Europa Universalis III

An excellent, addictive historical strategy game. The awful graphics and the wandering enemy units are minor flaws. [Feb 2007]

Remarkably well-honed-arguably Paradox's finest achievement in the form to date.

While it covers the same ground, there has been enough of a shift from the old roots to ensure the experience stays fresh while maintaining the features that have made the series the premier example of grand strategy on the PC today.

A quality title by a quality developer who has shown that you can actually fix a game that ain’t broken, and introduce fresh possibilities into an already intriguing genre.

It's as deep and broad as you would expect from such a big strategy game, but Europa Universalis III's most notable achievement is how easy it is to get into--and how difficult it is to tear yourself away.

If you’re looking for a deep strategy title, then Europa Universalis III is likely for you. With its improved interface and tutorials, it’s possible to lose at least a few hours in the game even if you’re not an enthusiast of the genre.

I was drawn to play Europa Universalis III because of the sheer amount of options that it offers. Not many games allow you to control an empire for more than 300 years and allow you to do it any way you see fit.

The new interface is definitely welcome and it gives the player access to a bit more information while also reducing the clutter of popups and notifications that seemed to accumulate in the other games. The new gameplay ideas aren't revolutionary but they manage to add more realism and a wider range of options to the basic historically-themed gameplay.

The sheer amount of options and decision-making direction available to the player can be quite overwhelming. There are, however, a selection of well paced tutorials at hand in order to draw you into some of the game's elements at a gentle pace.

It hasn’t moved from its niche within the RTS genre, but without compromising a single pixel of depth Paradox has managed to simplify and streamline the experience. Possibly Paradox’s finest title yet, certainly the most pleasing.

It's not a game to be entered into lightly: once you start, it may not be possible to stop. [Mar 2007, p.60]

But as a single player game, there’s nothing quite like Europa Universalis III. Not even Europa Universalis II offers this much replayable wide-open history.

There's not another game quite like EU III out there. If it hooks you, it may be the only game you need this year. [Mar 2007, p.62]

Europa Universalis III is still one of the best grand strategy games you can find. [Apr 2007, p.64]

Go ahead and rewrite history if you can. It’s fascinating stuff that’s reason enough to play this game. Good thing, too. Because there’s little else in this package that will probably entice you to play.

With the new tutorials and the improved interface, the game is very inviting for new people to the genre, but the complexity, possibilities and atmosphere is preserved and expanded.

The beauty of it is that the game doesn't place any restrictions upon your ambitions (or lack thereof). [Mar 2007, p.77]

Paradox has made huge leaps in the series with its latest edition. With its simple controls and easy to understand directives, Europa Universalis III is both for newcomers and old veterans of the series alike.

Civ has the glitz and the glamour, while EUIII has huge depth and enough gameplay options to ensure that the game is never going to play the same way twice.

Given the incredible scope and the devs' track record for turning out hard-to-get games, EU3's riches are surprisingly accessible. [Mar 2007, p.92]

Plenty of depth and enough diplomacy to hold the attention, but it'll be too ponderous for some and too ugly for others. [Mar 2007, p.76]

The incredible scope, combined with the awkward menu system and lack of tutorials just serves to make this game completely inaccessible to the grand strategy novice. [Score originally posted as (50)]

It's deep and complete in a great many of the right ways. It's just that it'd benefit enormously from having options to be friendlier. But once you're in you're in, and beneath that fusty layer of endless menus and cold numbers there's a strategy game of near-unparalleled flexibility.