Great Invasions is a real-time strategy game from Nobilis and Indie Games, originally released in Europe. This review is of the North American edition, produced by Strategy First.

First, let me say that I really love strategy games, whether turn-based or real-time. I especially like the ones that are set in historical time periods. That being said, the reality is that I’m severely disappointed with Great Invasions, which at first glance appears to have all the winning ingredients, such as a medieval setting, great-looking maps, and lots of promised complex strategy. However, if you can’t ever get a solid grasp of just how to actually play the game, then all the best features in the world won’t matter, because you’ll never experience half of them.

The game begins with a choice of multi-player or single-player modes, with up to four players for each mode. These players can be real, as in the multi-player mode, or computer-generated, as in the single-player mode. Once the mode is chosen, the player will decide on the scenario and the particular player they want to control. Then, it’s off to the maps!

There are three types of scenarios, which range from factual history to more of an interpretive type of history. This adds depth to an already deep game. Some scenarios offer up to 10 nations to manage at once. Each player is either green, red, blue or yellow, just as in a board game. Each color will control an alliance of nations and peoples. Players can accumulate more nations throughout the game, via a bidding process.

There is quite a diverse amount of factors involved in the strategy. Religion plays a big part in influencing the outcome of the game, and can earn points and revenue for the players.  Missionaries can convert nations, and heresies and jihads can affect gameplay. Special diplomatic actions can be undertaken by certain religions. Diplomacy has all sorts of options and events, and offers “embassy missions” which are obtained every so many years and affect things like royal marriages, mercenaries for hire, tribute, vassal states and many other options. Diplomacy can also be complicated because it’s possible to have different relationships with opposing countries and the various nations that you control.

The maps are quite pretty, and have cute little icons on each province. As in Making History, this game resembles Risk. Players can toggle back and forth between military, economic, religious and diplomatic views of the maps, with submenus for each view. The maps are the best part of the interface of the game, and offer a lot of information in a visual manner. It’s easy to zoom in and out and move around the screen.

The menus are another story, though. There is very minimal information on how to actually utilize these menus. The manual is very sparse and thin, a mere memo when compared to most strategy game manuals.  There is no “what to do on your first turn” section, and very little information on how to move troops, build things, and fight. Finding and using any action icons is very non-intuitive.

For instance, on first starting the game, a player will want to move troops to another province to take it over.  Well, how do you do that? The manual doesn’t say, except for one brief instruction in the tutorial section at the back of the manual. (And don’t even get me started on this tutorial). This instruction said to click on the anchor icon on the bottom menu, which in my case, was greyed out and couldn’t be clicked on. I finally figured out how to toggle through the troops, which gave me access to this icon command for some of the troops, but not others.  I found a more in-depth manual for the beta version of the game online, which stated that logistic points dictated if the troops could move or not. Hmmm….that helped.

And, once you actually do get to move any troops, it’s very confusing as to where you’re moving them. Unlike in games such as Civilization or Avatar, the path setting is hard to understand, as sometimes it shows a path, and sometimes it doesn’t. Right-click or left-click, who knows? Either seems to work the same. And how many turns does it take for them to move? One time, I unloaded my troops while at sea; they just stood in the middle of the ocean.  I never could get them back in the ship, and had to start the mission over.

It gets better. While players are trying to figure out what to do and how to do it, remember that this is real-time game-play.  Messages of wars, mutinies, treaties, and disasters will begin to pop up every few seconds. Soon, it’s all over, and you’re still in the dark ... ages, that is.

This is a shame, as there really does seem to be a whole lot of complexity to this game. The time period, which is set in Europe and Asia after the fall of the Roman Empire, is by nature a chaotic and eventful time. Every few years another barbarian horde was chasing out the previous barbarian horde, now turned national. Knowledge was constantly being lost and rediscovered. The diplomacy options by themselves could almost make a game, as the most powerful nations were still fairly small and diverse, thus necessitating alliances.

However, the total lack of direction and the steep learning curve make this a very difficult game to play. It’s just not fun if you have to restart the game every session. I wonder who tested this game, as it seems it must have been people who already knew what the menus were on the interface. The English translation is sloppy, too. There are many misspellings, and one time a time period was described as “antic” instead of “antique”.

The bottom line is that this game has a lot to offer for strategy enthusiasts, especially if they love history. But, the total opacity of the interface and the difficulty learning how to play the game makes trying this game daunting, to say the least. Best for players with lots of patience and time to burn.

Gameplay: 5.0
Getting to the gameplay is difficult, to say the least. The interface is one of the most confusing ones I’ve ever experienced. Combine that with the many options this game offers, and the result is a frustrating gaming session.

Graphics: 7.5
I enjoyed the look of the game and found it attractive. The maps are nice to look at, and the icons on the maps are cute.  There isn’t much animation, and the icons could be more detailed, but it’s all quite adequate.

Sound: 6.0
The music is very minimal, and the sound effects are few.

Difficulty: Hard, Very Hard
This is a very hard game to play, because it’s very hard to figure out. Minimal instructions, confusing interface.

Concept: 8.0
The concept is different in the choice of time period, and also the use of the diplomacy and religious components, which is implemented in an unusual manner.

Multiplayer: N/A
There is a multiplayer option, but I didn’t test that option.

Overall: 6.0
A very large game with a large amount of strategy, if you have the patience to learn how to play. To really be a great game, the interface needs to be totally redesigned, along with the manual.