Imperial glory from Pyro Studies puts you in control of one of five principal European powers from the Napoleonic era. It has a small resemblance to the older board games of "Risk" or "Axis and Allies", and tries to capture that essence in a digital form. I have fond memories of those times myself breaking out the Risk board to spend several hours at the table plotting world domination. (One day I will do so!).
The majority of your time in this game is spent in an overhead map view that bears a resemblance to those aforementioned board games from the past, when people gathered around a thing called a table to play games. From here there you can get a quick view of your neighbors, and some knowledge of the military force they have within their borders. You also use this screen to assign troop movements, plan naval assaults, and other sundry tasks in your attempt to rule the world. Again I will mention I loved board games like this, and especially liked the interface within the game at managing the duties of the nation you have chosen to control.
What I did not like about the game was the slow buildup of your armies. It took several turns before I even felt confident to make a move either diplomatically or through military force, and even then I felt I rushed myself to take action rather than wait several more turns to do anything other than internal building.
You are also given the option of mustering your troops in combat or allowing the PC to simulate the combat between the forces. I found the former to be rather complex, adding to the learning curve of the game. Of course, this is optional, you can if you desire play it completely through letting the computer simulate the conflict, giving the game a closer resemblance to the cardboard versions of military strategy games. The turn based system is where this game shines through, though; a rich mixture of buildup within and diplomatic maneuverings are what I liked the most here.
The graphics where of good quality and does not require the selling of body parts to purchase a system capable of running the game. Some of the larger conflicts I found myself in though could try some of the older systems that it should be able to run on according to the system requirements. The naval battles, while frustrating to learn and master, are some of the best looking portions of the game.
I would recommend this game as a buy if you have a love of those board games that are gathering dust because of the time required to get friends together and set up the table. This game is not without some flaws, but they can be overlooked without much effort, allowing you to find the excellent strategy game within.
