Victoria II is a new part of Paradox Interactive's fabulous set of grand strategy games, each covering a different period of history and letting you try to do basically whatever you want. This title covers the time period between about 1835 and 1935, spanning the American Civil War, the Great War, and the period when the sun never set on the United Kingdom. You control any country on the globe and try to reshape history to your liking, maybe even so that none of those events I just mentioned ever happen (but good luck trying to take down the UK). Industrialize your nation, colonize what's still left, and contend with an increasingly militant population as the game goes on. There is no better game out there for historical simulation like this, but that doesn't mean you won't have some micromanagement issues to contend with.
Many Paradox titles have issues right when released, and though this game is stable and completely playable on release this time, it's already become clear what the major issue is: Revolutions and rebellions. Unless your government is the most progressive and worker-friendly in the entire world, (and even sometimes if it is) you will face constant rebellions. They're not usually difficult to deal with -- rebel troops aren't very efficient and your military can dispose of them without issue. But the tedium of clearing out troops stationed in every province of your possibly far-flung empire, sometimes once a year or more in-game, is incredibly frustrating. It slows the game's pace to a crawl as you slowly hustle your troops around and your plans are disrupted over and over. This will be fixed in an upcoming patch, and there are fan fixes available already, but those who don't frequent Paradox's forums may be caught in the frustration.
This game should, however, be used in economics classes. Playing with your economy and trying to get industrialization started, you learn so much about how everything affects everything else within the system. Why won't the capitalists build any railroads? Are you taxing them too much? Are tariffs too high? Is there enough value to adding a railroad in that province? All of these things have to be taken into consideration, and you learn a lot.
Victoria II is definitely a recommended buy. It's not always easy, but it has strong educational capabilities, and there's so much fun in taking your Communist Argentinian government on a conquering spree through South America. It has some early-release flaws that will be ironed out soon, but the game is already perfectly playable and fun. Now I'm back at it to try and unify Italy.
Nathaniel Edwards is a writer who specializes in covering controversial video games, the subject of his blog at http://www.legalarcade.com. He serves as gaming writer for http://www.kidzworld.com and contributes articles and reviews for BlogCritics Magazine.
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