I’ve already expressed my opinion of Europa Universalis Rome. I didn’t like it, but I’d agreed to review the entire series. Europa Universalis Rome Vae Victis purports to makes the original better and adds some new content here and there. Keep in mind: I do not like this series. If you’ve read my other reviews and identify with the games I do like, know that this is probably not a series for you.

The expansion has some features that make it work a little more than the basic game, but I think that’s primarily due to the fact that the original isn’t my kind of game. For those of you not familiar with the Universalis titles, they can easily be summed by saying that the function of the video game is to make it as much like experiencing a board game as possible. That is, you play a game that involves world conquest and domination and does as much as it can to divorce itself from cinema displays, city evolution, strategic and/or epic battles, and everything for which you might otherwise play a video game.

What you end up with is a game that is extremely devoted to the old-school board games that have a huge host of cards (in the form of windows), notes, micromanaging and careful planning — not unlike being an accountant.

This brings me to the expansion pack.

The expansion pack takes a few steps to make the game more “fun” (yes, “fun” is quite subjective here). For one thing, combat is faster. The battles are bloodier (if you can call rolling dice and watching the numbers tic down “bloody”), but there is basically a quicker kill ratio, which means less time waiting around so you have more time to skillfully and adroitly organize spreadsheets and the inevitable TPS report to make your empire feel as epic as the Caesars.

If you want to reinforce an ally, it’s much quicker. If you want to reinforce adjacent allies, it’s quicker. If you don’t reinforce besieged elements in a period of time, they just die out and become eliminated. Troops can be cheaper, under the right circumstances, and the game feels slightly more realistic in this capacity.

I must stress the element of slight, when it comes to realism. First of all, factions are eliminated in a set number of turns. The length of time is universal, no matter what the army size is, so if you’re really going for realistic, look somewhere else on that faction.

I did like the fact that loyalists actually will pay some costs to your troops, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. I just don’t like the matrix of this gameplay. I’m sure it appeals to some people, but I’m not one of them. The fact that they sped up combat (somewhat) and made armies slightly more realistic doesn’t change the fact that this is a video game, not a board game.

There are some other mentionable elements to the game that do make it seem somewhat more realistic. The most notable is the way your government is structured. According to Henrik Fåhréus, lead game designer of Vae Victis: “The ministers are important since their skills affect your country in many ways. If managed right, their bonuses will equal or surpass that of the ruling party in a republic. However, it can be dangerous to appoint your most skilled characters to the council since some may favor themselves, a relative or even a friend rather than the legal heir. Thus, when the king dies — or possibly before — if a majority of the council is unhappy with the legal heir, they may decide to back a pretender and spark a civil war.”

However, what good is a civil war in a game that doesn’t focus on combat or tactics? Wars tend to be complicated bloody business with lots of chaos and confusion and a good mix of adrenaline to keep things feisty. They should not be reduced to icons standing on a map waving a weapon for about five minutes as you watch the time decrease until the “battle” is over and you see how many men you have left.

But I digress ...

A few other “good” things might be some new missions, which are directly related to which political party is in charge. For example, with the Julii family in charge, you’re going to find yourself dealing with more missions in Gaul and Britainia, as opposed to the Scipii family, which deals with Northern Africa and the conquest of Carthage.

The tribes of the expansion pack are also interesting, because when you encounter “barbarians,” they now have their own functioning government, and it is one that is different than standard Roman law. Expect tribes to make decisions more about combat and matters of honor — another plus.

You have a greater and larger control of the government with the Decisions factor. It allows them the option to make decisions about whether their empire will remain a republic or become a monarchy. That is a very interesting feature, but I would have liked a cinema display. You know, seeing people sitting around a table or the forum, or even the Senate House — as opposed to picture icons.

In fact, in all Universalis titles, I fine the graphics generally dull. There are only a few colors &madh; I’ve seen Crayola boxes with more color and spark. The graphics look more like a shot from “Tank McNamara” in terms of rendering and style as opposed to realistic or epic artwork.

I understand it’s supposed to invoke the sense of playing a board game. However, if I want to play a board game, I’ll play a board game. But I don’t understand why anyone would want to eliminate all the socializing that comes from hanging together with a group of friends in a board game setting, nor do I understand eliminating the AI and speed that computers can give to a video game to make the game feel like a board game. Overall, this is my opinion about the Universalis series: Vini, vidi, vomiti.