jeraldjunkmail

Is thi what economics would have looked like in some alternate reality where communism and socialism had never come to pass, labour laws to protect workers had never been considerted, and unions were never invented? Probably. And it is darned good that this is the case. This is what capitalism would be if it was completely unbridled. Corporate war with all against all, and it is brutish, narsty, and short. It gives you the opportunity to be an absolute robber baron of Mars, do incredibly devious and evil things, and feel good about doing it. "Those other guys are borked!" Plus's: Short, fluid gameplay that can change in an instant. You have to be able to change your economy if it isn't working. If you do it right, you will be rewarded by the market. All hail the Market! Minuses: Multiplayer can be hard to get a handle on. Many seasoned players due to the lengthy beta. I hope you don't mind learning by losing! There is no way to get better but to play and learn and that ride will be very bumpy and rough! But what a ride! 9/10. Recommended!

Great game, if you have the patience to learn it. As others have mentioned, the learning curve is steep. There are tutorials, and forums, and wikis and instructions, and you will need to reference them all many times to get a real sense of what is going on. In a nutshell, make progress, but don't cheese the AI off too much or you will die. You have to always be aware of the AI's progress meter. The fun is in seeing how far you can push the AI before that happens, and if you get really good, you will win a game or two. If you can't stand losing, this is not your game. If you find losing is a part of the learning experience, you will enjoy this game.

Victoria 2 was a game that I bought on a steam sale, booted up, and than after about 30 minutes of tutorials, shut down and didn't revisit for six months. That short experience left me baffled. That said, I saw that there was something to the game, and promised to devote a Saturday afternoon to it one day. About a month ago, I did just that. I spent a full day doing the tutorials and trying out a game of it in earnest. I was left baffled. Confused. Humbled like no other strategy game ever has. Strategy is my genre, and this was the most monstrous game I have ever seen. But it left me utterly compelled. Fast forward a month, and I am STILL learning how to play this game. But it is worth it. I would give this game a 10, but it is simply not accessible to the average STRATEGY gamer. If I was to rate is as a game for whoever, it would be lower, simply because of the ludicrous learning curve. That being said, for those that take the time to learn the game, kudos. You have discovered a classic. It is stable, the ai is a reasonable challenge, and there is only victory in your own eyes. For those who claim there is a problem with the underlying game mechanics, they have not scoured the forums and found out why the game works like it does. For the vast majority of things, this game was designed to work like it does, and after understanding why it was designed the way it is, you will say to yourself "Oh, now I see why they did that." I give it an 8.5 out of 10, siding on a 9. If you buy the DLC, A House Divided, it improves the game to an even further extent.

This is more of a refinement for the game (albeint a major one) than an actual expansion. It would have been nice to see it expand the tech tree, and perhaps take a few of the unneeded pop up dialogues out, but on the whole this is how they should have released Victoria 2 in the first place. That being said, there was no real way for them to know that they should have released Vic2 like this, and they have clearly listened to the fans of the game and basically given them what they wanted. In conclusion, this was way more than a patch, but somewhat less than a full expansion. I still give it high marks for it's improvements to the UI, and to the game mechanics.

I haven't played a strategy game this good since the first Command and Conquer. This game is an instant classic that breathes new life into the RTS genre. The premise here is that if you just build a base and produce units, you will quickly die. Why? Because of the ruses! This new element in RTS gaming makes it possible for a player to bluff your way to victory by hiding units that can only be countered by line if sight or a counter ruse. And that is just an example! There are quite a few ruses, and if you learn when and where to use them, you can become a decent player. Fail to use them properly and you will lose. The units are decently balanced, the graphics are gorgeous, and the game is... Wait for it.... FUN TO PLAY!!!! And THAT is something that is missing from so many games these days!