This game truly amazed me with the amount of content and detail that has been put into it, spanning a time scale of 300 years from 1453 – 1789 covering up to 240 countries and provinces some of which I have never even heard of.

This game however is not all about war, although it is important to have a strong army to fight against those rebel uprisings and a good navy to keep those pesky pirates at bay from stealing your weapons and using them against you. Religion, Ethics, trade and diplomacy also have a very important role.

Most of this is controlled in the interface panel which, if you’re finding it hard to cope with at first like I was, the tutorial mode is definitely the best option until you understand what means what and what it does. Most of your gameplay will involve using the interface options available to:

• Access your empire where you can pass new laws and increase taxes etc
• Access your ity options where you can expand and grow cities so that they suit certain needs, be it your army/infantry bases, blacksmithing or farming to influence population growth.