teeth into the game. Starting out, gamers can choose the Grand Campaign, starting at 1836; A House Divided (the American Civil War), starting at 1861; A Place in the Sun, starting at 1881; and A War to End all Wars, starting at 1914. These aren't traditional strategy games, but rather starting points to get to key points sooner. I started out with A House Divided and as the CSA - what can I say, I've been playing a ton of Sid Meier's Gettysburg! and wanted a challenge - I proceeded to not just get stomped, but stomped so bad that it was like I had lost the entire war after the second day. Not all of this was entirely my fault, though. I know this is a game, but the two things that struck me as odd was that my immediate attack on Manassas (Battle of Bull Run), which was a Confederate victory and really showed the country how the war would be fought, led to a sound defeat. Trying to salvage something, I set my ironclads against normal wooden vessels and got annihilated. Now, I can kind of see how Bull Run might not turn out like its historical events, since it's stressed that this isn't supposed to be 100% representation of history, but when an ironclad, a single of which had the serious potential of doing away with the Federal Navy, gets defeated by the vessels it should be steamrolling through…well, there I had a problem. Since this isn't reality, and in the game I can have an entire fleet of ironclads, some leeway has to be given, but with that much given, it's like the historic aspects were just a means to an end and not integral to the game (which they are, since they represent key moments in how the player presents themselves as the leader they want to be). Brushing off that embarrassment, I decided to go for the Grand Campaign. Picking the U.S., I set about taking on the more minute aspects of running a nation. Tackling the menus is going to be a serious chore for most people. Granted, they were easier to navigate and work through than my last experience with a Paradox title, but they were also far from intuitive. While that may be of some small comfort, it goes a long way nonetheless. Since there is no tutorial, it will definitely take a while to understand the basics since the manual presents the experience as something far easier than it actually is. For fans of past Paradox titles, they may feel more at home, but for me, the lack of a tutorial is mind-boggling. Running a nation in Victoria isn't like it is in Medieval: Total War or any other of the grand strategy games - aside from past releases from the developers. Instead of simply researching and fixing tax rates, players will have to adjust the taxes for all classes (poor, middle, and rich), bearing in mind that taxing one group too heavily will drive them to the next lower class; they will also have to set a tariff rate, and also set a regular budget. Budgets are tricky business, since the funds that go into them don't seem to make their way through the economy as one would expect, so it's important to note when something should be cut and when something needs to absolutely stay where it's at. Consisting of Education, Defense, Social, and Crime Fighting, as well as Army and Navy Maintenance, keeping a solid economy will result in a see-saw effect on the gamer's nerves as the income can drastically fluxuate very quickly, which is to be expected. Saying how it is all important is one thing, but seeing it in practice is different altogether. Education might not seem necessary in times of war, but spending on education results in more research points, which can be focused on one area - out of Army, Navy, Commerce, Culture, and Industry - so, even though that simple bonus in organization for the army may not seem like much, it can be enough to win a few fights. Defense, also tying in with Army and Navy Maintenance, determines the quality of the armed forces. While Defense focuses on Officers and the bigger picture, the Maintenance figures focus on the supplies the troops get, and a poorly supplied army will have desertions, with some corps disappearing entirely due to not having enough supplies. Social is for the benefit of the people, which, in most cases, isn't prominent for a while, while Crime can have the serious repercussions of corruption and rebellion. Really, this is the underbelly of most strategy games, and even though it feels like micromanagement - actually, it is - there is still something comforting about having full control over the small things. Being the resource-rich United States, I got busy expanding the amount of workers my lands could own by...well...expanding the resources of a given area. States aren't really defined; instead, areas within a state have their borders, but the first click in an area will highlight the state as a whole. This is a pretty cool selection method, but aside from right clicking to get a shortcut menu, the single-click method means that forgetful folk with quick fingers will be clicking on other random spots to select the entire state again if they accidentally double click to choose a single section (which are large cities). Going through to expand my resource base is also when I realized how daunting a task it is to start off with a large country. Some territorial authorities to help out would've definitely been nice. After noticing that the cash reserves were still holding up, I went to check out how the trade business was doing when I noticed some massive debt. Starting out, the game gives players enough cash to set themselves up, but also penalizes them with some harsh interest rates. Being a stickler for that kind of thing, I had it all paid off in a few years and enjoyed the fact that I wouldn't be falling into bankruptcy anytime soon - yes, I'm looking at you, Haiti. Naturally, a main source of revenue is trade. Trading is weird in that the only thing really limited by the World Market is what can be purchased. And, for a while, the only thing that's so crucial to the point where it simply has to be bought is machine parts for building factories, which rarely feature any kind of excess supply. To really get a booming economy, the player can dump all of their extra goods onto the World Market and watch the revenue roll in. Being Tobacco and Cotton central, I enjoyed the massive income. This just doesn't go for the U.S. either, because when I played as Japan, basic trading allowed me to have more money than I knew what to do with. While I definitely enjoyed the luxuries, it did need some refining; items that people didn't seem to need were still being bought in massive quantities, but things desperately needed by everyone seemed to not be made by anyone. I also wasn't fond of their method of how to buy and sell, which was done by a greater than or less than formula; it seemed out of place when most games just rely on better display means to pass on the information. During all this time I had a large number of armed revolts, even with large amounts of income going towards security and pleasing the citizens. They weren't so bad at first, but when they go from 290 men to 10,000, it becomes pretty worrisome. That's also another problem I had: the numbers of armed men. In the 1830s, with no political ties to anyone, the Independent Republic of Texas offered a Defensive Military Alliance, which I dually accepted as Mexico was looking more inviting and nothing says pretense to war better than knowing an ally is going to be invaded. Needless to say, once that treaty expired, they were looking for full military backing. So, there, in the 1840s, I began my campaign into Mexico. While the real Mexican War involved men in the tens of thousands during the main campaign led by Winfield Scott, but I soon found myself sending hundreds of thousands of men to the front lines and Mexico sending up even more. Game or not, those are some staggering numbers. Combat is interesting in Victoria. Sure, I love planning battles and making daring maneuvers on-the-fly, like in Medieval, but having it handled automatically is a necessity since so many soldiers are involved. One of the more important aspects of fighting is maneuvering the troops, not just to fight forces with inferior numbers, but also those who haven't dug themselves in. Even a massive force can find itself being held up by an opposing corps that has dug itself in and faces the assaulters from the safety of trenches. Also important, and something that is pretty cool, is that each corps has a generic leader. After the leader has built up some leadership points, the player can gamble with those and get an actual officer. While the manual states that any officer is better than a generic one, I found that to not always be the case. From the "unmanly" McClellan to the "adventurer" and impulsive Custer - don't worry, there are generals from all over the world to choose from - affect how the corps performs, but the player never knows and they can spend valuable points getting lame generals. Getting anything more than regular infantry will take some serious surplus in goods, though. Aside from basic infantry, cavalry, and dragoons, there can also be artillery units, professional units with these and other options, depending on what country played, when you play, and the resources of the area. Even with knowledge of how to fight, some battles feel completely random in how they come out; surprise victories aren't new, but when more than a handful occur within a small amount of time, it starts to feel like the preparation isn't always worth it. Ships also play a role, but mainly for troop transport, since bombarding coastal cities isn't part of the games forte; limited ship engagements also has a downfall in that some real strategies, like the Federal blockade of the South during the Civil War, can't be put in place to hurt supplies. After putting a whuppin' on Mexico, I was greeted with several surrender screens; whenever an opponent is losing, they can sue for peace. People can demand or offer peace, and normally that comes at a price. Whether it is holdings, military access, a promise to not build up arms, or tribute, a winner can exact a heavy revenge on their adversary. What can be done is determined on the way the battle is going, indicated by a bar with a positive or negative number, and by prestige points. Prestige points are one of the key elements to the game, as they indicate who the top nation is, and they also serve other means, like declaring war on someone and also exacting the reward for beating an opponent. Oddly enough, some surrender offers can give the player some huge benefits; on the sixth or so surrender offer, I was given almost all of Mexico - which is something I don't think a leader would do, seeing as how they were left with little afterwards. With new items to export, the money began to roll back in again. The next few decades were spent putting down constant rebellions in the South, many of which cropped up around the time of the Nullification Controversy; while this is mentioned later on, I'm not sure if those uprisings were because of this fact, but if they were, then it's nice how it was woven in. While researching ways to make money and better the infantry, I also spent much of my time preparing my country for railroads. After a few years of researching, I had crude railways set up that were transporting goods and troops in no time. During all of this, various story events would occur that required my attention. The war with Mexico left people complaining about my aggressive nature. At a time such as this which requires a decision, the choices might be to either agree with them (which would cut military spending) or put them down (raise militancy). A ton of these situations will arise, and I didn't mind most of them since quite a few were significant - like U.S. players getting more and more questions regarding slavery until 1861 - but what I didn't like were the times when the only choices I was given to pick from weren't what I wanted - if I want to tell someone no, then I want to tell them no. I don't want to think about it or agree, both of which affect my stats somehow. Along the way, players will become familiar with the pop-ups. Those damn annoying pop-ups. There are options to not display messages, display them in the message log (which is pretty small), or both, but what I wanted was an option to either keep them all in one window and let me scroll through them as they came in or a small icon to indicate one and let me choose when to see it. Since things like troop movement and construction completion are crucial, I wanted those to pop up so I could utilize the handy 'go to' button, but having to wait for the non-crucial messages and relegate them to message log-only was a pain. All of this became way too much when I chose to not accept the South as a separate nation and the Civil War broke out. I would estimate about 50 pop-ups came up. There would be a burst of 5 or so, then 10 back-to-back, and so on. It got to the point where I couldn't set up defenses because I was too busy trying to get some of the messages away because I couldn't see the screen. I found this to be a constant problem and source of annoyance, especially during crucial events that require quick reaction. During the Civil War, I found out that one thing Victoria does well that so few other games do: Diplomacy works! While I couldn't ask for military assistance (which wasn't good), I was given assistance by my ally, England, once they finished up with Russia. Softening up a relationship with cash can lead to a neighbor allowing your military to move through their territory - you listening, Creative Assembly? - along with their agreeing to sign a military alliance with you. Players can also easily declare war, send expedition forces to help non-allied neighbors, open negotiations to trade (technology, land, or claims), and also threaten over colonization, all with a quick right-click. I knew most of these functions worked well, but I was pleasantly surprised whenever my military alliance actually paid off and over 120,000 troops came to my aid, and under my control, by way of Canada. At least someone got this right. Colonization also plays a large role in exacting influence. As the years go on, leading up to the Great War, keeping the surplus of money and resources becomes of even greater concern. When spotting new land, something as simple as a trading post can be built or a fort to secure the land. Natives can lead rebellions against encroachers who are too vigorous, so a missionary might the way to go. Keeping the factories going and production up means a war machine can continue across the globe, but forget something as simple (in the game world) as canned goods, and the army won't be going anywhere. It all ties in together very well. While I've tried to explain as much as I could about Victoria, I'm pretty sure I'm missing quite a bit. That's the thing: the game is massive. What I've described, aside from the Civil War, could happen in any number of scenarios. Every nation during these time periods is here, each with its own national crisis to deal with. All of this variety leads to the game's complexity, and it's that complexity that leads to so many problems. Despite the
strides taken to make the game more accessible, and they are there and appreciated,
just learning the basics is a daunting task. The skimpy manual and lack of a tutorial
means that the player will be feeling their way around for a long time, and even
then not feel completely assured that what they're doing is appropriate. Also,
while the developers point out that this isn't supposed to be an exact simulation,
there is so much that is actually real that it's hard to tell when they meant
for something to be stretched and when not; some basic unit match-ups would suggest
an outcome that might be completely different than what happens. To put that in
better terms, it would be like a foot-soldier driving back a knight several times
before finishing it off - it just doesn't seem right. The pop-ups are also troublesome,
as is the fact that a button doesn't always register every time that it's clicked.
And one of the bigger problems is that, even though I thought I had everything
down and I knew what I was doing, I really didn't; that uneasiness permeated my
experience and made it feel like it was due to oddities in the game rather than
have been designed that way. With the patch, Victoria: An Empire Under the
Sun gets an 8.
Graphics: 7/10 Sound:
7/10 Overall: 6/10 [ top ] | |||
