Macintosh

Europa Universalis II

En conclusion, EU2 est un wargame historique très complet, depuis sa sortie il reste vraiment LA référence en la matière. Un excellent moyen pour apprendre l’histoire en s’amusant, ou même de la ré-écrire, même s’il risque de dégoûter certaines personnes par son coté austère et sa complexité apparente. À recommander à tous les fans d’histoire, les stratèges en herbe et à tous ceux qui ne se laisseront pas décourager, sachant qu’il vous faudra nécessairement plusieurs essais avant de bien prendre en main tous les paramètres du jeu, le tutorial se révélant utile mais pas suffisant.

Overall, the feel of the game seems right and this is a welcome addition to the Macintosh library of strategy genre games. This isn't the kind of game that can be played through in a straight multiple-hour session or picked up for 10 minutes and put down again, but something that actually gets more interesting over time, especially as the game and its diplomatic relationships evolve. There's no set path to victory and the player will have to reinvent their empire time and time again as they come across inherent stumbling blocks (such as leveling up their infrastructure to decrease inflation as well as advancing their military technology and fortifying a region's cities to prevent against invasion), which makes it frustrating at moments, but fun to come back to a bit later.

What if Sid Meier's Civilization were real-time instead of turn based? That's the question that Europa Universalis II tries to answer as it presents a game of world building and world conquest, set among the nations and cultures of the 1600s.

EU II will be most enjoyed by those who love the genre of strategy games, while the gameplay isn’t too difficult to pick up, the intricacies of the game mechanics can be daunting. Those who have played and mastered other strategy games will be able to dive in head first into the detailed rules of conquest and diplomacy. The action isn’t paced quickly, and mastering the game is more akin to an art form than a point and click interface. The game is well made, and besides the shortcomings of the multiplayer, the game has some innovations to strategy games that shouldn’t be overlooked.