Europa Universalis vs Europa Universalis: Rome
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.
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.