🚀 go-pugleaf

   I've seen a lot of comments regarding Empire II, most of them negative 
to some degree and most of those are negative because apparantly people 
were expecting another World Domination game.  The back of the box is 
_not_ all that specific about the scale and types of battles but most of 
the previews, reviews, etc by gaming magazines, as well as the 
information released about the game itself beforehand, tended to say 
pretty clearly what it was: A game more interested in battles and 
different time periods.  What I found funny was the comment on the box,
"Sure, other software has given you the fool's delight of conquering the 
world a billion times over.  But when you want to savor the subtle, 
complex art of war...'.  I can only assume it was meant to be humorous 
since the first two games were World Domination.

   I think this game does what it sets out to do very well.  It gives the 
player a 'feel' for each of the time periods that it covers in the game. 
 Nothing brought this more home to me until I played the Agincourt 
Scenario, followed by Afrikorp and then Antietam.  The tactics needed 
were wholly different and _felt_ realistic even though the game system is 
still fairly generic.  Just as the original Empire and Empire Deluxe 
managed to convey the idea of taking over a world even though it too was 
very generic.  Also, I like being able to finish a scenario in less than 
an hour from time to time.  The biggest complaint I have about the game 
is how many casualties per battle there are.  Admittedly I haven't played 
it at a higher level of difficulty than the lowest yet, but I usually 
manage to destroy most if not all of the enemy units before the end of 
the battle.  I have a feeling that tweaking the technology in scenarios 
would make the battles a bit more realistic.

   Back to the subject of the feel of the game though... I found it 
accurately showed the ebb & flow of the desert battle in Afrikorp, the 
usually close quarters fighting in the Agincourt scenario and to me the 
Civil War battles just seemed 'right' (something that I have yet to see 
with more 'advanced' games based on the Civil War - well, most of them).

   Graphically, the game is adequate.  The sound effects are 'cute' with 
the screams in some of them but don't really add much after a while.  The 
manual is good although some of the explanations of the equations are  
confusing.  Overall, this is a good 'Beer and Pretzels' wargame that 
still manages to reward good wargaming tactics (terrain use, awareness of 
supply lines, indirect fire, etc).  Down the road when scenarios are 
available from the players of the game, it will become even better.  At 
this point I'd give it a letter grade of B.  

             Bob Gamble (he who hasn't figured out how to get his e-mail 
in the From field on netscape)