Imperialism II

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Review: Imperialism II

You control one of six major powers involved in the 16th century European invasion of the New World with the goal of controlling more than half the provinces in the Old one. The tools of your trade are economic, diplomatic, and military. You can bribe minor powers to join your empire, improve relationships via trade until your partner willingly submits to your rule, or simply invade and conquer. The resources of the New World also await your disposal once these lands are discovered and exploited.

Graphics are arguably the least important part of a turn-based strategy game, but they're far from unimportant. Good visuals promote atmosphere, and unlike its -looking predecessor, Imperialism II has plenty of atmosphere. The game is still basically a series of 2D menus (except for the main map and underwhelming battlefield screens), but its 800-by-600 backgrounds, rendered in 16-bit color, fairly ooze baroque ostentation and wealth. Developer Frog City has also done a nice job of simplifying complex screen images to make for quick selection. For instance, the complicated city-as-industry metaphor of Imperialism's production screen has been replaced by a series of rational resource sliders.

Aside from its graphics, the most obvious upgrade to Imperialism II is found in its extensive technology tree, with which you can research up to three items at once (four, with the invention of the University). Pouring extra capital into a research topic speeds its progress. So does sending spy units to other major powers who have already achieved that technology. My sole complaint is that an outline of the entire research tree should have been available within the game, and not just as a foldout in the manual.

Imperialism II offers many new military units and resources, as you'd expect in a second release of a popular strategy game, where re-creating success naturally involves a more-is-better approach. To its credit, the Frog City team didn't go overboard and thoroughly integrated their choices. Game balance is excellent, and victory requires a strategy that employs both the velvet glove and the iron fist (preferably, one clenched around some cash).

Another hallmark of Imperialism II is its AI: these computerized opponents play fair, and they play hardball. You'll have a tough time beating them. The AI is better individualized for each major power in Imperialism II than in the previous release, with less tendency for multiple unallied opponents to declare war on a third power in the same turn, for example.

Up to six players can join a multiplayer session via TCP/IP or Mplayer.com. Speed is obviously of lesser importance in a turn-based game than one that plays in real time, but Imperialism II assimilates and implements data swiftly. In a word, it zooms.

With an infinite number of maps, highly configurable starting conditions, great AI, and good graphics, Imperialism II looks set to conquer a new group of players along with the New World.-- Barry Brenesal / GamePro