When East India Company released earlier this year, strategy fans were offered something slightly different than the usual fare. Although sadly let down a bit by a clumsy interface and repetitive gameplay, EIC combined economic strategy with RTS naval warfare to provide a reasonably fun and engaging experience.
When I first started to play East India Company I thought I’d dedicate about twenty minutes to it to get an initial reaction, and then come back to it again for a bit more of an in depth fiddle. Three hours later I was still playing, and the game wouldn’t acknowledge the fact that I was trying to be as nice as possible to Sweden. They just wouldn’t accept my offers for a pact, which cost me £50,000 in lost rewards, a port and several thousand more pounds in wasted bribes. “Bloody Swedes!” I think I screamed aloud. Then some pirates attacked and sunk one of my key fleets after a drawn out real time battle. “Bloody pirates,” I muttered. Then I got annoyed and quit.
Paradox Interactive have announced that East India Company Collection, the naval war strategy series developed by Finland based Nitro Games Ltd, is now available for both digital download at all major digital download portals and in a boxed retail version for a suggested retail price of €29.99. Based on the historical East India Companies of the 18th century, East India Company Collection comprises of East India Company (both the original game and the Director’s Cut), along with the expansions Pirate Bay, Privateer and Battle of Trafalgar.
Aside from the streamlining of the trade mechanic and the removal of the pretty but useless animated city graphics, East India Company: Privateer does nothing to make the excellent East India Company better, and is in some ways a step backward. This is a full-scale game that would've been better off as DLC.
