| System: PC | Review Rating Legend | |
| Dev: Paradox Interactive | 1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid | 4.0 - 4.4 = Great |
| Pub: Paradox Interactive | 2.0 - 2.4 = Poor | 4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy |
| Release: Aug. 13, 2010 | 2.5 - 2.9 = Average | 5.0 = The Best |
| Players: 1-8 | 3.0 - 3.4 = Fair | |
| ESRB Rating: Teen | 3.5 - 3.9 = Good | |
Another aspect that is automated is trade. You don’t want to know how complicated this is, but you can always try it manually. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Trade is not limited to the resources that are indigenous to your area. This is the age of factories, assembly lines, mechanization, and mass production. Whatever items you need for manufacturing can be imported from other countries. There are some 50 different items that can be bought, sold, traded, stolen, and manufactured, it’s overwhelming. Not to mention there are employees to recruit and train, factories to build, trade routes to establish, and tariffs to impose. That’s another game in itself, so just automate it and get on with your life.
If you like feeling important, like getting all kinds of texts in real life, you’ll definitely get your ego stroked in Victoria II. Instead of texting your friends back about Lady Gaga’s new outfit on Fallon, this game will continuously seek your wisdom in matters such as approving a new technology, appeasing an offended world power, and how best to quell an impending communist uprising. It’s all in a day’s work and no roaming charges.
Oddly enough, a game such as this doesn’t have to rely on graphics, yet it is actually a great looking game. The maps are nicely detailed with topographic features and colorfully blue bodies of water. Historic scenes are presented in a classic, sepia tone that gives it an authentic vintage look. Ironically, it’s the text that suffers with small print that doesn’t always stand out. The icons are also tiny, and even when you can make them out, it can be confusing as to what they actually represent. Musically, the tunes are period specific, so expect a lot of regal, pompous classical music for the first half of the game. The soundtrack does cut out from time to time, but I didn’t feel as though I was missing anything important.
Patience is a virtue in Victoria II, and if you have it in abundance, then you may want to try the multi-player component. The single-player is basically one huge campaign, and with so many choices and variables, how much longer do you want to drag this out? Enter the multi-player mode. It then becomes a board game, not unlike Life. Against the right opponent, under the right circumstances it works, but it’s long, involved, intense, and largely unrewarding. I much preferred playing against the A.I.
Victoria II incorporates challenging strategy and sim elements with enough flexibility to satisfy any weasel-beating gaming goof.
By
Cole Smith
CCC Senior Writer
Game Features:
