User Reviews (1 - 11 of 44)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Addictive but slow

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 24, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is a great and addicting version of the PC classic. However, in later stages of the game things really slow down while you wait endlessly for the Playstation to crunch through your and your AI opponents' decisions. Nonetheless, I can't stop playing this game.

nm

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 03, 1999
Author: Amazon User

;p

Not like any other game on the playstation!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 08, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Civilization II is not for everybody. Those who live for the shoot-em-ups and 3-D fighting genre games should stay away from this one! However, for the rest of us, this game is a must buy! There is no ther game like it on the Playstation! Running a city from 4000 BC to 2020 AD is no easy task. At first, the game seems unmanageable. The instruction book is large and written in tiny print. It comes with a "helpful" poster that looks more like a high-school Physics flow chart or something. There are so many menus and options once you play the game it seems overwhelming. Don't be discouraged! This is an on-the-job-training type game. Load it and just start playing and learn by trial and error. I played for 4 or 5 hours before I really began to feel like I had a handle on things. (Hint: make sure you irriagate and build roads near your cities as soon as you can!) The game flow is decent but does get long as the game progresses. The advisor function is helpful at first but gets repetitive quickly. The Beginner Tutorial is a must for your first game; it slows things down a bit but you'll learn alot from this feature! You can choose to run your society as a Despotism or you can have a Democracy (or 6 other forms of government!). You can tax your citizens heads off and give them plenty of luxuries or tax them heavily and build a powerful and mean army. You can build great Wonders of the World or concentrate more on scientific discoveries. You would be amazed how engrossing this gets! Coupled with trying to stave off barbaric hoards, going to war with other societies and trying to keep the peace with your allies, you will lose plenty of sleep! Nothing is perfect however, and this game does have some flaws. As the game progresses, the map will become cluttered and it will be hard to distinguish between units. Some of the wording on the menus is a little fuzzy and hard to read at times. Also, there are so many options in this game, sometimes it seems overwhelming and you wish the game would take control of SOMETHING! The background music also tends to get old quick. These drawbacks, however, are easily overlooked and do not detract form the gameplay. This is a title unlike any other for this system. It will keep you engrossed for hours and days and, unlike many titles, will keep you THINKING! This is a must buy for any serious gamer!

Killer strategy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 10, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is the best game I've ever played. Unfortunately, I'm used to playing it on the PC, and Playstation versions seldom compare in scope. Still, Civilization is a lesson in history that will lose you in a world entirely dictated by the economic phrase "opportunity cost". It's amazing in its intricacy, and the possibilities appear endless. I actually feel as though I am learning every time I restart the game and lead another civilization through the ages. It's a must own for anyone who has grown tired of the fast-paced arcade style games that have made the Playstation famous.

this is an excellent game!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 03, 1999
Author: Amazon User

this game is awesome!! It has pretty good graphics and is very fun!! you can make a entire planet of little people!! you can build normal cities, underwater cities, and space cities. It is very fun!!

An extraordinary Civilization-building experience!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: November 10, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This game works at SO MANY LEVELS! You start out with a stone age tribe and attempt to move them into the 20th century. There are a LOT of problems along the way, the biggest being the presence of OTHER civilizations, controlled by the computer. You've got to concentrate on a variety of areas, among them your civilization's technical prowess, military strength, expansion of cities, and diplomatic skill. Too much attention to technical growth could leave you militarily weak, but concentration on armies weakens your efforts to advance scientifically, and that could lead to your have a huge army of spearmen facing an enemy armed with tanks! It's very tough to maintain that perfect balance! Making numerous alliances with other civilizations is a good idea, but they can often be pushy in demanding you share your scientific advances, and that, too, can lessen your chances to maintain superiority in the crucial areas of this game!

The really fun thing about Civilization II is that you don't HAVE to fight anybody if you don't want to. The victory conditions can either be MILITARY (conquer everybody) or SCIENTIFIC (be the first civilization to launch a space mission to Alpha-Centari), so you have the option of either being a military genius/tyrant or world diplomat! A very challenging & enjoyable game!

Bad translation from computer version

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 10, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I played the computer game on a friends computer and thought it would be as good on the PSX. WRONG! This game was a terrible translation. The graphics are bad. The speed is terrible. But it is strangly addictive.

Fun But Gets Boring

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: November 11, 1999
Author: Amazon User

The game is great from the start, but has short-lived replay fun. The characters that you interact with (your advisors) are fun to see and listen to, especially the Elvis character. It is also fun to see how they evolve over the years. But game play is slow between years and can even put you to sleep at times. The graphics are not all that great either. But if you are a fan of Civilization you will enjoy this version (at least for a little while.)

Great game---if you've got the time.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 23 / 25
Date: November 20, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Civ II is undoubtedly one of the best games on the market for the Playstation. It's fantabulistic for any one who really digs on strategy games...my advice to you crazy couch dicatators is to run, not walk, to buy this game. The only reason I give this game a 4 star rating instead of five is it's loading time. We all know the Playstation takes a long time to load anyway, but this game takes a REALLY long time. Especially on the large map mode against 5 other civilizations. In the time it takes the game to set up between your turns you can run to the store, make lasagna, call that friend you haven't talked to in four years, and catch up on all of the work you've been procrastinating. However, this did not turn me off to the game. What ends up happening is that you spend 12 hours at the time playing it. It envelopes your life in it's addictive clutches. You find yourself saying: "Sorry, honey, can't make it to that movie, I've got to help the Babylonians take down the Egyptians!" or "Can't make it to work today, sir, I've just developed Gunpowder and the Cathaginians are willing to go to war for the secret!" or "No, sweetie, I'm not going to class today, negotiations with the American diplomat didn't go so well." So, if you ever have a week to blow, lock yourself in a room with some Cheez-Its and Coca-Cola and go to town (oh, and try to get in at least 2 hours of sleep a day...sleep deprivation does not a good dictator/monarch/prime minister/premier/president make.)

Its got its pros and cons

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: November 28, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I also played this game and found it to be probably the best of its kind. It is very in depth on all levels of your civilization. Economic, military, science, deplomacy. You have to have a good long term outlook on the placement of your cities and your empire in general. The game is somewhat interactive as it can tell what you are up to before hand. The only reason i gave it a 4 was because it is a very slow game and i literaly lost sleep over it. It does have a trance like effect on those who like this genre of gaming. It is very slow paced even on the easier levels of difficulty. I wont even try to play this game at diety level.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Next 

Actions