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didn't like it as much as Civilization

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Sometimes a game is good and doesn't need major rehauls -- Civilization is one of these and its updates and upgrades play on the original strengths of the game. I find that Call to Power is unnecessarily complicated and I really dislike the graphics -- they seem slow and kind of weird. As much as I realize that lawyers can affect things I find have legal units silly. Just give me the upgraded original and I'll be thrilled.

Still in the top 3 of all time games -- nothing like it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: November 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is one of my favorite games in the world, i am in my 20s and still play this game. it is so time consuming and fun that i go to sleep thinking of it after playing for hours. Sid Meier is a genius. i have a ps2 and play that as well but Alpha Centauri and Civilization are still the most fun.

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.

Highly addictive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: July 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I found this game a few years ago, and my seminary career almost suffered a mortal attack of neglect due to the addictive nature of this game.

I am on a Mac G3 at home, which is fairly fast, perfectly adequate for this game. The game itself is a fascinating look at and convolution of history. This game has an element of learning in it (which shouldn't discourage you from trying it -- it is pure fun despite the educational element!), in that one must become acquainted with a general stream of history, and in particular, the progress of human history charted through technological acquisition; this takes two peripherally related tracks, that of military technology acquisition, and of civilian or societal technology acquisition. One must keep a careful balance of these two in development to be able to grow as a civilisation and be able to defend oneself against competing civilisations.

The various civilisation types (Egyptian, Babylonian, Russian, Chinese, American, etc.) have particular outlooks (some are militarily aggressive, some are not so; some can be trusted in diplomacy, other cannot be), and particular aims. To grow as a civilisation, one must either take over other civilisations or maintain reasonable relationships with them to avoid conflict. However, like most of history up to this point, sooner or later there will be conflict.

As history develops, too, one gets more options in the way a government can be run. Choices run between anarchy and despotism, monarchy, republic, communist, democracy, or religious fundamentalism. Each of these governmental types have advantages and disadvantages (for instance, who can do dastardly deeds toward other nations, even allies, as a fundamentalist regime, with impunity because it is expected).

The real action consists in the military conflicts, which can be as simple as two chariots clashing in the desert to full air/sea/land invasions complete with nuclear weapons and stealth fighters. Defensive technologies develop at a somewhat slower pace than offensive technology, so it is important from a defensive standpoint to be well-funded in research. Technology becomes critically important here -- one tank could overrun an entire horse-centred city, and a few stealth fighters can wipe out an entire early-technology civilisation.

Civilisation also includes the opportunity to construct Wonders of the World, which include ancient, medieval, industrial, and modern wonders. These wonders add special aspects to the civilisation that holds them (for instance, the builders of the Pyramids can forego building granaries in their cities). The effects of the Wonders lessen over time, and if the cities in which the Wonders are built are captured, their benefits accrue to the conquering army. A Wonder destroyed is lost forever, much like the real Wonders of the World.

Exploration is important in the beginning phases of the game -- the player can opt for a known world (in the form or Europe, or the Pacific, or the entire Earth) or for a unknown world -- these are more fun, for one has to discover the contours of the land and navigate the seas much as early civilisations had to.

The two ways to win the game are to create technology to build a spaceship to take settlers to a planet near Alpha Centauri Prime (which then can yield scenarios in the next Civilisation-based game), or to take over the entire world by being the only remaining civilisation.

With the CD-ROM enhancement, sound effects and video clips that accompany major developments, this is a real treat, and very addictive. Beware, and be brave!

A nice idea but a horrible implementation

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: May 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

One of many branches of Civilization, this series is made by the company that bought the board game rights to the original Civilization.

Some added/new features to Civilization are sea and space development, separation of infrastructure and unit builds, expanded trade and trade routes and a much greater variety of items to build.

The addition of sea and space environments are a great idea. The original Civilization series sufferd from a "Y2K" problem in that once you reached present-day technology the game play sputtered to a halt. New environments greatly extend gameplay.

The different trade rules are a nice addition. Showing trade routes (and allowing piracy) make ocean forces more necessary. In the original Civilization you could pretty much ignore naval unit development. Not so in Call to Power. Piracy can shut down an empire.

However, the game has a couple of fatal flaws. First and most damaging is a bad AI implementation. It is ridiculously easy to win this game, even at more difficult settings. Secondly, there is no provision for obsoleting military units. I've had enemy musketmen "shoot down" my stealth bombers. (!) These flaws make the game unplayable.

My advice: don't waste your time with this series unless/until they correct the AI and obsolete military unit problems.

Civ 2 for the Mac is great!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a great strategy game. The graphics are sparse - more like an old-style board game where you move pieces rather than the snazzy 3d graphics we have come to expect (and that slow a game down). Civ 2 is an open-style game - there is no set path the game will take. You can try to peacefully build a society based upon trade, democracy, and commerce or you can devote your efforts towards military conquest. The choice is yours.

The AI is pretty good and game speed is fine. Try it!

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!

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.

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!!!!

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.

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