Anise Hollingshead writes:
'' This is my first foray into the Europa world. It is a series that I have wanted to play, but for many reasons just haven't had the time. A version that focused on Rome seemed like an excellent introduction, and I gladly downloaded the game and began my first encounter. I am glad I am now familiar with the Europa series, but I have some mixed feelings about the game. In the end, it became a "Chariots of Fire" experience for me, where I could see and appreciate the Oscar quality of many of its features, but finally had to concede that maybe I didn't have the right soul for it all.
Europa Rome is essentially still Europa, but now has added features. Of course, it is now set in a time frame of the emerging of the nation of Rome, and all the other nations that existed in that part of the world. The time frame encompasses the era of the Roman Republic, before the advent of the later Emperors after Augustus. The new features include a character aspect that offers a choice of people to be placed in government roles. These roles consist of a governor for each province, and five additional magistrates that handle the main aspects of the game, such as technology, omens, construction and civics. Leaders can also be hired for heading up the various military units in the provinces. This is quite an interesting feature, and can greatly influence the direction the player's empire takes.''
Direct2Drive has slashed $15 off the price of Paradox's strategy title Europa Universalis: Rome Gold, taking the game down to $5 as part of the digital distributor's Deal of the Week.
The Reticule writes: "Paradox may be all hands on deck at GamesCom in Germany but I managed to sneak some questions through to the companies CEO, Fredrik Wester. Read on for his comments on DLC and newly announced titles from Paradox.
The Reticule – You describe the new titles as being a 'tribute' to those who play your games, to what extent does this mean the new games will be designed according to what your fans want to see?
Fredrik Wester – We are always working close to our customers when designing and developing games. This is the result of many years of interaction between our studio and our fans. Several people from the publishing team also interacts with our forum users on a daily basis to discuss, get feedback and to help us develop the company and our games."
GamersInfo writes: Europa Universalis: Rome is an empire builder set in the time of ancient Rome. Despite my love for all things Rome and empire or city builders, I found the game to be tedious, boring and frustrating.
In my experience, there are typically three elements to all empire builders, though most good games will focus on at least two. The primary one is conquering your foes through epic cinematic or stylistically rendered combat. The second element that you can find is winning through the simple strategy of micromanaging your city or empire. That is, you win through trade, diplomacy, alliances and financial gain. And, through all good empire builders, there is the undercurrent that you are somehow a supreme figure looking over all you survey with a sense of power and control.
