Victoria II is a strategy game so addictive, that you will find yourself playing it over and over again.
Basically, player gets to lead any country in the world he wants, with starting date being 1836, and ending date being 1936.
100 years of glory and prospect. 100 years of wars and political malversations.
This game is not for everyone. Only genre fans will probably see all the potential that Victoria II has to offer.
The game is very hard for an average player, if he never faced it before, but with trial and error, you'll get to love this game.
[b]Gameplay:[/b]
Victoria II doesn't focus on anything particularly. The main branches of game's gameplay are Economy, Diplomacy and Warfare.
Each of ones is very important if you want to successfully guide a country to prosperity. But on easier difficulties, the AI would deal with boring parts of economy in your country.
[i]-Economy[/i]
Since the time in which Victoria II is taking place is 1st world's industrialisation and it's consequences on the world, the most important part of the game is economy. Not any country can function without economy stabilized. It can not wage wars, it cannot meet the standards of the world's greatest powers if it doesn't have an economy strong enough.
Depending on the country you choose you'll get to have(or have non at all) certain number of factories at your disposal, and average population being it's workforce. Every region in your state can have up to 8 factories, and there are many types of them. From simple coal, iron and cement factories, over liquor, wine, and clothes factories, to the superb barrel, telephone, automobile and fuel factories. You have them all.
Keeping your population happy is very important. Otherwise they can rebel. And one way of keeping your population happy is getting them a job.
Other than factories, a state(inside a country) can have a natural resource that can directly be sold at the world market.
The connection between economy and warfare is obvious.
Strong economy=large and strong army
Conquering enemy provinces=more provinces to build factories on
[i]-Diplomacy[/i]
This one is more simple than the previous branch.
Basically what you have is diplomatic points, which you get from people working their job.
You can spend those points to change relations between your and other countries. You can declare war, add war goals, propose peace, etc...
And now it gets crazy.
Imagine now being Prussia. You want to attack France from North. But you don't want to fight strong country like that by yourself. So you do what? Since you're a great power, you take Spain and Switzerland(and some other countries like Belgium and Piedmont) in your Sphere of Influence, and that way, you assure alliance with your, almost satelite countries.
Now, if you choose to attack France, you'll surround her from all sides.
[i]-Warfare[/i]
Warfare is the most entertaining aspect in the game.
You can build your regular armies(infantry, cavalry, artillery, later on barrels, airplanes...), and you can mobilize your poor citizens. Either way, you'll form units. Since the map is not like one from Total war, but being more like a geographical card, you can't do much when 2 armies start battling.
But since the map is the way it is, the strategy and your decisions are very important. Because you have the power in your hands. Direct assault?
Flank the enemy? Attack it from behind? Surround it and then attack it, so they don't have where to run... The possibilities are unlimited.
Victoria II is heck of a good game, if you let yourself into it. The graphics are irrelevant, since they are not at all important, and have no practical use at all.
The game's frame rate drops amazingly low when you play the game more than 2 hours, so you'll need to restart the game in order to restore FR back to normal.
That's the biggest flaw of this game.
But regardless of that, if you really try to learn, you will get to love this game.
Maybe the first try will hurt, and be hard and complicated, but after you get all the stuff, then you'll begin to rock.
If you're a strategy lover, or not, I say, try this game. You won't regret it.