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The menus are simply incredible, some of the best looking I have ever seen. Since the general game play and navigation is very similar to Age of Empires, I was already familiar with the general interface of the title, and found it relitively simple to navigate through Cossacks. My first excursion onto the battlefield was in one of the simple scenarios where the objective was to simply defeat your enemy. A random map generator is also available, adding further game play to Cossacks. A huge variety of scenarios are available to play with each of these having different objectives and outcomes. It really sets a mood for the game, and that is very important in a title such as Cossacks. Upon first launch, you will be greeted with one of the most beautiful introduction movies ever produced. Cossacks: European Wars involves sixteen different nations, including England, France, Russia, Spain, Poland, Turkey, and Sweden. Upon first launch, this game looks almost exactly like Microsoft's Age of Empires II, but once I began playing, the differences were plentiful. Cossacks: European wars spans throughout 17th and 18th Century Europe, when wars were non-stop and every nation wanted as much land as they could possibly obtain. You must be able to do this, while managing resources and being attacked on all sides by opposing nations. Players are expected to build a nation with peasants and develop a large army capable of defeating opposing nations. Published by Strategy First and developed by Ukrainian based GSC Game World, Cossacks: European Wars is a real-time strategy title. Cossacks is more advanced than AoE, and simply more fun to play. After playing with this title for awhile I can say unequivocally that it is not Age of Empires. The graphics looked similar, the interface looked similar, and the overall design looked almost the same. Age of Empires is the first thing that came to mind when I originally saw this title.
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