Combat is pretty cool. At first I thought the grid was rather limiting, but after a while it didn't really bother me. You can choose to play a quick battle if you want. You tell the computer what units you have and what units the enemy has and just fight it out. The only real complaint I have about the gameplay is that the game always sends you to a boring screen where it tells you who is taking their turn.
Graphics are present.
Sound is also present. A game with good resource management that is a bit difficult getting started, but evens out as the game progresses. Exploration is well done in this game. Building towns can be frustrating at first, as it is hard to balance early resources with trade from Europe for resources you need. Also, trade options are limited, and dialogue with your home country isn't done very well.