Europa Universalis: Crown of the North (PC)

Paradox Entertainment made a name for itself with Europa Universalis and Europa Universalis II by taking the premise of conquer-the-world board games like Risk to the logical extreme, filling its real-time strategy games with tremendous historical detail and complexity. But while Europa Universalis II offered a staggering array of options in letting you assume control any 15th-century nation in the world and try to become a dominant power by 1815, the latest game in the series takes place on a radically reduced scale. Crown of the North is a vastly simplified game, and while some of the changes are for the better, as a stand-alone game, it doesn't offer enough challenge or variety.

Crown of the North is set in the years 1275 to 1340, in a time when Scandinavia was divided by a number of royal factions vying for power. The game's single scenario takes place on a map that shows Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark broken into many small provinces, plus German and Russian territories along the rim of the Baltic. At the start of the game, the six main playable factions control a single territory, and most of the map consists of neutral provinces just waiting to be conquered by you or the five computer-controlled players. Of course, remote provinces far to the north start out much weaker than the rich lands of historically established powers such as the Hanseatic League, the Order of the Templar, and the Russian territory of Novogorod, near St. Petersburg. These three large powers don't try to satisfy the game's victory conditions, but they're granted such immense armies that you won't want to mess with them.

The main map may be smaller in scale, but there's a lot of visual information packed into this single screen. Each territory has animated icons for farms and other buildings that provide a general sense of how well developed it is. Upgrading a building and fielding armies is as simple as clicking on the buildings. The building screens are also where you issue edicts, which are one of two ways to influence the happiness of the four social groups in the kingdom: nobles, clergy, townspeople, and peasants. Just check the icons at the top of the screen to see how you're faring with them.

Random and timed historical events also pop up, presenting multiple-choice political issues that will influence these groups and can also award or take away money and victory points. The events help provide some Scandinavian flavor, as some are mildly entertaining (challenging you to deal with troll or sea serpent sightings), while others provide historical background on the transition away from Viking traditions. In any case, the point is to shift a few numerical factors in your favor. Making the social groups happy grants tax bonuses, but upsetting one or another can encourage them to rebel. As you might expect, feudal nobles and peasants have sharply conflicting interests, so making one happy is likely to upset another. Fortunately, their concerns aren't too hard to balance if you build a decent economy and have some extra money lying around. Plenty of the events present the opportunity to buy loyalty.

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