Review:
Rise of Prussia

I was recently given the task of playing and reviewing AGEOD’s (technically, Paradox Interactive’s, because it recently acquired AGEOD) Rise of Prussia, a grand strategy wargame that is based on the European campaigns of the Seven Years’ War, which occurred during the period of 1756-1763.

Rise of Prussia gives you the opportunity to control King Frederick II of Prussia, otherwise known as Frederick the Great, and save Prussia from the Austrian troops, or you can play the other faction and destroy Prussia. Either way, you will need an enormous amount of patience, understanding, and more patience as you try to finish the three tutorials and 10 campaigns.

Graphically speaking, though, the game is far from great. It is 2D, with the generals or commanding officers representing their troops (so this is far from training units one by one or batch by batch a la Starcraft Broodwar or Red Alert) and appearing as portraits in plates or, if you want, as 3D models with octagonal base.

Pros

The game is rich in history, so rich that I have to research about the Seven Years’ War. I honestly didn’t have any idea of this war until before I read all about it. And I have to agree: I think it could have really been the First World War, considering its global nature. Countries involved are: Prussia, Great Britain, Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, Saxony, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Dutch Republic, and India, to name a few. But of course, that is because most global powers before had colonies, and battles also erupted in these colonies.

Apart from that, the game is rich in information. It really lived up to its being a “grand strategy” wargame. From area details, officers’ details, unit details—all the works, except that it is in a 1750s setting.

Movement is simple. Units, or rather portraits of commanding officers (including that of King Frederick II), can be moved to a specific location just by dragging and dropping. They can also be grouped under one commander, and then another, as long as you can keep track of the required command points.