Fortunately for
Merchant Prince II, the gameplay isn't outdated, despite the fact that it's years old--it's basically a Windowsization of
Machiavelli The Prince, with a few additions but the same core engine. I never played that game, though, so I came to
Merchant Prince II without having known what came before. And what I found was an engrossing trade simulation with enough intrigue to keep it interesting, albeit with some interface flaws that really keep the game from shining.
First and foremost, Merchant Prince II is a trade simulator. You and up to three other opponents vie to trade with other cities during the Renaissance, starting from your home of Venice. By buying low and selling high, you can build a trade empire that overshadows the rest. Every city in the game has its own supplies and demands, which fluctuate as the game progresses, and keeping track of what's hot where is necessary for victory.
While you're tinkering with the trade engine, however, there's a lot more going on. You can (and generally must) also get involved in politics, doing such things as bribing Senators to your side and perhaps even becoming the Doge, the head of Venice. You can assassinate and slander your opponents, or even burn down their villas. And then there's the religious side of the game, which lets you purchase cardinals and perhaps even control the Pope. You can then excommunicate cities (which doesn't make much sense, at least the way it's implemented in the game, but whatever), raise the rate for indulgences, and so on. There are also events that occur in the game--the Plague hits, storms trash your boats, pirates try to steal your goods, and brigands assault your overland trade routes.
All of this combines for a very complex turn-based game. There's a lot to see and do in each turn, from exploring the world and finding places to trade to keeping yourself in power in the govenrment. Some cities won't trade with you, and you may have to take them by force with mercenaries. You may also become an officer of Venice, and have a stipend that you must use for a particular goal--expanding the road system, increasing the Fleet, and so on.
If this sounds fun, well, it is. There's a lot to see and do in Merchant Prince II, and the fact that the game is subtly different every time you play keeps it interesting. You can also do random scenarios, which build entirely new worlds for you to play on, and the game comes with a number of scenarios that you can attempt, from trading in the Orient to Marco Polo's overland routes.
The problems crop up when you really delve into the game, however. The interface gives you nowhere near enough information, and controlling your units is absolutely frustrating, especially since you have to constantly scroll the map to see what's going on. The aforementioned almost-useless minimap does nothing to help this. It's also hard to get the information that you need--setting up complex trade routes is much harder than it should be, and frustrating. The interface itself has a lot of issues as well, not letting you back out properly and so on.
The game also supports multiplayer games, whether you prefer hot-seat, play-by-eMail, or play over a network. The amount of time spent taking your turns may turn off most people, but Merchant Prince II supports a simultaneous-move mode that may keep people playing it. Unfortunately, multiplayer just doesn't quite work for a game with this amount of complexity, unless done through eMail.
