Virtual Programming surprised Mac gamers with two items of interest on Friday: They’ve launched a Macintosh conversion of Championship Manager 2008 at the same time as its PC counterpart, and they’ve also released Europa Universalis III. The game costs $39.95.
Europa Universalis III is the latest installation of the hit strategy game series developed by Paradox Interactive. This empire-building real time strategy game is centered in Europe, circa 1453, as you attempt to explore the world, trade with other great powers, wage war and use diplomatic skills to your best ability.
Europa Universalis III spans a 300 year period of time from the mid 15th century to the late 18th century. You can choose your own form of government, the structure of your society, trade politics and more. You can also call on great historical figures to help you, such as Sir Isaac Newton, Mozart or René Descartes. There are more than 1000 historical leaders and more than 4000 historical monarchs you can draw on for experience, too.
Europa Universalis III incorporates a lush new 3D graphics engine that drives a topographical map that lets you see the world in 3D, containing more than 1700 provinces and sea zones, and you can lead any one of more than 250 countries that existed during that time.
When you go into war, you’ll find more than 100 individual unit types that you can control. A cooperative multiplayer mode lets several players work together to control a single nation, and you can play online on LANs or the Internet. And Europa Universalis III also supports “modding,” so you can customize the game and create your own scenarios for it.
System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later, Intel or PowerPC G5 CPU, GeForce 5200, Radeon 9600, GMA 950 or better 3D graphics with at least 64MB VRAM, 512MB RAM, 700MB hard disk space, broadband connection for Internet play, and Internet connection to register.