Why I buy this one ?
- Control your nation from the early 19th century to the early 20th century
- Revolutionary simulation of the industrialization of the world
- Build up military might, industrialization power, and national prestige
- Send explorers to map out the inner parts of Africa and the Americas
- Full-scenario editor and complete multiplayer support

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What our customer's say!

"Decent Game", Alright, I'll admit it: I'm a Paradox fan. I have been ever since I took a leap and bought Hearts of Iron II on a lark. The game was so incredibly deep and historical and magnificent that it continues to entertain me. With that great experience, I decided to expand into other Paradox titles, and I began with Victoria: Empire Under the Sun.

So, regarding the game. If you want an easy game, this isn't it. If you want your typical real time strategy game, this isn't it. If you want to find a game you can learn quickly, this isn't it. If you are looking for a wargame, this isn't it.

The game is, at its digital little heart, a economic simulator wrapped in a package of a game. Economics will be your primary concern throughout the game. There are numerous other facets, including politics, diplomacy, imperialism, (a little) warfare, and country making, but all this pales in comparison to the amount of time you'll be spending attempting to manage your country's economy. Certainly, it could be argued that this is exactly what world leaders do, but it limits the entertainment of the game.

I'll confess, I'm a wargame buff. And that's why I loved Hearts of Iron II. This is definitely not a wargame.

And while I love depth, this game has so much depth it's smothering. When you combine this with little help manual-wise and absolutely no tutorial or learning campaign, you'd need rock climbing gear to surmount this learning curve.

In conclusion, if economics and history are your thing, have at it, otherwise, you might be better suited to some other game ... I know I am.

"Assuming you're an OCD history buff strategy gamer, this is heaven for you.", Vicky is one of my favorite strategy games of all time. It isn't just an 'expand and conquer' game - it's a century long (with the Revolutions expansion) gaming challenge of guiding your chosen nation through the Imperial era. Vicky is *hard* - you'll need to read the rulebook, play some test games as either Sweden or Brazil, and probably Google yourself some online help. That should get you skilled enough to run your economy.

Once you get past the steep learning curve, you've got years of potential gameplay here. Take control of Sweden, recover Finland from Russia, bring Denmark into union and form the nation of Scandinavia; a Great Power, but still weaker than the major powers. Try and avoid the Civil War as the United States. See if you can unify a stronger Germany or Italy than what happend historically.

If you get really attached to your Vicky game, you can export it into Doomsday, and take your nation through the thirties and forties ...

"Intense Strategy", If you like intense, drawn out strategy games, this game is for you. The game is demanding in that you must manage many elements to become sucessful, such as trade, production, research, army and navy development, and an overall strategy for victory. The learning curve is probanly two hours, and once learned, Victoria will provide many hours of entertainment.

"Victoria review", A really addictive game- LOTS of detail. Needs a better tutorial to walk you through all the features- but once you get it down...it is a wonderful waste of time!

"The most entertaining game I've played in my life", I've played the vast majority of Paradox games, and many of them are honestly a mixed bag even after all of the patches. While Europa Universalis II eventually became an extraordinary game, the Hearts of Iron series is simply not a good fit with the engine. Victoria, on the other hand, is exactly the ridiculously complex and open-ended strategy game I've been waiting for my whole life.

Two notes for consumers not used to Paradox:
1. Always get the latest patch before playing
2. There is a vast fan community that has constructed sites explaining any question you could possibly have with these games. The best of these are the relatively recent wikis that have been set up (linked from the paradox forums). Read them.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Beats Civilization ..... Very Complex", This is the best strategy game I have played. I have been an addict of the Civ series for years, this takes strategy games to the next level. The diplomacy and economic aspects of this game are very hard to master (if you love detail this is great - if not you will hate this game!).

This is very addicitive, the gameplay and complex models make for very compulsive play. The level of historical accuracy is educational.

"!!!!!!!!A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!!!!!", Three cheers for Paradox! Truly outstanding! Amazing! This game is the funnest game I have ever played. If you're a history buff like me, you will not be able to stop playing this game. Play as the U.K. ,France, Russia, Sweden, Prussia(Germany), U.S., Austria, Mexico, Confederate States of America, Sardinia Piedmont(Italy), Belgium, the Netherlands, the Ottoman Empire or over 100 other nations. Progress through history as you colonize, wage war, inmdustrialize, initiate social reforms, and negotiate with other nations. Instead of reading history, you MAKE history. I like how real events happen to you, but they don't have to go the way they did in real life.

The idea that this game is unplayable is a myth. You don't need a tutorial, it's fun learning on your own.

PROS:
Addictive
Very, Very Fun
Historically Accurate
Playable
Real Tactical Strategy
Bulked-up Navy
Not insanely easy
Realistic concept of Manpower
Good colonial simulation
Adjustable game speed
Good for students studying Victorian era

CONS:
Strangely miniscule amount of "manpower" at start
Russia is !UNPLAYABLE!-they have -350 manpower at game start
Resources and factories sometimes difficult to manage

As I said, this game is not super easy. You have to put an effort in, and you'll have even more fun. This game is SSOOO educational-even the names of your units are accrurate. The manpower at the start is wierd, but convert laborers and farmers into soldiers in your provinces by double-clicking on a province, clicking on the population button, clicking on farmers or laborers, and pressing convert to soldiers. That is an important concept. Also, manage your resources and factories carefully and don't let clipper shipyards take all your lumber-close them down until you're buying or producing enough lumber and stuff to have enough for railroads and other things. Yes, Russia is strange in this game, but convert enough populations and you should be fine.
Have fun!

"Complex, but worth it - well worth the price", There are many games you can jump into and understand well in a few minutes. After a few hours, you're done with nearly any of them.

Victoria is not one of these games. After a few hours you're still early in the learning cycle, but you're having fun, and you are just starting a long-term relationship with a great game.

You have to approach Victoria differently than a simpler game. Download the latest patch (1.03c as of this review), go to the Paradox website to review the advice to new players, and play as an easy country for your first game. I suggest Sweden (ignoring the military) so you learn the economic system, and eventually build up to playing countries like the USA, before taking on the UK or Russia.

What you'll get is the ability to play an incredibly detailed recreation of the world as it was 1835-1920. You can play as any of dozens and dozens of countries, from Japan to Sardinia-Piedmont, from the Confederate States of America to Prussia. You advance scientifically, developing and buildign railroad, advancing politically (if you like), moving from Monarchy to democracy.

There are shortcomings to the game. The manual contains information on what is in the game, but not much on how you *should* play. The Paradox forums provide plenty of advice, however. There's a reason for this - once you learn the game, you'll get far more playing time for the tiny price Amazon wants for this game than you will out of nearly anything else you play (that isn't by Paradox, that is). Others have already realized what a great game Vicky is, and they are eager to share the joy with the rest of us.

This is a deep, sometimes difficult game, but it is worth the effort. It offers more replayability than any game I have ever seen from any other publisher.

"incomprehensible", Do not by this game unless you are a genius! As a veteran of 3 generations of Civilisation and Railroad Tycoon and many other strategy games I found this game completely incomprehensible.

For such a complex game to have no tutorial is unforgiveable. The manual is useless: inaccurate, incomplete and states the obvious at length without telling you the real things you need to know to actually do things. Most of the time things that the manual says you can do you cannot do for a reason that is kept secret.

Example 1: The manual tells you to move a division onto a transport in an adjacent sea zone but when you do this nothing happens. The game does not tell you why it is ignoring you. Eventually, by trial and error, you discover that it takes 2 transports to ship one division. There is no excuse for basic information like this not to be in the manual and in the on screen help.

Example 2. At the start of the Civil War the USA has high unemployment and NO manpower available. This is very odd in itself but as there is no way to increase manpower the Confederacy - whose army outnumbers the USA by 2.5:1 - wins every time.

My advice to Paradox: take one programmer off of making the game more and more complicated and put him/her on making the game playable.

"History Buff's Dream", Like its predecessor, Hearts of Iron, this game doesn't disappoint. Play any country of the 19th century as see if you can bring it to glory. While complex, Paradox runs the best forum around to provide answers and updates to this game. I highly recommend it for those who enjoy not only reading history but also, may want to change it.