Graphics and Sound

Ah! My ears!

The less said about the sound and graphics of Europa Universalis, the better. While everyone knows that neither attribute makes the game, they sure help. After all, if you're going to be playing a game for 5, 6 hours before a bathroom break, and another 10 hours before you need sleep, it would be nice if it was easy on your eyes and ears.

Getting a closer look

Hmm, I need lots of tech

Unfortunately, we cannot say that for EU. The sound effects are downright awful. I seem to recall Panzer General sounding better. The music may be a touch better than PG, but it's pretty much the same-old rehashed orchestral/classical tunes that go with any serious game on a not-so-serious budget. The music is easily turned off and can be replaced by a good session of Winamp. The sound effects, however - while you can turn the volume down to get rid of them, it is not advisable. EU is a real-time game, so when something happens and the game wants to get your attention, the best way is a pop-up window with a sound effect attached. The downside is that those sound effects are so annoying.

Most effects are a variation of a 'k-chunk', 'k-chink' or other similarly annoying sound (see: chord.wav) Battle effects are terrible, ranging from a short metal-on-metal scraping sound that describes melee combat, through cap guns popping (gunfire) to an almost-decent cannon sound used for sieges. The most annoying problem we had was when you started or loaded a game and hit the go button, there would be a disproportionately loud clang, signalling that the game has started.

We need to build alliances

Relations are good though

Does it look any better?

Compared to any other modern game, EU looks ancient and dated. It wouldn't be out of place in 1997 - indeed, at times, it reminds me of Frog City's "Imperialism". However, it is far from being bad on the eyes. It is, after all, a 2D strategy game that shows a map of Europe. How good can that look? How many fancy animations or effects can you expect in a strategy game? Don't answer that - you'll just disappoint yourself.

Still, at least the developer (Paradox Entertainment) tried on the graphics - there is a theme going on, that gives the game map the feel of an old atlas or globe. The shape of the world is more accurate than the atlases and globes in question, but the archaic and feel is there to help put you 'in the mood'.