Europa Universalis: Rome

The slick look and easy to use feel of Europa Universalis: Rome combine with its astonishing depth and freeform style to provide a truly compelling and quite unusual game experience.

For the rare gamers who can happily lose themselves in a world where the ability to create armies is more valued than the ability to lead them on the field of battle, the EU games are a revelation. When you combine that approach with the appeal of the historical Roman setting, it's like an arrow of happiness aimed straight at our hearts.

I think this is a great game, it has wonderful features and the strategy is solid.

Interesting content, ease of use and the ability to remove huge chunks of your life combine to make one of the best historically accurate strategy games out there.

From strategic trading, the recruiting of legions, where to garrison them, who’s right for the job from governor to general – Rome is possibly one of the only games out there that can really give gamers a glimpse into just how pressured emerging super powers were. After all Rome wasn’t built in a day, let Paradox show you why.

Even though Rome is still plenty intimidating to anyone who has never experienced an EU game before, refinements to the interface and core gameplay make it surprisingly easy to sit down and start playing.

Sitting down for half an hour will quickly lead to you looking at the clock and only to discover its 5 am three days later.

If the Europa Universalis series is your thing, Rome is a welcome evolution. [July 2008, p.74]

Rome is so lean and tooltippy, you may not need to open the manual at all. [June 2008, p.82]

When you want to ‘civilize’ some barbarians with the blade of an empire, Europa Universalis: Rome is the game to play.

Rome is another largely enjoyable offering from Paradox, and the fresh personnel management aspects add an interesting new twist to the series.

Not for the casual gamer, Europa Universalis: Rome requires patience, the ability to micromanage and, quite possibly, post-graduate qualifications in ancient history. And if you don’t have them before you start playing, you will after. [Jul 2008, p.57]

If you liked the Rome version of the Total War series, you will definitely be disappointed here. My advice is to download and test the demo version and afterwards decide, if you want to hurry to the local store to get the full game or not.

Unfortunately getting to a multiplayer game is more trouble than it's worth.

One of the best series of hardcore strategies became envious of Total Wars' 3D graphics and accessibility. Consequently, it has lost its best features, becoming a game of moving the armies around. What barbarism! [June 2008]

EU Rome is a title only recommended for fans of micro-management. If you have the wish to virtually visit the battlefields of the ancient Rome, other games are much more satisfying.

Also disturbing is how readily the game plays itself, with little to no input necessary from the player. [July 2008, p.64]