Europa Universalis IV (PC DVD)

Let me start by saying that this game is not for people looking for an action-packed, high-octane game or even a military command simulator. It is a deep, grand strategy game which covers all aspects of building a successful nation (in impressive depth, and (paid) DLCs are available that add even more depth to certain aspects, such as trade and colonisation) and has an emphasis on both long-term planning and short-term crisis management.There is a considerable amount to get to grips with in this game, but once you're used to how things work, managing your nation/empire is an unobtrusive and simple (with regards to controls) experience, not to mention incredibly (surprisingly so) rewarding.One feature of the game which I find particularly impressive is that you can start a campaign on any date between the years of 1444 and 1821 and play as any nation, large or small, that existed at that time. You can also switch to a different nation when loading a saved game, if you so wish.The graphics are simple (as the game takes place from a top-down perspective of a world map (complete, save for the polar regions, although areas such as the Sahara Desert cannot be traversed or colonised), which can be viewed in a number of different 'modes' such as terrain, religious and political) but nonetheless pleasing. However, I do have a small gripe with the music which, whilst certainly not lacking in quality, does get repetitive during long sessions (in my opinion, how the game is best played) as there aren't that many tracks.To supplement the gameplay, a large number of community mods are available ranging from small tweaks such as extending the timeline to complete overhauls such as bringing the game back to the time of the Romans.Despite my enthusiasm for this game, I will not say it is perfect - apart from the aforementioned issue with the music, I find that the military aspect of the game a touch oversimplified - whilst I understand the war is just one part of running a nation, I feel that this aspect is not quite developed to the level of some others in the game - perhaps a DLC like the others could fix this?In all, I consider this game truly excellent, however, I understand that it is, by it's nature, not for everyone and as such I would recommend that anyone considering buying this plays the demo, though I would stress that you should make sure to play a campaign within it, as the tutorials show only small snippets of what is available.

It's a good game, very thorough game with which you need to spend a great time playing. I prefer crusader kings 2 I believe it's a better game overall.

This game uses the STEAM engine to licence the product during the install. I am a competent PC user and long time gamer and I gave up and sent the product back. First the STEAM servers are very flaky and getting a connection to authenticate the licence took hours. Next the key was rejected as invalid - this from a game bought in a shrink wrap. If you look on the internet you will see scores of user forums with people having the same problem with this and other games and many seemingly never getting ti fixed. Apparently the online store sells keys with duplicate numbers - crazy but can;t see any other reason why a retail key would not work. I DID try to contact STEAM support to have a new key provide but could not even connect to the support site - just constant timing out. I would encourage people to NOT buy this game, at least in DVD form.

The concept of this game is fine, but, as in all Paradox games, it is a very frustrating game to play, yet addictive.You want to go back for more...I just don't know why! lolI honestly prefer to watch the game on Youtube than actually play it myself!The AI cheats all the time and I mean ALL THE TIME!!!!! It always 'knows' when you are about to attack them and moves their troopsout of harms way just in time. When you attack and have superior numbers, suddenly the AI has more troops at hand and you are at a disadvantage!How would any army know this in those days and be able to get the message back to their troops in time? [Though saying that, the human player hasa world view and knows the same info].When you look at the country stats...it has not the manpower to build troops or cash to buy mercenaries, but they appear all the same!The sieges take far too long to especially if you have to conquer large countries! You should just haveto wipe out the military and take the capital and maybe one or two provinces. It also wins when it has no moral overa superior tech and 80% moral army??? Does not make it fun when things are NOT equal! It makes you want to cheat to make things equal!The battles last days and weeks which is NOT realistic giving the cheating AI time to reinforce! Human generals seam to die in battle but notthe AI's. Too many comet sightings reducing stability, rebellions and pirates coming up every time you are at war. Allies call to arms for their warswhen you are in a war yourself [and they would not join yours].There are also bugs in the game....another game rushed out to get money without proper checks! I split my armyin two then suddenly one half couldn't attack or besiege a province until I re-joined them!It is also funny how the AI overtakes you in research so quickly [from the start], which is impossible for the humanplayer to do so within the same time frame - usually two to three levels in a few years! The smaller countries are supposed to advance quicker,but play as one and you will find yourself behind in no time with even the big nations overtaking you!The revolt suppression is a good idea though along with core/culture conversion [these taking much less time than EU III]Though having just 2 diplomats etc. is bad [you do get one or two more with advances and being the Papal Controller etc.],but there should be one in each country [like ambassadors], but you only have to wait for them to 'come back' to use them again - better than the old system.The research and Papal Influence requiring it's own 'money/points' etc. is a good idea too. The whole look of the game isbetter, but Paradox games are processor hungry and my cpu's fan keeps coming on, even though my specs are much higherthan the recommended [in all areas]! It gets distracting after a while and this occurs even when lowering the details in the settings. I am not the only person with this problem!This happens especially during saves and becomes distracting for the yearly save!The worst bit about it [and most modern games] is Steam! [and co.] You have to periodically log in and 'update' which can take several minutes [not good if time is limited]. I had the 100 years war unit pack DLC but it won't let me upload it. They haven't answered my email about it yet either. I had to set up another username and password just to be able to contact them! Why can't I use my 'normal' Steam details?Update: I have now managed to get the DLC accepted and they did eventually reply to my email, although they did want ascreen shot of the problem???The other good and bad bit about steam is: Good - you can download mods etc. Bad - they mostly don't download so you can't use them.Yes, you can play offline, but after a few days, it won't let you play it and you have to go back to steam [asthe game icon disappears], not good on a laptop away from internet!!! The game only allows it to run on one computerat a time [legally] - again NOT GOOD! I like the laptop for work/holidays and pc at home! If this is the way forward with games [i.e. Steam] then I will no longer be buying any. My next and probably last game will be Rome II Total War - again activated by Steam.Some people like Steam - I don't. It is on in the background when I shut the computer down [even though I exited the programme]even when I have not been playing the game [which I don't like - you don't know what its been up to!].I don't mind downloading and registering it with them, but after that, I don't want anything more to do with them! You should be able to have it on as many computers within the same household as you like as it should be able to tell the same IP address! Steam also knows everything that you have on your computer and in this day and age with private info being sold or given to government/non government agencies - this is NOT good!I am only giving it 3 stars as I am more annoyed/frustrated with the game/experience than I am enjoying it. BUT I got to admit....It is VERY ADDICTIVE!Oh, another thing, Paradox does not recognise the activation code of their own game when Steam does????? So it won't let me register it with them!!! How stupid is that???? lol

For fans of grand strategy games, this addition to the Europa Universalis series is a very good one. It maintains enough complexity to the main features (war, trade, diplomacy and production) to find yourself fully immersed, while achieving a satisfying simplicity to stop you from becoming overwhelmed. That it is on Steam may seem like an unnecessary complication but it is very useful in making the modifying of the game much easier; with mods easier to install and download. There are very few noticeable bugs and errors to affect the gameplay, and those that do exist tend to be very minor things like the renaming of provinces. A very beautiful game, both in terms of the visual and the entertainment/immersion aspects, and a very worthy follow up to the previous Europa Universalis games

Great game!

Magnífico juego de PC viene completo, tiene muchísimas opciones y el juego es muy largo. Se puede elegir la instalación en castellano y así poder jugarlo en castellano.

Da sempre i giochi di strategia mi hanno entusiasmato, in particolare la serie Europa Universalis.Questo titolo è stato mollto ben sviluppato, la grafica è accattivante e ben curata; la colonna sonora non è il massimo, è un po' limitata, però non credo che vada a sminuire più di tanto la qualità del gioco.I menù sono abbastanza complessi, bisogna perderci un po' di tempo per riuscire a muoversi con disinvoltura. Ci sono molti aspetti nel gioco da tenere sotto controllo, dalle relazioni diplomatiche, all'economia, dalla religione, allo sviluppo tecnologico, eccetera.Se posso trovare una pecca al gioco è che quando si arriva alla fine della finestra temporale in cui la partita si sviluppa, questa si interrompe bruscamente facendo vedere una finestra riassuntiva degli obiettivi raggiunti e del ranking acquisito. Chiusa la finestra il gioco ritorna alla schermata principale del menù. Io avrei preferito che ci fosse stata la possibilità di continuare all'infinito la partita, anche rimanendo bloccati in quella data. Mi stavo preparando per sferrare un duro attacco alla Francia e purtroppo non lo potrò più portare a termine.Per quanto riguarda l'installazione e la registrazione del gioco, questo necessita della creazione di un account Steam, utilizzando ovviamente una connessione internet. Fortunatamente, a differenza di molti altri titoli, è possibile giocare anche offline; la connessione internet quindi è necessaria solo per la registrazione del prodotto.Beh, che dire, buon divertimento a tutti!

面白いです。英語版しかないので最初はてこずりますが、わかってくると楽しめます。wikiや動画などを参考にしてみるといいと思います。

tuttavia steam va installato manualmente e non dall'installer sul CD.In generale il pacchetto è del tutto inutile, basterebbe il codice per scaricare il gioco su steam! Almeno risparmi le spese di spedizione.Riguardo il gioco: ottimo ma non credo di doverlo recensire per chi conosce la serie. Se non si è mai giocato ad EU ci vorrà un mese ad imparare le meccaniche!