Canada-based Strategy First has delivered again with this one, but it’ll take plenty of patience to learn the game’s intricacies, especially since the manual lacks any sort of index, table of contents or other quick way to find information. In fact, most casual gamers will probably be turned off by the fact that most of Europa Universalis’ gameplay is learned by devoting long, hard hours.

Let me tell you: It’s worth it. Instead of just sweeping across Earth like a swarm of locusts, Europa Universalis players will have to keep a close eye on economics, religion and foreign relations.

The year is 1492, and the world has just gotten a lot bigger with the discovery of a new continent. Europe is undisputed master of all it surveys, but is at the same time fragmented into squabbling kingdoms overseen by churches whose political ambition exceeds their devotion to the Supreme Being.

Should be a walk in the park, huh?

In the most basic game, the player begins with one province and 300 years to gather Victory Points. These are gained by completing random tasks, which can be anything from controlling a certain area to forging alliances to conquering neighbors. Along the way, your kingdom will advance based on research levels which are in turn determined by sliders (apportioning resources to that field of study), the kingdom itself (certain buildings, for example, stimulate certain areas of research) and hundreds of historical events.

Gameplay is reasonably simple, at least on a technical level. Select a unit, right-click on a destination, and let it go. Or left-click on a province, and manage buildings, promote officials and that sort of thing. Kingdom-wide changes are easily made through a series of buttons on the top and bottom left of the screen, including research, diplomacy and trade. The best part of this is the mouseover feature, where holding the pointer on a certain command or value will explain it in brief and, if the pointer stays a bit longer, in detail.

That’s a good feature, especially with the manual so hard to use. But more on that later.

The bulk of the game comprises historic campaigns, from the rise and fall of the English empire to Native American survival to forays into the mysterious Orient. Best is Fantasia, where the player just takes over a country and runs with it. That one is won solely on the number of victory points gained at the end of 300 years.

A few caveats. First, this game is slow. Time does march, but day by day, so 300 years really does occupy the most patient gamer for weeks. That’s great for strategy gamers, but folks who like the thrill of Command & Conquer will want to stay away.

Second, the manual. Oh, the manual. As I said before, the table of contents or index are nowhere to be found. Finding a certain subject means paging back and forth. And even then, many game concepts are explaining with very little detail. For instance, can the powerful Catholic Church be used to pacify and convert the hostile natives in unexplored territory? I still have no idea, and just resort to killing off the unlucky fools. Some of these questions are answered after a few hours of gameplay, but I’d rather know in advance.

Finally, units just don’t change in appearance despite advancing technology over a few centuries. Decades after arming my boys with cannon and rifles, the battle still shows them slugging away with halberds.

All of that said, I was totally engrossed by Europa Universalis, and am more than a little sad to have to give up playing while I review the next thing coming down the pike. I’ll be back, I’m sure. After all, it’s my destiny to lead Europe to greatness.