Some of those immediate effects should not, however, discourage you from giving this strategy game a try. I can say without hesitation that
Cossacks Gold deserves the title for most historically believable real-time strategy. The armies can be massive, and have human-like characteristics in their marching and attack formations. The fast-paced gameplay of the
European Wars parallels that of
Red Alert at times, while keeping that historic feel that many RTS fans have grown fond of.
Other then the aforementioned, it plays like the average strategy game with a few new touches. Namely it has a market where your village workers can go and trade goods for things that you might not yet have ready access to (like trading coal for food). This does have its downsides, mainly if you take over one of your enemies' sources of harvest, he or she isn't immediately affected.
The real downer about this game is the AI, though. Multiplayer action is a blast - the designers surely got the balances pegged - but at times your units simply do not interpret commands in any manner that is commendable. Whether they be marching right through a pack of warriors or - my favorite - paddling through the river to catch the fleeing enemy, and taking so long to set up and fire that they have to pack up and follow again just to catch up...
