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Decent Game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Alright, I'll admit it: I'm a Paradox fan. I have been ever since I took a leap and bought Hearts of Iron II on a lark. The game was so incredibly deep and historical and magnificent that it continues to entertain me. With that great experience, I decided to expand into other Paradox titles, and I began with Victoria: Empire Under the Sun.

So, regarding the game. If you want an easy game, this isn't it. If you want your typical real time strategy game, this isn't it. If you want to find a game you can learn quickly, this isn't it. If you are looking for a wargame, this isn't it.

The game is, at its digital little heart, a economic simulator wrapped in a package of a game. Economics will be your primary concern throughout the game. There are numerous other facets, including politics, diplomacy, imperialism, (a little) warfare, and country making, but all this pales in comparison to the amount of time you'll be spending attempting to manage your country's economy. Certainly, it could be argued that this is exactly what world leaders do, but it limits the entertainment of the game.

I'll confess, I'm a wargame buff. And that's why I loved Hearts of Iron II. This is definitely not a wargame.

And while I love depth, this game has so much depth it's smothering. When you combine this with little help manual-wise and absolutely no tutorial or learning campaign, you'd need rock climbing gear to surmount this learning curve.

In conclusion, if economics and history are your thing, have at it, otherwise, you might be better suited to some other game ... I know I am.

Assuming you're an OCD history buff strategy gamer, this is heaven for you.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Vicky is one of my favorite strategy games of all time. It isn't just an 'expand and conquer' game - it's a century long (with the Revolutions expansion) gaming challenge of guiding your chosen nation through the Imperial era. Vicky is *hard* - you'll need to read the rulebook, play some test games as either Sweden or Brazil, and probably Google yourself some online help. That should get you skilled enough to run your economy.

Once you get past the steep learning curve, you've got years of potential gameplay here. Take control of Sweden, recover Finland from Russia, bring Denmark into union and form the nation of Scandinavia; a Great Power, but still weaker than the major powers. Try and avoid the Civil War as the United States. See if you can unify a stronger Germany or Italy than what happend historically.

If you get really attached to your Vicky game, you can export it into Doomsday, and take your nation through the thirties and forties ...

Intense Strategy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you like intense, drawn out strategy games, this game is for you. The game is demanding in that you must manage many elements to become sucessful, such as trade, production, research, army and navy development, and an overall strategy for victory. The learning curve is probanly two hours, and once learned, Victoria will provide many hours of entertainment.

Victoria review

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: September 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

A really addictive game- LOTS of detail. Needs a better tutorial to walk you through all the features- but once you get it down...it is a wonderful waste of time!

The most entertaining game I've played in my life

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've played the vast majority of Paradox games, and many of them are honestly a mixed bag even after all of the patches. While Europa Universalis II eventually became an extraordinary game, the Hearts of Iron series is simply not a good fit with the engine. Victoria, on the other hand, is exactly the ridiculously complex and open-ended strategy game I've been waiting for my whole life.

Two notes for consumers not used to Paradox:
1. Always get the latest patch before playing
2. There is a vast fan community that has constructed sites explaining any question you could possibly have with these games. The best of these are the relatively recent wikis that have been set up (linked from the paradox forums). Read them.

Fun, but difficult to master

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: June 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best strategy games that I have ever played. It combines political, economic, diplomatic and of course military affairs in a fantastic manner. I love the fact that the player can choose just about any nation to play, just don't expect to win with Haiti. Things that prevent this game from achieving a full five stars: an incomprehensible manual, go to the forums for answers; no tutorial scenarios, how hard would it be to create a simple five year scenario; the economic and diplomatic models need to be tweaked, there are too many non-historic ways to work the system. This game is not for the faint of heart, but it is fun.

Excellent Historical Simulation and Strategy Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: May 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is an extraordinary historical simulation, you can pick any nation and guide it from the beggining of the 19th century to 1920 managing trade, taxes, production, diplomacy and last but not least the army. The manual contains the basic information necessary to play, but it takes a first game, I suggest with a small nation, to practice and get a hold on the rules to fully enjoy the simulation. Reading the reviews I was afraid of bugs but although sometimes the game crashed it was tolerable, I suggest to set the autosave feature every few turns. Finally, for those who played Europa Universalis, I think Victoria, being more realistic especially because of the trade feature, is a consistent improvment.

Fit for both Mensa-play and layman-play

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: May 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

First of all, do NOT be discouraged by those pessimistic naysayers! I am definitely not a number-cruncher, yet I enjoyed this game thoroughly!

An extremely complicated game in terms of diplomacy, warfare and economy. The lack of a tutorial hurts, but there is a excellent community with lots of user-contributed tutorials and strategies such as "A Modest Guide For Brand Spanking New Players". Though it can be simple, if you want it to be. You can choose to whip out your scientific calculator and find the optimal ratio of craftsmen to clerks down to the last man, but you can also simply follow the rule, "3:2".

There are also options for you to let the AI mind the nitty-gritty details (like trading resources, assigning leaders) while you plan the grand strategy, if you like to get straight into the exciting parts.

Being an alt-hist game, you can choose to go along fairly historical paths - like the Unification of Germany - or go something totally whacko - like World Conquest with China. No two games are exactly alike, and will provide hours of fun.

Like Work, Not Play

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 12
Date: April 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I love Paradox' Europa Universalis series, but Victoria requires far too much micromanagement to be fun. The lack of any tutorial or halfway decent manual makes the learning curve far too steep for such a small payoff.

Great concept, poor execution. Try Europa Universalis II instead!

frustratingly unplayable

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 15
Date: December 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

the concept of the game is great! half the stuff you can let the AI do for you concerning econimics, trade, manpwer, military leaders, et al. but some basic stuff like changing from army to navy management cant be done! or seeing and possibly retreating from certain territories under atack! to heck with diplomacy if you cant do these basics forget it!

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