The ADDICTION is back! Civ III will ruin your life.
Written: Nov 26 '01 (Updated Jan 10 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: detailed strategy, good AI, many ways to win, many ways to lose
Cons: release version has a few bugs needing a patch.
The Bottom Line: This game is a must have. Kiss your life good bye!
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| Dearmad's Full Review: Civilization Call to Power |
Civilization has got to be one of the 3 games dearest to my heart. Along with Xcom and the Twinsen adventures (don't ask if you don't know) it seems to me to be the game with the sincerest heart, and the best designed and by far most addictive gameplay. If it weren't for the sequel, Civ2, I wouldn't have changed my OS to Win95- at the time the ability to run Civ2 was the only redeeming aspect of win95 for me... it's that serious for me.
I'll upgrade for it
Had Civilization 3 made any system demands on me, I would have complied- faster CPU? Ok, I'll get one... more memory or HD space? Ok, here's the money. In my opinion, Civ3 lives up to its bloodline. It is everything the former Civ games were and more.
Polish
While Civ3 has a few bugs and details that I think need to be fixed (see below) this game was clearly released only after some thorough playing and testing. It is SUCH a pleasure to have a game come out and not really need a patch except to make it even better. Well, Ok, there is ONE bug... (see below) Now although I have a pretty nice rig, had Civ3 made strong demands to up any of my hardware, I would have complied, and so should you- this game is just too much fun to be legal!
The Game
The basic premise of the game is that you rule a civilization from 4000BC to 2050AD, and what a fun ride it is! Beginning with Hoplites and Archers, you'll end up with Tactical Nukes, Stealth Fighters, and Cruise Missiles... Almost anyone playing computer games today knows about Civ, so I won't go into any more detail than that on this part.
What's NEW
Beginning with knowing where the horses are in your continent, to discovering hidden caches of uranium, you'll need to strategically locate resources and actually make use of them to build units/infrastructure and to trade. This new detail alone has totally changed the way you'll play Civ3- you will start aggressive wars over the location of rubber in a worthless jungle, you will have wars declared against you because you have the only decent source of Saltpeter on the map. You will discover that owning a monopoly on luxuries such as Ivory, Fur, Spices or Incense is a POWERFUL weapon that you can use to shape other nations, taking away theuir ability to please their own citizens or granting it for a hefty price... TRADE has become very important in this game and it is a BLAST! It adds so much fun! When your sole source of Iron runs out halfway through the industrial age and your railroad lines aren't completely built, believe me- you will find out how resources have shaped nations and how the land has ruled over the rulers at time.
Diplomacy
Diplomacy, to put it simply, ROCKS this time around- you can contact rulers a lot without infuriating them, and believe me, you will need to. Nursing a strategic alliance along with bribes/luxuries is really rewarding when it successfully defends you against a superior aggressor. As an example, about 1100AD the Zulu began demanding gold and maps from me about every 10 turns or so- seeing where that would lead to (they were stronger than me) I began spending every resource I had in developing relations with the other civs and eventually signing mutual protection pacts, so that in 1750 when the Zulu came knocking on my door for another free handout, I said no- they declared war, an alliance much like that which precipitated WWI broke into action. Within 50 years the Zulu had gone from a Republic into Communism into Anarchy... such a pleasure. As the pacts expired I renegotiated out of them and eventually sued for peace with the Zulu- it was all, while complex in setting up, very simply to manage. The foreign leaders react fairly reasonably. It almost feels like you might not be playing alone.
The AI
At last the AI has been improved to the point that it is a challenge to play against the computer on equal terms. I have seen the AI FINALLY use AIRCRAFT CARRIERS!!! For you Civ fans out there you know what this mean... I have also watched the AI land impressive beachheads that march inland and rip up the landscape. It's all very coordinated (down to the same turn!) and a HECK of a lot of FUN to experience! The AI also understands about what size force it needs before it will present itself in the field to you. It knows this to such a degree that it will use DIVERSIONARY tactics to really screw you over- launching what looks like a serious attack at your southern border and the next turn three Galleons show up on your northern coast and unload a force that is guarenteed to take out a few of your towns, especially since you already diverted most of your army south. AGH! What fun!
The AI will honor your borders this time around. It also seems to understand the true value of resources and technology- getting you hooked on importing Spice (for example) pretty cheaply the first 200 years, and then when the agreement comes up for renegotiation... -ahem- making demands *almost* unreasonable upon you, but not quite, so that he's milking your nation for all its worth... Something you'll soon learn to do or you'll succumb to the dust of history....
The AI will expand appropriately to the map this time too- no more empty continents in the year 1800AD- most likely the AI will have beaten you to it! So hop to!
Replays!
It's a small detail, but those of you original Civ fans still out there will love this: the replay at the end of a game is back in! Yeah! Only thing I miss about it is the report of when technologies were first developed- but otherwise it's just like the original one!
Interface:
The interface is near flawless! I will say only this about it: the one improvement it needs is to do away with the double clicking needed on choice buttons. One-click please. Other than that, this is the best interface a Civ-type game has ever seen.
Graphics:
Much improved. It looks like little miniature animated game pieces running around and really adds to the flavor of the game! The most strangely satisfying detail to me has been when you fortify a unit- they take up a defensive pose with a usually *very* satisfying sound- such as clicking their flintlocks if they're musketeers, to growling if they're warriors... very cool. The graphics are just right for the game and really, really suit the mood very well. The animated leaders in diplomatic moments are not overdone and add just enough "life" to them to up the feel. Little radars rotate on destroyers, and theirs muzzle flash on tank attacks and battleships reel massively when they broadside your beachheads, your paratrooper's chute flaps open and he lands with a satisfying thud. All excellent! Only disappointment- the nuke explosion is not all it should be- I mean c'mon, when we execute an atrocity of such scope against humanity, give us at least a serious mushroom cloud! But no, that was lacking this time...
What I'd still like to see: (and bugs)
Having said all this positive stuff, here's what I'd like to see added/fixed when the patch comes out late November that I can't already do for myself by editing the game: The editor needs a bugfix that makes it possible to choose which tech to research from the science advisor screen- you need to chose from pop-up menu in the game which is annoying. Editor needs a mini-map display to make mapmaking easier.
One bug that NEEDS to be fixed: Your SAM's and air defense fighters are broken- enemy bombers are invulnerable.
Sorry, other than that, I love this game. I'm also done with this review, because I have a game to get back to! Sheesh- I need to renegotiate that trade agreement with Queen Elizabeth in 5 turns. After all, I'm the man when it comes to Ivory and Fur- ain't no source in the world but me. I love strapping that red head over barrel!
Oh, my gfx card is an GF GTS w/32MB of ram- and I'm not experiencing the scroll slowdown bug that some people report with nvidia cards...
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Dearmad
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Location: Portland, OR
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 6 members
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