Imperialism II is not as Good as the First Game

Imperialism is one of my favorite strategy games. It has a steep learning curve, but it is very fun when you get used to it. The sequel, Imperialism II, also has a steep learning curve despite having a few quality-of-life improvements.

Playing the second game brought me back to being a kid and playing the first game again. I sucked at the game. I couldn’t figure anything out at first, but slowly, I learned how to play. Each time I restarted, I learned something about the game.

I’m still really bad at Imperialism II, but I had fun trying to learn how to play it. It was very challenging, but it can be a lot of fun. I still like the first game more, but figuring out how to play these games is half the fun.

TLDR: It’s not as good as the first game, but it’s still a fantastic strategy game.

Narrative

There is no story for this game. You’re playing a game of exploration, exploitation, and eventual world domination. As one of the “Great Powers,” you colonize a “New World” country through diplomacy or military power.

The story is up to the player. You’re given a basic framework, but the game plays like a sandbox. You can use your imagination to make up reasons for why things are happening.

The Imperialism and the sequel don’t need stories. The player is given some basic information, and that is it. It works for this type of game.

Gameplay

I spent some time trying to unlearn what I took from the first game. The gameplay in Imperialism II is somewhat different from the first game. They have the same end goal, but the path to accomplish this is different.

You still have to gather resources, build roads and ports, and handle diplomatic relations with multiple countries. However, doing this in Imperialism II requires you to deal with more things than the first game.

I prefer the gameplay in the first game. The second game has a lot of quality-of-life improvements, but I think some things were changed to the detriment of the game. There is too much to deal with, in my opinion.

Managing food and transporting resources is very different from the first game. The second game has fewer food options, but it can be harder to deal with. Everything needs food in this game.

In the first game, only your workers need food; none need luxury items like sugar, hats, or cigars. In Imperialism II, the military, navy, and workforce require food. While this approach is more realistic, I don’t like it.

The transportation is also very different. Your merchant fleet is front and center, and you must transport goods from ports that aren’t connected by roads to your capital. In the first game, this was all happening behind the scenes, and you didn’t need to worry about transporting goods from ports.

In the first game, rail cars transported resources and goods. In the second game, you don’t have to build rail cars, but you do need to build merchant ships. In the first game, the merchant fleet only dealt with trade.

This is one example of the second game simplifying one thing and making something else more complicated. It created this strange dynamic where I liked the parts of the game but wanted to go back to the first game. I like some of the changes, but I wouldn’t say I like the gameplay as much.

Managing the food needs of your workforce, military, and navy can be a nightmare, especially when you start expanding your empire. When you take over a minor nation, you get a bunch of ground troops. You’ll quickly burn through your food supply if you aren’t prepared for it.

If you don’t take care of your workforce, you’ll lose production and be unable to upgrade resources or build your infrastructure. This can lead to a point where you lose the game, but the game doesn’t end. You’ll have to restart.

The combat is essentially the same as the first game. You have melee units as the game starts in the 1500s instead of the 1800s. Eventually, you work your way up to the technology you start the first game with.

The technology tree is considerably better than the first game. Instead of waiting for technology to become available, you research 3 to 4 things at once. Each takes a number of turns, and you can change the budget of each research project to speed things up. It is much better than the first game in every way.

Overall, I prefer the first game. The second game has some great ideas and tries to improve on the first game, but it complicates things. The gameplay is good, but you need to pay attention to a lot of things at once, and it can be a bit overwhelming at times.

Visuals

Imperialism II looks better than the first game. It is more detailed, and I like the graphics a bit more. The lack of animations on the soldiers during the battle scenes is a little disappointing, but not that bad.

On the world map, it is easy to see what you need to do. Once you know what the resources are, they are easy to identify. You can also hover the mouse over them to learn more about them.

Battles play out the same way as the first game. It is like you’re moving toy soldiers around a map. While it would be nice if the units were animated, I like the idea of playing with toy soldiers. It reminds me of being a kid and playing with those plastic army men.

I don’t like the user interface in this game. The icons are small and tucked away at the bottom of the screen. It can be hard to tell what you’re clicking on. I wish the developers had made them larger, and left them where the first game had them.

The city from the first game is gone. In its place are a series of menus that are crap. They don’t look as good as having a city that you slowly upgrade throughout the game.

I like the look of this game. Imperialism II looks better than the previous game. However, the user interface from the first game was much better than the sequel. In the first game, the production, military, and transport screens looked much better and had fewer menus to navigate.

7.5/10. I like the game, but it makes me want to go back to the first game. The more I played the game, the more I liked it, but I found it to be a bit too complex. It is a lot of fun, and I enjoy learning how to play it.

Conclusion

The whole time I was playing Imperialism II, I felt like I would rather be playing the first game. I have more memories of that game, and I have a better handle on how to play it. The second game plays similarly, but it has a lot of quirks that take some time to learn.

This brought me back to the frustration of learning how to play the first game. Each time I restarted, I would learn something. The tutorial teaches you the basics, but playing the game helps you learn what works for you.

I still prefer the first game. I’ve put more time into it, and I better understand what I need to do. I enjoy the challenge of the second game. It is like a new puzzle that I need to put together. While I find it frustrating now, I can see it being incredibly fun once I better understand how to play.