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Europa 1400: The Guild
by
Jolex Del Pilar
Monday, December 16, 2002
With little marketing, and even less hype, Europa 1400 is probably one of the best strategy games you've never heard of.
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Title:
Europa 1400: The Guild
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Platform:
Pentium II 400, 128MB Ram, 3D card |
Publisher:
Jowood
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Developer:
4Head Studios
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#
of Players: 1
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Genre:
Strategy/Sim
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Origin:
Germany
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Expected
Release: Out now!
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Grapevine:
"This is our first review of a Jowood product, and if this is the type of stuff their development teams put out, then I expect great things from this company." |
Every once in a while, a game lands on the VGLN.com desks and it’s not the usual hyped first person shooter, or the expansive and also heavily hyped RPG made by some famous producer, but it’s a good game that probably won’t get much attention but is worth your gaming dollar nonetheless. This is the feeling I got when Europa 1400: The Guild was sent out to us.
When the game first arrived, nothing about the box or cover art was all that spectacular. Knowing practically nothing about this game, that was all I could go on to judge what type of game it would be. 17 hours later, the statement “never judge a book by its cover” comes to mind.
At its core, Europa 1400 is a strategy game of the high caliber. It’s not quite Civ 2 (thank God for these type of games), but it’s pretty close in depth and addictive gameplay. It has a fairly complex economic model, as well as a fairly deep combat system, and even some “sims” type social interaction for added depth. One of the great things about the beginning of the game is your ability to completely customize your character. Everything from your full name, to the skills you will specialize in is all decided by the player. The latter is decided by picking who your parents were; thieves, mercenaries, preachers, you name it. If your parents were thieves and mercenaries then you could expect a great boost in your combat and stealth skills very early in the game. Of course you the player has a certain number of skill allotment points to further specialize your character or further round your character out. The character creation process is simple and powerful.
Regardless of what skills you have chosen you can still choose just about any job you want at the beginning. It’s not recommended that a highly skilled warrior take his hand up at preaching, but it’s your choice. There are a dozen jobs in the game, each with six master grades (level of skill), and different buildings and privileges you can get with each job. That’s an awful lot of depth, and because of this, each game is greatly varied as you switch from occupation to occupation. In my experience, the easiest and most profitable job in the beginning in that of a blacksmith. Just send out your carts to pick up raw materials, primarily iron and silver for the blacksmith, build a few rapiers and silver rings, and you have a fairly profitable business going in just one turn. That’s just the beginning though.
The weather in Europa 1400 changes as the seasons change. Here is 15th century Paris as a winter wonderland.
Once you have a solid foundation in terms of your economic situation, the real game begins. Politics, courting potential wives, taking care of existing family (you can even send your kids to college), buying and improving buildings, making powerful friends in the council so you could eventually get an office, threatening your enemies, backstabbing your friends, the list of things to do in this game is endless and certainly beyond the scope of a simple review. Europa 1400 is a living breathing world, with people doing their own thing behind the scenes. The only life you really get to see in full is your own, which is expansive, but there are so many other things happening in Europa 1400 that the fantasy of actually being in 15th century Europe is just about attained.
Combat in the game is handled very efficiently. Basically, the only ways you can get into combat is through being a Guardsman or through your cargo escorts. If you’re a Guardsman, one of your jobs involves patrolling the town and conducting raids on thief hideouts. You can have anywhere from 4 to 8 men under your control for these task depending on how far you have progressed in your job in terms of skill and prestige. Your men can be trained in combat and stealth as well as equipped with weapons that you buy them. Once you are ready to get into a fight, the interface is simply point and click. From there, the A.I takes over. Your men usually do a good job as long as they are well trained. It’s not Warcraft III but it isn’t meant to be.
As you progress through the game, which happens to take over a 200 year period (1400 - 1600), your current character will die when they get too old. When they die is dependant on how good your living situation is, so invest in those health building items such as a fireplace for those cold winters. When your character dies, this doesn’t have to be the end of the game, granted that you were keen enough to court a wife and “create” a successor. Your successor will inherit all your wealth, and occupational skills that you have gained up until that time. However you have to start from square one with offices held, and favor with important people. This is a very interesting part of the game. 4Head Studios gets much credit for being creative here.
This is our first review of a Jowood product, and if this is the type of stuff their development teams put out, then I expect great things from this company. The development studio behind Europa 1400, 4Head Studios, should be given much credit for bringing a creative, and fun game that manages to take old formulas and add new ones in without sacrificing gameplay . If your looking for a great strategy game in Civ2/Sims mold, look no further than Europa 1400. It’s probably one of the best games you haven’t heard about, until now.
--- Jolex Del Pilar “Master Fencer”
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