Crown of Glory

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy
Publisher: Matrix Games
Developer: Western Civilization Software
Release Date: June 30, 2005

Of all the periods of history, Napoleonic era France is probably the one that I'm least interested in. I just never really found Napoleon and his supposed military genius all that fascinating, and the way he always stood with his hand inside his coat was just plain weird. Of course, he's legendary in the circle of clichéd sayings. There's no doubt that at some point or another, you've heard someone say, "This is your Waterloo," or something to that effect. Yes, Napoleon has taught us a lot, including the fact that invading Russia in winter is not a good idea.

However, many others have much higher opinions of Napoleon than I do, and thanks to Matrix Games and Western Civilization Software, they can now reenact the conflicts of Napoleon's time with Crown of Glory. I admire Matrix Games greatly, as they bring all sorts of niche titles to the market, catering to all sorts of fans across all genres. Crown of Glory is one such game. Not only is it an interesting empire building game, it is also a great turn-based combat game. Crown of Glory is truly the best of both worlds.

Like most games from small developers, Crown of Glory is a bit short on sparkle. The maps are fairly simplistic; menus are static but convey the information that is needed. Probably the one thing that most gamers won't be able to stand is the hex-based battle maps and simplistic sprite battles. However, most gamers won't be playing a Napoleonic war game either, and for those who are really interested in the subject matter, this will hardly be an issue.

As far as the game itself goes, there is an abundance of features that are really interesting for a strategy title of any kind to have. For instance, when inspecting your military, you can view your armies, just like any other game, but the unique thing is that you can view individual groups of units inside your army, their morale, strength, what their orders are, and other information. Not only can you view the groups of units, but you can also view the leaders and assign them to lead your armies. Each leader has special modifiers that can increase the capabilities of your army.

Outside of the military aspect, you have other screens that you can view to handle the diplomatic, economic, and cultural aspects of your empire. These are also replete with information and options for handling each of the areas of your empire. For instance, the economic screen will let you set the draft ages of your troops, how much training to give them, the tax rate, the welfare rate, or borrow money in a loan. There are also plenty of options for trade with other nations if you feel so inclined. All of this is included in just the economic management screen, so multiply this by four, and you'll see just how many options for managing your empire you actually have. Thankfully, you can let the AI automatically manage any or all of the aspects for you, so you can focus on your conquest of the European continent.

The goal of the game is to accumulate Glory Points, which will allow you to win once you have reached a certain amount of them. To gain Glory Points, you have to fight and win battles, as well as manage your empire and citizenry well. Battle is inevitable and is really quite a lot of fun, so this is probably the route that Glory Points will be most earned. Once you find yourself in a fight, you have two options: Quick Battle or Detailed Battle. Quick Battle is the easier of two options, allowing you to simply arrange your units on a grid or allow the AI to do so for you, and then watching the results come in.

The Detailed Battle is the more strategic of the two options, allowing you far more control over what is happening on the battlefield, and is also the more rewarding of the two battle types. This is also where the casual gamer is likely to be most disappointed with the visuals. A colorful hex-based screen comes up, reminding me of when I tried to play a war board game long ago. Units can be moved a certain distance and the enemy engaged, each turn representing 20 minutes of real-time battle. The detailed battle takes a while to complete, so it's important to be sure you want to enter into it, as you can't back out once you've started. You can speed things up by allowing the computer to calculate all the moves, but it still takes a while. Most often, one of the armies will retreat due to low morale, as they apparently had little reason to fight back in those days.

If you are trying to avoid battle, treaties can be formed, allowing you to enter into elaborate deals with the other nations. Surrendering works in much the same way, and if the enemy surrenders, you can demand certain terms. There are also diplomatic units that can be put to good use as an alternative to battle. It is almost certain that you will be unable to avoid a fight in any game, however.

Graphically, Crown of Glory won't win any awards. The map screens are well drawn and simple, and menus are also simplistic but convey the necessary information quite well. The portraits for the various people in the game are a nice touch, lending a feeling of authenticity. Units in the armies are well detailed but simply animated. As mentioned, the battle screen is a hex-based affair that represents buildings with simple boxes. Interestingly, battles can play out in different weather, in night or day, and other conditions will affect the battles and are represented appropriately. However simplistic it is, it isn't horrible to look at, and you'll only be disappointed if you bought this game to show off your newest graphics card.

Sound effects and music are equally simplistic, featuring period pieces of classical music as the soundtrack, which happens to work quite well. Nothing takes you back into the Napoleonic era like some classical music playing in the background as you plot your next move to conquer Europe, and it's definitely put to good use in Crown of Glory. Sound effects consist of the firing of guns, stomping of horses' hooves, and other sounds of battle. Everything works well together, and there are no annoyances that really take you out of the game.

Crown of Glory is a gem in the modern landscape of first-person shooters and 3D normal-mapped, vertex-shaded graphics. It may not be the prettiest of titles, but it is certainly a deep strategy game that combines both the empire building and turn-based combat styles into a brilliant title based in the era of Napoleon. If you're looking for a strategy title and are not concerned with pretty graphics or booming sound effects, then Crown of Glory might be for you.

Score: 7.5/10