Overall I would give this game a 7/10. The scale of this game is very impressive with many countries and lots of ocean represented. The game itself is very detailed with mainly with 6 categories: production, research, finance, diplomacy, operations(espionage), military. Each category has its own minister to "help" you but unless you want your country at the control of idiots I lock most of their actions. It can be a challenge to balance everything perfectly, but thats part of the fun. The tech tree and units are part of what makes the game so playable for me. Researching new technologies and units to take over countries faster and faster. Each regions/country has its own unique units (ex. Israel, South Korea, etc.). The researching of technologies is very good in the game as well as units, unfortunately the units are a little bland. Basically a lot of fodder, you only need to research the most current strongest tank, infantry, etc. The the diplomacy is average. The amount of countries is very cool, and in one scenarios you can even play parts of Europe, China, Russia, the US, or Canada; England, Southern China, Moscow, the 50 states, Ontario, etc. However the UN in the game is a lame duck not really doing anything to help the game along, just kicking you out if you declare war without reason. You cant get back in even if you get your approval back up. My biggest beef with this game is the AI, I can conquer the world in about a week only because its so big, the AI is not really there. Most units are around cities and basically most of the killing you will do is killing city garrisons(annoying buggers). The AI's way of fighting is send en-masse any tank, infantry, artillery, anti-tank. It doesn't use aircraft well at all, nor naval units. And preparing for a sea invasion, haha wont happen. Once you kill the units its just takes time to capture cities and stuff. A note tho, starting proxy wars is easy and fun, normally I sell all my old units(which are way better than the AI's units anyway) to another country. In a few months you will see most of your units on the line taking over an enemy, haha. Its a nice thing to do because the time in this game can go really slow, if your not at war. Just sitting and waiting for stuff to research, or for production to build. 3 more beefs. #1: the graphics is a little 1990's. I can understand that its a big world and there are many units but at least make it not so 2D. #2: the country loyalty system. Each country or state has its loyalty which is always at 100% and never changes. With you conquer a country for instance its not loyal to you so the vision and production(2/3) is reduced compared to your own loyal country. Lloyalty never changes basically so conquering the world is sorta a handicap, with this reduced vision and priducion for the rest of the game. #3 road and rail, you are unable to destroy roads or rails that have been built. They cost maintenance and

This is an interesting strategy game focused on the near future. You are able to play with any country (including almost all of today's countries) in a "realistic" campaign, or chose to play with countries like California in other scenarios. The map is based on real world images, so it's as beautiful as our world - without the clouds obviously - however if you zoom in a lot you'll find that it could have more resolution, although it's completely understandable why it doesn't have. This is a hex based game but the real time gameplay and the smooth movement of units , as well as the map, hide that - you'll only figure out with the infrastructure building. This game is complex and will require time to learn, you can research technologies and units, get resources as you can find them in your territory (e.g. Persian Gulf countries have lots of oil to explore), engage in several diplomatic actions with other countries and of course, war. This game has a HUGE pool of land, sea, air and missile units (including almost all, if not all, real world units), having different status and abilities, giving you lots of freedom to build your armed forces. The biggest problem in my opinion is the speed - I warn you this game, even in the fastest speed, is slow. It's understandable as everyday it calculates new prices for the products to be sold, etc, but still I find it too much. However, if you are a patient guy, you'll find this an interesting game to try out.