For the Glory: A Europa Universalis Game

Paradox Interactive have been creating historical strategy games for the PC since 1998. They are most famous for three major series; Hearts of Iron, Victoria and Europa Universalis. To say that they are improving steadily with each game may sound daft, but given that their original model of "Europa Universalis" was an incredibly well detailed and in-depth experience, I hope you might understand my full meaning of improvement a little better.

For the Glory is a real-time "grand strategy war-game". It's a real time based game with the ability to pause and alter or choose actions and consequences at any point. The game is set to start at any one of four different time periods from 1399-1819, spanning from the midpoint of the Hundred Years War to the end of the Napoleonic Era. It was developed by Crystal Empire Games as a truer sequel to Europa Universalis 2, as some fans were disappointed by the changes made to the game in its transformation to Europa 3.

The game lets you choose one of 200+ nations spanning the entire globe. Almost every nation and empire is accounted for as long as it existed during the time period selected, or example you wouldn't be able to play as Italy or Germany given that neither nation existed as a unified country until the middle of the 19th Century, thirty years after the game finishes. The game sets off from the roots of which ever nation you choose, and as time passes not only do you have to deal with the economy, military, diplomacy and infrastructure of your country; you also end up fighting off greedy neighbours and perhaps even attempting to conquer other foes.

Invading another nation is a well calculated art and without a declaration of war it's not possible to send your armies to meet your foe. A war requires a good excuse (known as a Casus Belli) and without one it causes other nations to frown upon you as well as destabilising your own nation.

You'll soon find out that a nation is a fragile entity and declaring war too often, annoying your peasantry by ignoring requests for aid or by just being a bastard can lead to revolts which, if left to simmer for a few years, can cause defections and declarations of independence.

In the middle ages you can make pivotal choices about your nation such as whether it will develop to be a land or sea faring nation. Colonisation and trading powers like the English, Portuguese, Spanish and Venetians would tend to favour naval superiority for their high sea exploits, whereas Austria, Russia and the smaller Germanic states would favour a land based productivity.

The colonial nations gain access to historical explorers and conquistadors who can command fleets and armies to help you discover the new world. Spain's first explorer available is Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus) and the English receive John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) a few years later.

For the Glory only suffers in one particular area. It's quite a difficult game to grasp as a beginner, and the task of successfully governing a nation can take quite a while to understand fully. Luckily there is an excellent team of developers and fans at hand, dedicated to assisting new players with their queries if the tooltips and tutorials fail to provide enough information.

If you are interested in or even have a good knowledge of the periods during which this game is set, then this might tickle your fancy. Knowledge of history or even any interest in the subject is by no means a requirement to make this an entertaining purchase for any fan of strategy gaming.