East India Company

by Paradox

Product Features

• Spectacular cinematic and epic naval battles
• State of the art diplomacy AI
• Realistic yet fast-paced naval combat
• Supports up to 10 simultaneous players
• Several game modes for with single and team approach

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0027426X6
• Item Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: July 28, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,652 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #37 in Video Games > PC Games > Simulation > Life

Product Description

In East India Company, players will enjoy building the World's most powerful trading empire and engaging in fierce battles in both single player and multiplayer modes, all within a breathtaking cinematic environment. Players will fight, manage and rule their trading empires from Europe to the Far East with eight nationalities to choose from: British, Dutch, French, Danish, Portuguese, Swedish, Italian or Spanish. Starting modestly, you will build your fleet, establish connections to far away countries, and keep rival nations at bay. Choose from a wide array of ship classes, including a variety of transport and military vessels. Create diverse fleets and assign each of them specific trading routes. Control and upgrade well situated ports as you form your strategy for domination. Conflicts and wars are inevitable. When hostile fleets engage each other, the spectacular naval battles are fought on a real-time tactical level. Devastating broadsides are fired with a deafening roar and cannon balls tear through enemy ships and their crew. For greater tactical depth, you can, at any point, take direct command of any of your ships and feel the battle close up!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars EIC is no Sid Meier's Pirates..., August 3, 2009

By 

James A. Pappas Jr. "jaypappas" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: East India Company (DVD-ROM)

Well, I was excited for a summer pirate game, I loved the Pirates! series and even dabbled with the pirate MMO that's out there, but as much as I love the genre this game just misses the mark:

Pros: Pretty ship models, multiple ship fleet battles, strategic map and tactical combat for the best of both worlds, and a long campaign through the Age of Sail (1600-1750).

Cons:

Limited map (It's really just coastal Africa, Middle-East and India, and while the game styles itself a "sandbox" experience, you essentially just go back and forth between your home port and a few trade ports, in a very narrow strip of water and no sailing off the borders)

Poor UI: Lots of drag-and-drop, annoying battle camera mishaps and the feeling that nothing is quite as ergonomically designed as it could be (dragging and dropping 20 stacks of trade units every minute or so really wears you out, and the auto-trade system crushes your economy)

Titchy "economy": One big shipment of silk/spice/etc will destroy your market for that product for decades, so you have to micromanage your sales, making the game more tedious than it needs to be.

No replay value: While you can play as any one of the major powers (England, France, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Holy Roman Empire) there is virtually no difference between them besides their start position. No one has their own unique units, missions or objectives, which I just find astonishing.

Port conquest: Just a random coin-toss; Load up enough marines on your ships and if you win the hidden random roll, you win. That was very disappointing for someone who was hoping for at least a Pirates!-style avatar combat to decide such things.

Bottom line: Give it a pass, even at a very cheap price East India Company will annoy you more than it will entertain.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Game, October 1, 2009

By 

Brian Kendenthal (Coconut Creek, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: East India Company (DVD-ROM)

This is a well conceived and well developed game that is a challenge and great fun to play. I had no problems loading the game or playing it on my Dell Inspiron 1520 laptop running Vista. The annoying port loading times that people comment about can be eliminated by switching from 3D mode to 2D mode with no loss in play value. The price of main trading items in your home port will be significantly affected by trade volume, but the decline in price can be countered by building upgrades to your trading posts in foreign ports. There is no need to micromanage. The automated trading system will optimize your trading profits on each voyage. The game has great replay value if you use a little imagination. You can develop different strategies to win, and by playing different countries you will see that the geographical position of your home port can have have a significant impact on your trade income. Naval battles on the tactical map are easy to handle and interesting to watch as your ships maneuver to fire their cannon. The grand campaign runs from 1600 to 1750, but with a well conceived strategy you should be able to win the game by 1675 even at the hard level. Give it a try.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a Great game, September 4, 2009

By 

J. White "Gawaine" (Manch NH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: East India Company (DVD-ROM)

Hello fellow gamers. Well I read the reviews and looked at the homepage for East India Company. I bought Port Royal 2 a year ago at the bargin basement section of Best Buy. THAT was by far the best 7 dollars I have ever spent on a game. So when i saw this game I was very interested. I also own TOtal war Empires and let me tell ya the navel battels in this game are better then the navel battles in TW-empire.The trade is ok but could have been alot better, needs to be a little more indepth. The graphics are awsome and when you consider the game uses direct x 9.0c it's even more inpressive.I have heard people bitching about the load time for ports ect in the game. I havent found any problems with the load times at all.My comp isnt a new insaine gamming machine either. I am running a e8400@3.26 ghz windows vista 64 8 gigs mushkin ram 1 asus9600 gt with 512 ram. It's like 3+ yrs old I think. So if you are looking for a kick butt fps this game isnt for you:)If you are looking for a good game that requires some thought has good graphics and an open ended campain and hours and hours of gameplay this game is for you specaily if you have a taste for anything nautical:)O and also this game is modable..whast that mean you ask???It means that players can make content for the game that outher players can download and use.So if your on the fence take the plunge and buy the game:P