Europa Universalis vs Sid Meier's Civilization III
Europa Universalis
Europa Universalis is a historical real-time grand strategy game that includes all aspects of world history in the Early Modern Europe era, a period of time between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Due to the game's meticulous need to be accurate in its historical accounts (period monarchs, known military leaders, and technological advancements), the game can, in some way, be doubled as an educational game since you can learn quite a lot simply by playing it.That said, the gameplay in Europa Universalis is just incredible for its time. The game is played on a huge world map that is divided into around 1,500 provinces where you can literally govern your nation the way you like. You can get involved in your nation's colonization efforts, explore new lands, trade with neighboring countries, wage war when they renegade on that very trade deal, spread the religion you've adopted far and wide, and of course, navigate the tricky political waters of diplomacy.
Not to mention, instead of using a turn-based format, the game has opted for a pauseable real-time format, so you can pause the game, issues orders and plan out strategies, before unpausing the game and let the world events play out. There are even tons of historically-based missions and events which may affect the world based on your actions and decisions.
When it comes to grand strategy games, there are only a handful that truly embodies the genre, and obviously, Europa Universalis is one of them. However, being the original game in the franchise, the graphics might be a bit worn for wear, but if you don't really mind, you can definitely pick this game up from GoG.com.
Sid Meier's Civilization III
Sid Meier's Civilization III is a compilation of the third iteration of the award-winning grand strategy game franchise, Civilization, as well as all its associated DLCs, namely the updated and enhanced multiplayer expansion in Civ 3: Play the World and new civilizations, scenarios, and features in Civ 3: Conquests. The game definitely improved on its predecessor by a mile, providing players with basically more ways to play. Due to this, the game has a depth that surpass the other games the franchise has produced.However, its multiplayer has been suspended but if you like, you can still play the game on LAN. Not to mention, many other aspects of the game, like the graphics and some of the features, are becoming rather dated as well. So, unless you plan on playing only single player or on LAN, you might want to grab a slightly newer version of the game if a deeper gameplay is what you crave.