As a guy who grew up on strategy games, I don't mind admitting that AGEOD (now Paradox France) games scare the shite out of me. Maybe it's because my version of strategy were Blizzard Titles, or at the outset, Total War. I didn't run into Paradox-scale strategy games until much later in my life, but even by those standards, Parardox France make some pretty hardcore titles. Now those lovable Frenchman are at it again with Vainglory: Pride of Nations.
 

I know, scary isn't it?

Covering a time period similar to that of another Paradox game, Victoria 2, Pride of Nations again allows you to pick one of eight distinct countries and lead them to glory. Whether it's establishing yourself as a new world power as America or Japan, maintaining your empire as Great Britain, or even playing as one of the other major European powers such as Germany or Russia, each one has its own personality and agenda that you need to get to grips with.

Like all previous AGEOD, hyper-simulation and realism is the name of the game. There's four main 'modes' to the game, Military, Economy, Colonial and Decision. The Decisions mode is fairly straight forward and only needs using every now and then to enact regional 'choices' that you can make, and the Colonial mode is only useful if you have colonies (or, in America's case, you're expanding out westward), but that has more for you to do, from sending out expeditions to bribing local chiefs. The Economic and Military modes however are the two you'll use more often.

The military tab is pretty straight forward - you can requisition new units in provinces that can support them, and this mode also highlights any existing armies on the screen so that you can issue orders. The economics tabs is slightly more complex, as there are a host of buildings you can build depending on the territory you want to build it in. Some provinces might have natural resources you'll want to exploit, whilst others may exist along a key boarder with a rival, which will mean you'll want to build forts and defensive fortifications.

The ultimate goal of Pride of Nations is, in a word, 'prestige'. Paradox veterans will be familiar with this concept. Basically, various actions and factors will give you points towards your 'prestige' value, and the goal is to have the highest prestige value (leader board style) by the end of the game, so in this case 1920. Each nation will have their own objectives and key locations to control, but in a general sense a strong economy, an empire, a large military, colonies etc... all contribute to your prestige, as does fighting and winning wars we imagine.

In terms of management, you have all of the usual suspects - research and development, diplomacy, government... plus several tables of just stats and information. There's a wealth of depth here, and a lot to try wrap your head round. Pride of Nations is Turn-base, with each turn lasting around fifteen days. So anyone thinking 70 years was a bit short, that's 70 years worth of two week slots you have to contend with, so nothing will happen that quickly.
 

Scenarios limit you to a small portion of the map

In terms of single-player, there will be a 'Grand' Campaign, which is the sandbox mode that allows you to pick any one of the 'great eight' and play from 1850 all the way through to 1920, but then they'll also be special 'scenarios' as well. This will key moments in history, such as the Russo-Japanese War, and will be very themed mini-campaigns that focus on just one part of the map. They'll also be multiplayer as well, so a group of people can play a multiplayer campaign, although nothing particularly special is going on here.

On the one hand, this is a classic complex AGEOD game, however Paradox's increased influence has rubbed off well on the company we think. Everything seems that much more accessible - from a tutorial that actually acts as a tutorial, to the streamlined interfaces, even the better art assets make the game less intimidating... even though they do nothing to the gameplay. Make no mistake, this is a different breed of game to Victoria, so those worried about value for money will find plenty to get to grips with here.

Most Anticipated feature: There's no one thing that stands out, but over all this is looking to be a very polished and engaging game.