Europa Universalis: Rome vs Sid Meier's Civilization III
Europa Universalis: Rome
Europa Universalis: Rome brings players back to the ancient ages where Roman, Celtic, Greek, Egyptian and six other civilizations reigned dominant across the game's 53 different factions. Set in between the years 280 B.C. and 27 B.C, you'll get to not only rule but also guide the growth of your very own nation from being a fledgling into a country that the world will need to reckon with (if there are any nations left that you have yet to conquer or brought under your rule). The game retained much of what made the Europa Universalis franchise such as a success, including beautifully deisgned 3D topological maps, historically-accurate figure and events, as well as an insanely in-depth political landscape where you can forge an alliance as easily as you break one.There are also plenty of exciting changes and new features in this installment though. The important characters in the governance of your nation, for example, will develop new traits on their own through their interactions with other people in the game, much like how a human would, giving the game more of a challenge due to all the unpredictability. The military AI used here has been completely revised as well. In addition to the usual 32-player co-op, you can now play competitively against other players... up to 32 of them!
Europa Universalis: Rome is a decade old and as such, you may need to tap into some of the mods made by the game's community to help bring the game to a new level. That said, it's still a really good buy at the current discounted price and if you're a fan of grand strategy games, you should definitely get this one.
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.