Imperial Glory

This game has some good things in it, atleast for me. I like its smaller scale compared to, for example, Rome: Total War. This means there are lesser troops in the battlefield to command. Only 3 officers and their troops and reinforcements if you bring them. It's easy to learn and fun being simple enough. Camera in the battlefield is easier to control and doesn't go all over the place. This means it's easier to see the enemy. There are bad parts too. When you build a ship and move it, it sounds an annoying bell. Every time you move it, it does this. You also get little resources at the start of this game no matter which country you start it with.

Not a bad game. It's a little slow paced especially at the beginning. You start out with few troops and buildings. Before you can build stuff you have to research it. This means the first few hours of the game consist of choosing something to research, clicking end turn until you have it, then building that building. Along the way there are a few skirmish battles. As long as you aren't massively outnumbered these are easy. Resources generate slowly as well so often I found myself just clicking end turn several times so that I could get enough money or wood or whatever to build more stuff. Once I got enough resources and tech that I could actually play the game it was fun. The trade system and diplomacy options are good clean fun. So is blocking a country's trade routes and letting them wither before invading and taking their capital city. But because it takes a couple of very dull 'next turn next turn next turn' hours to get to the fun I doubt I'll try playing again as another country.

....you like war sim games. LOTS of strategy. In fact there is a very lengthy tutorial in the beginning. Tutorial is inadequate though..."training" is more like it. Good game. Was surprised by the realistic battlefield strategy.

I bought this game because I am a really fan of the late Renaissance era and Napoleonic wars. This game seems like a Total War spin-off but offers a different experience than one might think at the first glance. This game has some flaws but it also has some great points. The game is an turnbased/real-time strategy mix. First you plan your moves carefully on the world map which is really detailed and gives a really nice feeling to it. There is a lot of options regarding the diplomacy, infrastructure and trading. Diplomacy is a big part and a strong point, creating alliances and mutual pacts to defend your empire. You also get some cool quests which are really funt to achieve and grant you some advantages. The AI is decent and can provide a decent challenge. All in all the strategic map is detailed and gives you a lot of information. The real-time strategy battles are not that great but fun nevertheless, it somewhat lacks depth and seems easy, controls are not so smooth and making formations can be somewhat a mess. You get a nice variety of units for every nation and use them properly. But sometimes it feels like the battles are rather won by sheer numbers instead of master tactism. The graphics in this game are really good, especially for a game which was released in 2005. It is a bit dated for today but the battles look really great and it works well even on older PCs. Like I mentioned the world map is pretty. All things considered, get this game if you are a huge fan of this era or if you want an alternative to Empire/Napoleon Total War. (or if you have trouble running the game on your rig) If you look for a really good topnotch rts you might pass this one. But I definitly recommend it for such a low price.

I wasn't sure what to expect since some of the reviews I've seen online are lukewarm at best. However, once I mastered the interface and began playing I found this game to be superb. First some technical notes. (1) I had to disable UAC on Vista to get this to install properly. I don't blame the game installer for this; UAC causes lots of problems. (2) There is a setting for speed of unit movements. I set this to almost the slowest setting and it makes the movements pretty realistic. If you forget to do this the soldiers will move too fast. (3) I had rare crashes but they do happen so be sure to save frequently. Fortunately there is autosave. (4) The manual is a bit sketchy in parts but just google something you don't understand and you will probably find the answer quickly. NOW FOR THE PROS AND CONS. PRO: I am having more fun with this game than any other I've played recently. It's different in many ways from Total War but the main thing about Total War is the crashes! This game rarely crashes and so far there has not been an unrecoverable crash (such as Total War not allowing you to finish a campaign because at one point it always crashes when you end a turn!) There are some great details. One of my favorites is when I assault the Russian cathedral and a dog comes along and sniffs the corpses. It adds an eery realism. The combat is amazingly compelling once you get into it. Plus there are naval battles! CONS: you can't fight with big armies because there is a pretty tight restriction on how many units you can move into a territory. Overall: this game is so much fun I am becoming an addict already and I have only had it for a few days! If you like Total War style games, you can't beat this one, certainly not at the price.