Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

I fancy myself a fan of historical studies, and I often enjoy games that are related to this field. Until now, I have never really had the chance to experience a game in which history is not only a setting for the game, but also one of the major forces which influences how the game progresses. Pride of Nations: Vainglory of Empires for PC is a turn-based strategy and statecraft simulator published by Paradox Softworks. Before I begin my actual review, I must warn you as the Pride of Nation’s grand campaign mode does: this game is not for the faint of heart. If you have not played a turn-based strategy game by Paradox or similar developers, you will be in for a new and difficult experience. I know this firsthand. But if you manage to master the system then you will be in for a treat.

On my first sessions with PoN, the game was quite stressful to play and manage. If you play the tutorial, you will notice that it only teaches you the very basics of the interface and use of the variety of map filters the game offers (which really do help). The tutorial constantly tells you as a gamer that you need to go visit their website, containing the manual for the game, and at least give it a good skim. The game itself is set in the 19^th century Victorian era and although the game is entertaining on many levels, I believe the major theme of this game is to present to you and get you to try to experience the mindset of a 19^th century ruler or general. Depending on what power you pick, your gameplay experience can be quite different. There are eight to choose from: the blooming and powerful British Empire to the still isolationist Japanese. If you have ever played games like Civilization then you should be familiar with the idea of not only managing your military, but also the governmental practices and scientific research of your nation. This game takes this to the next level and allows you to pretty much customize all aspects of your nation’s economy and foreign policy. How you handle situations is completely up to the player when it comes to area disputes using the diplomacy cards the game offers you which give bonuses to some factors and penalties to others which affect how the nation you are in conflict with and the rest of the world sees you. The main thing you want to be building in this game are Prestige points which eventually win you the game. How you handle yourself vastly affects this prestige.

One of Pride of Nation's most interesting features is its colonization system. In this system, you can manage to seize territory via CP points or Cultural Penetration points. Once you get above a certain level you can establish a protectorate or stake your claim for an area. The game offers many opportunities for pretty much all major powers to be imperialist in some sense. The game also offers missions which pop up in the central status window after every turn such as being the greatest producer of some product or forming treaties with a certain power before a point. Along with this, the developers have also made it so that every factor of the game is almost universally affected by real world history. If a historical figure died in a certain year or month expect them to croak in your game at the same time. If you are Japan you should expect commodore Perry to show up around 1853 with his black ships.

Another single player option called scenarios allows you to play much like the main game but with all the economy and diplomacy stuff turned off. In this mode, all you will be doing is moving stacks of troops in order to reach goals that are already set by history. This is a great way for newer players to learn the ropes of troop maneuvering and command (And also a cool way to learn about history). The game features several historical battles and a DLC battle in the form of the Spanish American war which is the shortest lasting only 10 turns (Compared to the grand campaign which lasts over 1500 turns potentially). This can be a great introduction to the game in general.

Interface is the only point upon which I was a bit peeved. A lot of the items do not readily appear on your interface and rather are only accessible via hotkeys. This is easily remedied if you have read the instruction manual, but some less patient gamers may be put off by this. Also, the time between turns can be a bit annoying. I take a while choosing all of my decisions for the turns because the time for the AI to make its moves often takes upwards of 1-2 minutes before you are back in the game. This, however, must be forgiven due to the complexity of the actions the AI is taking. I am sure that on a faster computer, this process probably would be expedited quite a bit.

If you are a fan of European strategy titles or history, this game will probably be an amazing timewaster and potentially a fun game to play amongst friends of like mind. If you are a fan of more causal turn-based strategy titles this could be a first stepping stone into the genre, but expect some trial and error. However, this game really is a niche title that is not for everyone. In my opinion, it is best to approach this game not as if it were any other video game, but as a more traditional tabletop game with an automated interface in which reading the rules is necessary to knowing how to play the game. I enjoyed this game despite initial stress from the sheer amount of choices you are presented with. The game really grew on me as I learned the ropes. Pride of Nations really made me appreciate those poor governmental types that you read about in textbooks - having to keep a country running and thriving is hard work.