Civilization III (PS)

To many, the very idea of Sid Meier developing a sequel to Civilization – the game many consider to be the very pinnacle of PC gaming – was as blasphemous as Irvine Welsh writing The Bible 2: This Time It’s Really Ecumenical. But appear a sequel did and Civilization II drew scores of praise from pretty much the whole world. A second sequel, therefore, was as inevitable as the vitriolic derision that’ll be aimed at whatever poor sap wins ITV’s Pop Idols. And here it is (the game, I mean, not the vitriolic derision, although keep reading – you never know), Civilization III on the PC, and after a number of sleep-free days and ...  Read the complete review

The Civilisation series of games have been around for a very long time – the first was released by MicroProse all the way back in 1991. It was an absolute masterpiece in its time, and a sequel was inevitable. Civilisation II came out in 1996, again written by strategy game genius Sid Meier. And here’s where it got more complicated. Companies were bought and sold, people came and went, and in the end three different groups reckoned they had the rights to Civilisation. Following this, we saw the release of Civilisation II: Call To Power, Civilisation II: Test Of Time, and, from Sid Meier’s new company Firaxis, Alpha Centauri. Alpha Centauri moved away ...  Read the complete review

A bit low on inspiration right now, so it's time for an overlong game review. Sid Meier's Civilization (1990) was epic, a 'god game' where you had to build up a civilisation from scratch, starting with one city and eventually growing until you either conquered the entire world or colonised space. The 2-D graphics were fairly basic, but the game itself was unbelievably compelling and frighteningly addictive. A few years later we got Civilization II, which offered all kinds of small improvements, and was even better. After which we had to wait several years. Sid Meier went off to work on other projects. Eventually two new sequels appeared, each ...  Read the complete review

I'll own up to it now, I was hooked on the very first incarnation of Civilization. Back in the early 1990s I used to play it on my Commodore Amiga (without a hard-disk!) and it consumed a huge amount of my time. Civ2 was released a goodly amount of time later and it improved things. The graphics were much better, the sounds improved too and it even had video clips! Most importantly though, the game-play hadn't changed too much. Deep down it was still the same Civ that had eaten into my study time at college and made me "fashionably late" for social events. And so, several years (and numerous would-be sequels) Civ3 is released. Of course as soon ...  Read the complete review

For those who have never played any civ game before a will give a brief summation although the majority of the opinion assumes a basic knowelge of civ games and concentrates on the games new aspects. The game starts in 4000BC you are the leader of a civilation and start with a worker and seteler. With the seteler you build you first town. With this town you can build more units including more settelers with which you can build more towns. You towns as well as production (for building units and city improvements) also generate revenue which can be used for tax (money for the treasury) luxury (makes people happy) or science which improve your science and allows you to ...  Read the complete review