[Review] - Pride of Nations w/ Spanish-American War DLC

[Title]

Developed by: AGEOD

Published by: Paradox Interactive

Platforms: PC

ESRB: T for Teen

Pride of Nations is a turn based grand strategy game from AGEOD that tackles the period of history between 1850-1920. It is a very detailed historical game, and as such is a very in-depth game for the player. Players can start the game at different times, setting up different scenarios for play. So far, the scenarios include the grand campaign, the Indian Mutiny, Risorgimento, the Second Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. The Spanish-American War has also been added by downloadable content.

Each scenario has different objectives, and are of different lengths. These range from 10 turns in the Spanish-American War, to 1680 turns in the Grand Campaign. Each scenario has different playable factions. In the Grand Campaign, players can choose from eight different nations. These include Great Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, the United States of America, Russia, Japan and Sardinia-Piedmont (which later becomes Italy). Each of these has a different style of play.

The game allows freedom to choose goals for your nation, though these are limited by the historical capabilities of the nation. This means that goals such as huge colonisation are unrealistic for a country such as Prussia, who will have their hands full at home. That is not to say that smaller countries aren’t as interesting as big powers such as the US and Great Britain,as each have its set of stuggles. The game is for those who are into this period of history, and want to hop in and live the history that they love.

The game is controlled via a system of map modes and submodes, making it quite easy to control everything, once one figures out how to control it all properly. By going into one of the modes, such as Economic, Military, Decision, and Colonial modes, the map and bottom bar fill with the various options for that purpose. When entering economic mode, the map features icons representing what commodity each region is producing, among other things. When in military mode, all the armies on the map are represented by larger unit cards (see screenshots) Within those modes, there is a sub mode, for splitting the features of each mode. For example, the economic submode fills the bottom bar with various buildings that can be constructed. This system of control is quite a lot to get used to when learning how to play the game, and really poses a problem.

Military Map Mode showing the unit cards that represents armies. These cards stack upon each other.

When creating buildings or units, applying decisions, and moving troops around the map the game uses a drag and drop system. By picking up a building card, for example a railway, you can drag that card onto a region to begin construction. When you pick up a unit or building or construction, the map becomes colour coded so you can see where it is possible to put said building/unit. Green means it is possible, Red means it is not. This is helpful as it isn’t immediately apparent if you have a building of the same type in the area.

Colour coded map with building card being dropped onto a province.

Pride of Nations suffers from the same disease that many grand strategy games suffer: that of a steep learning curve. While the all text tutorial goes a long way to help, when entering your first campaign it is easy to get struck by the depth of it all. It is a good idea to try one of the smaller scenarios first, before jumping into a grand campaign. The scenarios offer plain historical objectives to be achieved, and have a definitive win/loss/draw. They are great for getting into the roll of the game. When trying a grand campaign, remember it lasts for a very long time, so don’t expect to cripple your enemies with a few quick moves. If you are looking for a casual game, this may not be right for you.

The map that you play on looks great from a distance (see screenshot) but when zoomed in is not so pretty. While this is a minor issue if you really are into the game, it doesn’t do much for encouraging new players dig in and learn. This combined with the steep learning curve may well be enough to repel the more casual strategy enthusiast. The games runs on the AGE Engine, which does a noble job, though at some times it can be found to struggle and slow down quite noticeably when moving the camera long distances, for example from a colony back up to the British Isles. Load times are short, and everything fits quite well.

The map from a distance imitates 3D well.

Pride of Nations is a solid historic grand strategy game that offers a long and involved grand campaign. It comes loaded with varied shorter historical scenarios, great for learning the game and getting a taste of different pieces of history. While marred by a very steep learning curve and some technical and graphical issues, it does what it has set out to do. Historical strategy enthusiasts interested in the period may well find something they like here, this game is made for them. Little features like historically accurate unit portraits show that Pride of Nations was made for history enthusiasts by history enthusiasts. Just be sure you are up to the challenge.

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