Cossacks II: Battle for Europe - PC

I bought Cossacks a long time ago and loved it! This was like the first version so I had trouble finding people to play with online since my version was so old.Once I got a pair of monitors and a new video card to run them on, the old software wouldn't work with the new hardware. :( So I wanted to upgrade to the newer version so I could play again.I haven't found a true random may option where I can select a general terrain and number of computer players to play against and build from scratch. All of the options start with some basic setup and a general object to the round. It is hard to get your community ready for an attack if you don't know how to play the game already.As a result, my kids don't like this game nearly as much as the original version.

Thank God I bought this game used from Amazon, because if I would of paid full price I would of been extremely angry.The vendor who I purchased this used game from, sent it to me before the expected arrival date. I found the game in perfect condition as was the paperwork and box that came with it.However, this is where the fun stopped.I installed the game without incident, and restarted my computer.I continuously received error messages and the game would not even start. Not being very "techy" or good with technical issues, I was worried.I "uninstalled" the game, restarted my computer and then re-installed the game once more. No change resulted from this course of action.After 3 hours of searching, I found the right "cdv" (manufacturer) web page to write of my troubles with the game.The next day the tech people at cdv told me I should install an update of my video driver. This did the "trick" and the game would now run.Gamespot[...]rated this game 6.6 out of 10.0 ("average") because of it's re-hash of the same game that came before. They were not impressed with the game and often got frustrated with the difficult game play (even on "easy" or "beginner" mode) and these are professional gamers! There were also tech issues that were frustrating as well.However, I bought the game out of historical interest, and because of the fairly good price. Napoleonic period of history is my passion and true interest. So I thought I'd give it a "go".As one Amazon reviewer found, the "zoom" feature is severely lacking, therefore seeing the whole of the battlefield and your "units" leaves the player handicaped. I totally agree with the previous reviewer.There is a series of actions you must take your units through, and unless you follow that pattern, you will be quickly defeated. There is no room for creativity or true command and leadership which defeats the very purpose of the game. Much like many first-person games that funnel you through a maze and forces you to take the route they wish for you, this too is scripted in a more subtle way.Graphics are almost too bright and "cheery". The uniforms "gleem" like those miniature soldiers right after being painted. No realism here...However I do wish to give credit to the backgrounds: foliage and buildings are superbly rendered and very nice.The American voice-over of my English superior cracked me up, and didn't lend any credence to the roll.Game play overall is very tough, and the controls are unwieldly and awkward. Not user friendly from my perspective.The music is annoying and I turned it off immediately. Being an historian and lover of classic music of the time period, this game fell very short.Comparing this wargame to; "Lord of The Rings Battle For Middle Earth" for example, there is no comparison. LoRBfME....Game play is fun and graphics are first rate. Music, special effects are great, and more importantly easy of usage (and ease of learning the game) was very nice.However, I have not completed the game for I am still trying to get over my many frustrations of Cossacks II and my interest is decreasing rapidly.Good luck to you if you should choose this game.

If you have ever played any other strategy franchise (age of empires, civilization, ect.) this one will, without a doubt, take the cake. I used to only play age of empires, but it always seemed to lose my interest because of the small scale battles (skrmishes, really). This game puts no population limit and you can have over a thousand soldiers on the field at once. It's an outstanding game!

Having played Imperial Glory, a game about the same historical period, I thought this game fell short. On the up side, the building graphics are beautiful and it is an easy game to start playing and know what you are doing. On the downside, the unit graphics are only fair because of the orientation of the camera. The game play also gets repetitive after a while. I quit playing after about a week. The game also lacks the features of previous Cossacks titles. With no editor, no naval units and a lack of skirmish maps, this game seems to have been rather rushed. If you love the Napoleonic genre, then you may want to give it a go and maybe it's flaws can be overlooked but if you want a classic RTS, with staying power and a long life, like Age of Empires or Rise of Nations, this ain't it.

Fun, Great Graphics, lots of play time, AI is good but not great. Overall 4 of 5 stars, AI is 3 of 5. Some minor problems with Cassons loading cannons but not to distracting.

game downloaded fine but when I attempted to start it I got a message"engine.exe has detected that video memory is not configured properly.Please restart computer and set AGP aperture size=256 MB or more in BIOS configuration BIOS configuration utility by pressing "del" while computer restarts."this did not help at all and I am unable to play this game. I have played and enjoyed Cossacks for years.

Hadn't played this game since college and was happy to find it and rekindle my love for it. It is classic and will never grow old.

i would recommend just getting the digital copy through Steam, that version is patched to run on modern OSs. Trust me, not woth the hassle to get it to work with a physical copy.