Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun Critic Reviews

The ability to assign many administrative tasks to AI routines helps to make Victoria more accessible, but if you’re new to the genre, you still may not be prepared for the overwhelming amount of data for which you’ll be responsible.

There's an excellent game struggling to surface in Victoria, and I look forward to playing it just as soon as the requisite patches appear. Now would some kindly soul please create an accurate, intelligent manual for the game?

It is not for the new player to the strategic gaming genre. It will likely provide a challenge to veterans due to its frenetic pacing. The game has depth, but hurries through it rather than allowing players to savor the experience.

Despite some wonderful depth and a great alternate-history ambience, this game is more work than play.

I grappled with Victoria for a solid 10 hours before I actually started having fun, and most folks will deem this figure unacceptable. Even then, the game's glaring bugs had a tendency to disrupt the deep and absorbing machinations that eventually develop.

A good game hidden behind a baffling interface. All the "one more hour" elements are there; you just have to find them.

Victoria could be a classic after a few patches, but in the initial release, you're paying Paradox to beta test their game.

It’s strange to admit that I do personally enjoy Victoria – and wouldn’t recommend it to a soul I know. Nobody should have to go through the frustrations of the first few games, especially with the newest patch, in order to see if they’ll actually grow to like it once they learn it.

Compelling - in a masochistic way. Deep down, there's a great game trying to get out, but it's been hamstrung by our many complaints that can be summed up in one sentence. Piss-poor support for the new user. Victoria will infuriate strategy enthusiasts and baffle everyone else.

Gets marks for depth and scope, but unfortunately so much of the detail goes to waste due to the frustrating interface, horrendous learning curve, and sparse gameplay options.

Far too ambitious and the multitudes of bugs make playing a hugely intricate strategy game a trial.

A game that combines the micromanagement of "Civilization" with the intrigue and politics of "Diplomacy," adds in a "Railroad Tycoon 3"-style dynamic economic and resources model, uses a layered interface ... and then somehow expects you to manage it all in real-time.