The best strategy turns out to be making your move for freedom relatively late in a colonial empire that is no more than a few cities large. You aren’t the Thirteen Colonies declaring for liberty, you’re Rhode Island and Delaware sneaking off in the night.

Once you realize what is happening, you can sit down and enjoy a genuinely impressive update of a classic design. Each of the four imperial powers (England, France, the Netherlands and Spain) has two leaders, each of whom share one attribute – the English, for example, draw settlers faster – and have one that differs. This is a nice adaptation of the Civilization leader trait system, and one that carries over to the native tribes you encounter. Some of the indigenous peoples are better at training your colonists in special skills than others, so it pays to settle near a “mentor” civilization. If you have an aggressive streak, it’s worth knowing that the Inca and Aztecs pay out big when you conquer their cities.

Dealing with the natives is an important part of the game. Expanding into their territory can be costly; the price is either an exorbitant amount of gold or their annoyance. Too much annoyance can lead to war, usually at the most inconvenient time. If an unscrupulous European rival sells muskets to the native peoples, then you could be in for a hard time. It’s important to stay on the Indians’ good side because a prolonged conflict is a distraction from your primary objective. There can be rich rewards for pillaging, but strong alliances can also be useful if you need somebody to watch your frontier for enemies. It’s a balancing act.

There is no avoiding the fact that the game is hard. Strategy games have always demanded skill development and systems analysis, but this asks more of newcomers than most recent mainstream strategy titles. It asks you to balance raising money, recruiting civilians and soldiers, guns and butter in a way that may overwhelm dabblers. Once you get how the system works it becomes much easier – especially once you realize that it isn’t playing by the usual rules of expansion and extermination.

The game is captivating at any level. Some of this is nostalgia; though not a great game, the original had many innovative ideas. But part of it is that the tension between what you can do and what you need to do is deeper here than in many similar games. Grabbing the richest land could mean antagonizing the friendly Cherokee. Feelings of freedom will push your borders out but could displace a friendly village you need to train farmers on the cheap. Victory over the King is easier with a Great General, but that means fighting a war early and risking losing settlements altogether; your defenses are always too thin and your colonies too scattered.

Expansion or mod or sequel, Colonization should have a spot on any strategy gamer’s desk. Firaxis could do more to make things easier on newbies, but maybe there is a place in the market for a game that beats you down and forces you to learn? It should teach better than it does, but it certainly entertains.

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