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Victoria II calls itself a grand strategy game, based in the early 19th century at the dawn of modern times. Starting from 1836, you’ll lead a nation through absolutism and into innovation. Set in the beginning of the industrial boom of the world, you’ll be releasing your old ideas to make room for new machines. You’ll also take a hand at expanding your horizons and colonizing the world. Your main goal in the game is to become the most powerful Greater Nation on the planet, towering above all.
To do so, you’ll have a million options at your disposal. With virtually endless menus, you’ll be able to set just about anything you can imagine. From political reform to trading to industrialization to military actions to diplomacy and so much more; every possible demand will have its own series of menus. This makes the game very heavy to take in, believe that. At an incredibly slow pace, you’ll have to toggle endless bars and set countless options to steer your nation single-handedly, where otherwise it would take dozens of legislates. They truly thought of every small detail for the strategy buff to enjoy. So, if you love strategy, you might be able to love this, but be sure to put on your reading glasses.
Presented in the old-fashioned style it should, graphics are slick but not too flashy. Old maps and gilded menus grace the screen, with golden sliders and marble buttons. Even the wallpaper you’ll see in numerous menus is, dare I say, Victorian. Aha, dear sir, I’ve unraveled your clever ruse! Victoria II is indeed set in Victorian times. And those times will be accompanied by fitting, classical violins to lull you to sleep whilst reading.
Once you’ve woken up, you can take part in the extensive tutorial, which gives you a brief look at all the options this game has to offer. Did I say brief? Well, in all it took me an hour to speed through the tutorial. And to be frank, some of the explanation goes a little lost when you’re flabbergasted by a thousand screens. Nonetheless, with this tutorial, this demo does present perfectly the immense details the game has to offer you. From tax control to research to everything else, you’ll get the lowdown and will be able to read up on all the matter you like. It’s a bad idea to start with anything else than the tutorial, as the extensiveness of it all will overrun you otherwise.
Anyway, the actual demo part will consist of 15 full years in an American campaign. Here you’ll be able to test your new acquired skills in real-time. You’ll also immediately know if this game is the game for you or if it’s too heavy set for your tastes. But again, if you’re not big on strategy already, don’t expect to dive into this.
This isn’t a game you can dive in regardless. With its walls of text surrounding you, you’ll find yourself reading and managing more than playing. So if you don’t mind a horribly slow pace, check out the demo. If you survive the tutorial, chances are high that the full game will have even more of these goodies to offer you. I, for one, would love to see if the Belgian nation could be played and brought to fame. The full game promises over 200 nations available in a long era to build upon, so those odds look promising. You’ll even be able to play in multiplayer, if you can find friends as pompous as yourself to play this novel.
That’s really what it boils down to for me. I can’t claim it’s awful, because I see its potential and it’s an awesome potential at that. But to an average person, without booksmarts it feels like too much. Remember those huge, longwinded books you were forced to read in school? I sure don’t, because those were always such a chore. The pompous kid in the front row probably finished Pride And Prejudice when he was 6 though. I was too busy playing Super Mario World then; sorry, Sheldon.
Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed.