East India Company E3 Preview

The second game from the Paradox meet was East India Company, which looks much more approachable, but still heavily involving. The games is obsessed with trading, and it’s through trading that you’ll attain victory as you take control of one of eight trade companies.

A long campaign can last up to 200 years, but you can either cut that to size into something much more manageable for your daily schedule, or you can cut loose in the game’s sandbox mode with zero objectives. It’s just you and your ambitions to generate the most profit.

There are three elements to the game. First, you have the trade map that goes by in real-time (roughly 5 minutes equal a year), where you get a nice macro view of how everyone else is doing and how you're managing. The second level goes into ports, where you can engage in diplomacy and of course, trade. Trade is as easy as dragging and dropping your supplies, and whether you generate any kind of profit is up to the dynamic pricing of items and your kindergarten-learned ability to do some rudimentary math.

If things go sour, there’s naval combat. You can just use RTS-style point-and-click commands, or you can take direct control of ships for a minute level of control. I suppose you could see it as Empire: Total War’s naval game, but that barely functions to begin with. East India Company is looking great and if competing for gobs of virtual cash sounds good, then pay attention to its July release.