Much more immersive than Total War series, but without the cool real time battles.
User Rating: 8 | Europa Universalis III: In Nomine PC
I must preface this by saying this is my first exposure to the EU series. I have played HOI2 and saw some similarities. But after several hours, I found myself comparing this to the Total War series. This game is by far more immersive and more historically detailed. I miss the real-time battles found in Total War. There are long periods of just sitting and watching the clock roll off months at a time. There was no handbook that comes with the game, only a tutorial. I had to online for tips and strategies, for this game will tick you off quickly (frustrating to build your economy and army and alliances only to be beaten into a pulp in one sweeping brilliantly executed AI attack plan). I do however like the history this game includes, but this comes with a drawback aswell: because France and Spain are super powers in real life at this time means that they will be super powers in the game as well. This also makes it very difficult to take a small nation like Milan, Aragon, or Tunisia and build it into a colonial world dominator. When playing these smaller nations your goals must be set much lower (like just staying alive for 150 years). I like the wide scope (able to colonize the world) and play just about any euro and mid east nations. But it just seems to move very slowly. Overall, good game but not a classic. Good game for the history buff. 
