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Civ II: You against the world?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

(This review applies to the PC version.)

Let's be clear up front about one thing: this is an OLD game. By PC standards, it's geriatric. It's not going to show off the powers of your new ACME 3D EYE BLEEDER CARD or wow you with the way it exploits the quadrophonic features of your WIDGET EAR PUNCTURER 3000.

When the "Civ" license fragmented into "Test of Time" and "Call To Power", these both made (at least some) improvements on the graphics and sound (particularly CTP). So why do people (like me) keep Civ II on their hard drive after so many years? It's the game, baby.

It's a system of rules which is simple, elegant and addictive. It has a somewhat intuitive--and relatively large--technology tree. It feels right. It mostly works right. (Some of the AI is pathetic but I've yet to find a game where that isn't the case.) It's easy to learn but constantly challenging.

And the rules are =balanced=. Both CTP and TOT made changes to the rules that either made things murkier or threw the game way out of balance.

Did I mention that this is a =long= game? Even a short Civ game is long. Unbalanced rules in Civ mean that the last 12 hours you spent building your civilization went to waste because your opponent developed an uber-unit. It's no wonder some people were ready to burn their copies of CTP or TOT.

Civ II doesn't have that. If your civilization gets off the ground at all, you're going to be aware of most of the potential threats. You can throw it all away with carelessness, but not because the game put you in an impossible spot. You can lose ground due to a surprise, but you can regroup and counter.

And you can play it so many ways. You can be the conqueror, the scientist, the diplomat, et cetera.

In some ways, it's a fragile game, given how easily attempts to alter the rules have thrashed it. It remains to be seen if even Sid Meier (HimSelf) can improve on this formula with the upcoming Civilization III.

Now: You can get the regular or you can get the gold. The Gold adds improved multiplayer support and all the scenarios. For myself, I don't much care for the scenarios. And as the game progresses each turn takes increasing amounts of time: Maybe not ideal for multiplayer. (Some people dig it, though.) So you may want to save a buck or two and get the vanilla.

But you can't really go wrong with this game. If you like computer strategy games at all, this is a must-have.

Absolutely addicting and lots of fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This second Sid Meyer's game is absolutely one of the best computer games that has ever been made. I at first was completely dumbfounded by the whole nature of the game but gradually learned how it was done and now I absolutely love this game.

You start in the year 6000 B.C. as a single settler and found your capital city and then as you start building warriors (At the beginning of the game, your civilization is primitive and tribal), explore the continent and found new cities to expand your civilization's borders.

As the game goes on, settlers, military units will inevidently encounter individuals from other civilizations. Be very careful though because you may have no idea of the other civilizations are friendly, neutral, or hostile so be prepared for anything. After that, there are many options for forging alliances between civilizations and playing the game by dove politics or world domination and conquering the entire planet!! I once in fact did just that, conquer the entire planet on this game!

This game comes with 28 Wonder of The WOrld some of which aren't really all that much to write home about except to raise your city (cities) to the Top 5 list but others however will benifit your civilization for the rest of the game. Three architectural styles also are in this game as well. My favorite style is the old fashioned Medievel castles(Pre-industrialization) styles especially when playing the VIkings, English, Spanish, or the Germans. I do love though the big cities by the end and are amazing to look at.

The graphics even if a bit crude by todays standards are really amazing even by 1996 standards. The music is mostly ho-hum in my opinion but at least you can run the game without the CD-ROM which is a big plus if you want to listen to a music CD while playing! The game runs quite well on my computer even if the computer is of an older model and I've never experienced any bugs while playing.

Watch your civilization evolve from a one-village tribe to a gargantuan military empire over the 'years' and have a swell time! For all we know, it would be useful if there was a magic trick that could transfigure one into a pocketwatch because once you start playing, you just might end up losing track of time and will be playing for hours on end.

Sid Meyers truly created a timeless game for all ages. A pity the third installment came nowhere close to this.

Don't But This Game!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Do yourself a favor and don't buy this game; otherwise, you will be playing it ALL THE TIME! The reviews which refer to this game as addictive are true. If you purchase this, consider yourself warned.

Nice attempt but misses the mark

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Civilization Call to Power has some nice new features that add to the Civilization series. However the documentation is poor and it strays from the series typical pieces. Its interface is nice in regards to grouping but it is too easy to send pieces off in the wrong direction. It is also ackward to view the protecting pieces for a given city without activating them. Once activated it takes two turns to fortify them again. The civilization advances, playing pieces are completely different and do not seem to be well thought out for game play. I have not completely given up on this one, but I am close. One very frustrating thing is that you must have the CD mounted in the computer for play! Save your money and give this one a pass.

OOO, AHHH, WOW!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I've read the customer reviews of this game, and maybe they have a point about needing a good processor, but with the computer we have, the game is absolutely awesome. It takes Civ games to a new level. This is an extremely time consuming game, so if you don't have a lot of extra time, don't play it. If you don't have a lot to do, though, the game is simply wonderful. It allows you to colonize space, create water cities, and create many new things previously unallowed by civ. games. Of the civ games I have so far, this is absolutely the best!!!!

A game that is less than the sum of its parts

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This version of Civ is a poor attempt to update those great earlier games, Civ and Civ 2. While GT took a lot of thought about what might be neat to add to the game, they put little thought into how these additions would affect game play and balance. I found the game interface difficult, the new additions unbalancing, and the entire game to be a frustrating experience. I give them an extra star for creativity, but while some parts are nice, this game is a failure on the whole.

Civilization II

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

While playing the utterly confusing at first game of civilization, I became slightly atrracted to it and noticing tiny flaws and betterings from the original version. Fr instance, they have created many new units and changed faces of land, added new civs etc. I found the game well worth the buy and the cheat menu extraordinary. I hope you enjoy this product as much as I. -CJK

The BEST game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: June 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is it! It is probably the best game I have ever played, its quick interface, its profound aspect, its wonderful details, it is simply a great game.

Far better than Civilization III!

Good, but not as good as Call to Power

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: April 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I was a little disappointed with this game after playing both it ans Civilization: Call to Power. CTP had a crisper feel to it and went further into the future. Still, I enjoyed it overall.

Really Challenging Game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: November 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I love the game it is very complete etc. The Multiplayer playing is awesome. The negotiations are very ADVANCED you can select everything. But the graphics are not so good they are just some drawings. That is the only problem, the Multimedia is pretty good when you build something it even shows you a little movie clip about how it really is! also you have your own High Council that debates with you etc. It is a really fun game over all!

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