Nonetheless, the game's excellent AI and addictive gameplay should be enough to make every strategy fan happy. Proponents of realism in historical games will certainly be annoyed at some "ahistorical" outcomes and the fact that Imperialism II presents many elements in the abstract.
Although the real-world setting may make the game more interesting to play, it also "bootstraps" the game - forcing it to deal with the perennial conflict between realism and playability. Similar to Imperialism, Imperialism II is a game of interdependencies between economic, diplimacy, and trade. Whichever strategy you pursue, you will need to build a strong economy, develop what resources you can, and trade for the rest on the world market. You might become a great conqueror, in the tradition of Cortez, or you can do business with the natives, and shield them from the other Great Powers. Your goal is to dominate Europe using the tools of conquest and diplomacy, and exploiting the riches and exotic resources of the New World. The game is set in real world history this time as opposed to a fictional period in the first game: specifically, you are one of the European Great Powers at the time of exploration and conquest of the New World. Imperialism II: Age of Exploration is an outstanding turn-based strategy game that expands on the premise set in its predecessor, Frog City/SSI's underrated Imperialism.