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Interesting and fun, but pales in contrast to competition...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: February 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

...most notably "Rise of Nations". Which is why I wanted to briefly jump in and offer a quick piece of advice, if you're seriously considering buying this game, consider Rise of Nations first; it's more complex, less buggy, it has "real" multiplayer (that works excellent), and the graphics are considerably better.

Hope this was a help...

Best video game ever!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you liked the earlier versions of the Civilization series, you should love this one, too. It is nothing terribly new, but there are plenty of small additions that make this an absolutely wonderful update.

First of all, the graphics have been given a complete overhaul and look many times better than they used to. However, graphics are not the reason that people (well, me anyway) play this game. It is the completely addictive gameplay.

The addition that I found the most intriguing is that fact that there are now luxury and strategic resources that you MUST have in order to build certain units, make more people happy, build railrods, etc. You can get them by either having them within your territiory or by building colonies. This is an extremely welcome addition to the game, and extremely realistic. You now have an incentive to actually get luxuries and resources, unlike the earlier games.

Diplomacy options have also been expanded, with many new features.

The only quibbles I have with this game are that: 1) there is no "cheat" mode like in Civ2, 2) there is way too much pollution happening near the end of a game, 3) there aren't a huge amount of different civilizations to choose from, and 4) there is too much corruption, making colonization of another continent almost nonsensical if it weren't for the need for resource and luxury colonies.

But, really, this is my favorite video game ever, and I can't stop playing it. I highly recommend it.

Widowmaker

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

My wife has named this game "The Widowmaker" because of its extremely addicting nature. I recommend it unless you need 8 hours of sleep per night or have a job and small children.

A much more challenging "Civilization"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

There are only a few games I have stuck with to completion and Sid Meier is the only developer that has produced two of them - Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri. This is not a reflection on the quality of other fine titles such as Half-Life, Quake 2, Diablo 2, Red Alert or others (I did finish the original Quake and C&C though), it's just that I suffer from "Adult Deficiency Disorder" - there are so many new titles coming out that it's easy for me to put down what I'm currently playing. The failure of others to copy his formula stands as a testament to how addictive his games are. I, like many of you, was highly anticipating this new offering.

The graphics are up-to-date, and the game runs smooth. Unfortunately, it suffers from the now-common annoyance of dumping the entire game on your hard drive (well, technically it's "minimal" install will put 500MB on the drive but it's good enough to deserve 700MB of space.) I've only been playing this game a short while, but I'm writing this review to counter those who say this game is simply a cleaned-up version of Civ2. They couldn't be further from the mark.

One major difference in this new Civilization is the removal of the so-called "unit block", the tactic of placing units at various places on the map to block other units from passing by. I used to exploit this weakness frequently to keep other civilizations from entering my territory or other lands I was planning on settling in. Now units pass side by side without problem and even trespass on other lands quite frequently.

The AI has significantly improved in this game as well. I used to collect information and trade skills with every nation I had diplomatic relations with. Now it's much more difficult to trade freely. It's apparent I can no longer wheel and deal my way to greatness. Instead the computer opponents are much more demanding and I usually can't trade skills without getting the short end of the bargain. This will make winning the game thru economic domination much more difficult.

I was able to beat both Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri the first time around. Of course I made mistakes along the way and did things I would do differently had I played again, but for the most part I found the games challenging, but not difficult to beat. Already in two plays of this game at monarch level (second from easiest), I have had to retire early as I am getting my (...) whooped! The dynamics of this game have changed dramatically compared to the other two. My initial impression is success in this game is more dependent on a "land-grab" strategy. At least that's what the computer opponents seem to be doing.

I'll put up a more comprehensive review once I get further along in the game.

A Good Civ Installment, Could Be Better...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

So here's the scoop:

Civ II was my favorite game for a long time, I spent many hours from dusk until dawn craving that "one more turn" fix. So naturally when Civ III came out I had to give it a shot.

Civ III continues in the Turn-Based genre (which may or may not appeal to you as the case may be) and for the most part seems a worthy successor. The graphics are very good and the diplomacy and resources brings a pleasant change of strategy to the scene. I also like the national borders and culture changes (you have a change to assimilate an opponents city if your cultural output is greater than theirs in the borders of your civilizations).

This game is not without some flaws, though:

- Some imbalances still exist (the legendary Caveman beating the Tank)

- You no longer "control" Air Units: you can set up missions and patrols, but you don't get to move them as freely as you could in civ II or SMAC. I find this a bit disapointing to the overall experience. There were times I saw that pesky settler just out of range and wanted to send a plane on a suicide mission to take him out, but you can't do that with the Air units in this game.

Civ IV is out now, and it looks like they tooks some of the good elements of Civ III and SMAC and rolled them together (for the unenlightened, SMAC = Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri, which I feel is one of the best TBS games ever). However, it seems a resource hog (won't run well on my laptop), so I haven't had much playtime on it yet.

In short, Civ III is a more polished Civ II with some minor detractions. The game play is still fun and gets you addicted to "One More Turn!" moments. However, I must say I still feel SMAC is the best.

What I expected

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've always had a problem with these newer versions of past games, particularly those from Sid Meier and company. They take a game like SimCity or Civilization or any other popular old game, give it a number after it like 3000 or III or IV or what have you, then they release them again. And what do you really get when you get into the game? You get the exact same game, only with better graphics and one or two extra features. When I saw this game I thought it would probably be like that.

Well, I was right.

Civilization III is pretty much like Civilization II. The only difference is that the graphics are better, the CG diplomats look more polished. What surprised me getting into it though was that the gameplay felt different on several points.

First off, where was the updating of my units? I built Leonardo's Workshop, Newton's Academy, and other wonders yet my units all stayed the same. In fact much of the units are kept in existance, meaning you can still build longbowmen even as the option to build WWI-style infantry. Why? I also noticed there are fewer units to build. I kept musketeers for the longest of time, waiting for my Napoleonic rifleman, only to get the WWI infantryman after eons.

Also, like the reviewer before me pointed out, there are some serious balance issues with this game. Why are my WWI-style riflemen being defeated by ancient age spearmen? Although an incident where cavemen defeating tanks hasn't happened to me yet, I wouldn't put it past that those stories are true. In Civilization II if I had modern-era units against antique units from 1000 years ago, the result was as expected. I was also astounded by what cannons had become: pretty much worthless battlefield pieces. They don't act like normal combat units, you instead have to choose the "bombard" option and select what it bombards, which doesn't do much in the long run.

Plus, I want to know what decides the battle outcome in this game? Before I continue, let me give you a scenario:

A battlefield. A large unit of 1914-era riflemen are lined up in a ditch, well trained and armed with bolt-action repeater rifles aimed at the ready. Before them is an irrigated terrain; the ground is muddy, sodded, and unpredictable. Up ahead are Medieval knights clad in their heavy armor, charging forward into the mud. The riflemen open up at 1800 meters. Who do you think is gonna win?

Well, Civilization III seems to take out factors like terrain, weapons, and location - according to the game, the knights would win. I couldn't see any real advantage fighting on a hillside or fighting in a desert. There need to be serious tweaks regarding that.

On that note, there seem to be a few strange bugs. For example, one city kept producing swordsman no matter what I set it to. These weird things never happened in Civilization II.

Civilization III is a good replacemnt for Civlization II if only to replace the game with something that will run better on your modern computer. Then again, according to the Civilization III engine, a 1990 Macintosh could own a 2005 Windows XP.

Problems

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I can't say anything about gameplay because I cannot get that far. I get errors while setting up the game! Words are over-lapping and i can't read anything. Back to the store for a refund , I guess! Damn, i really wanted to play!

Hopefully the best game ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 30
Date: August 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Civ3 seems to be expanding the possibilities of previous Civ games. Diplomacy and trade will be in bigger role, characteristics of different races will be great new addition to the strategy. Hopefully it will support multiplaying in many ways, since the challenge against human is always more thrilling. Now when resources must be retained before you could build some unit. For example to build a legion unit you need iron. Perfect! I love the feature that there is no more caravan unit. Since they were quite boring to use (lot of moving). The fact that the units are supported by the whole civilization no more one city gives quite different view to this game. How it will affect my gameplay will be seen.

I just hope that the conquerroring strategy is not forgotten. Since in previous true Civ game(Civ2) there was lack of possibility to destroy opponents in the mid round. Since you had to develop Automobile and then you could try to attack your opponents. I enjoyed civ1 more just because of that.. I have always enjoyed my game most in the historical era.

I am drooling for this game, hopefully you will be also.

And for those Mac fans: There is discussion about importing this game to Mac. Somehow I believe it will happen, since I bet this game is the most hoped game in many years. Easy to learn but hard to master.

BTW Civ1 is still the best game ever made. (still playing it with my old pc (286), Freeciv has been quite good choise also and of course Civ2). Hopefully not very long :)

I Hate This Game, Nothing Works Here.........

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 11
Date: March 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I loved Alpha Centauri. I blew [money] on Civ3. This turkey crashes IMMEDIATELY upon performing the first move, every time. That's in spite of my 850 Mhz Pent 3 processor, SB Live 5.1 soundcard and GeForce 2MX video card. Not a driver issue, it's a bug-riddled, patch-addicted, no support...

I'll Make this short and sweet.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: June 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Get Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the true heir to Civ 2 instead.
It's a game which trumphs this one in all respects except the trivial ones(like graphics).

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