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Complete waste of time...almost.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 22 / 55
Date: November 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I tried this game when it was first released with many bugs and found it almost unplayable. Then I downloaded the patch and things worked fine, but it seemed that the game was biased against me.

So I sold that copy and forgot about this game until this version came out. I figured that after all this time and feedback they must have fixed this game or tweaked it a bit at least in the gameplay area, but I was wrong.

This time I played the game very well only to get to the modern age and find that the only pool of oil is halfway around the world and one of the other "superpowers" has it. The opponent then builds tanks, which I can't, and destroys me after I've wasted (oops, I mean invested) many hours of gameplay.

It seems that you either:

1. Become a complete fanatic and study the fan sites and discussion boards and learn the specific peculiarities of the various civs and wind up playing it for years. (In other words, put in the time required to complete a law degree at night but rather than a new career you've got civ geeks you can chat with.)

2. Realize after playing for so many hours that the whole soundtrack is playing and looping in your head that the game is still flawed. It could have been tweaked a bit just to make it reasonably winnable. (Like, maybe distribute resources something like they are in the real Earth, with oil in a number of different continents.) But, the people behind the game didn't, and they got your money again, and you sell the game used and recover most of your money before the next version of this game comes out -- which it now has with apparently lots of bugs -- so I'll wait a year or two until it's fixed and buy a used copy and try again.

And, you correctly guessed that I chose option 2.

So, it's a five star fun game that could have been great with a little more fine tuning, but ends up being an exercise in futility.

Improvement?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 26 / 69
Date: March 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you loved previous Civilizations, and would love to play the newer, more improved version, then please don't buy this game.

I have beat this collection on the Emperor difficulty level. (I play CIV II on Deity difficulty every time, and I always win) But I am not pleased with my accomplishment on the Emperor level of this game, especially when considering my experiences on the next highest difficulty level.

The most important thing to consider when buying this game is this: Do you want the game to be challenging strategically? Or do you want the game to be pure number of units vs. number of units?

I recently played a few games on the difficulty level above Emperor. I noticed a consistent streak of my units, when attacking computer units in the beginning era of the game, to suffer loss after loss, regardless of unit variables. The streak was so completely biased in favor of the AI, that I decided to check it, by reloading the game a few times, with the random, or should I say "random", seed retained. In the three tests I did, I had archers going against the spearman of their one city. In the three tests I undertook, I lost these many units: 7 archers in Test 1, 9 archers in Test 2, 9 archers in Test 3, before I won a SINGLE BATTLE, and furthermore, the AI had CLEAN SWEEPS of my attackers, measured by hitpoints, at a ratio of 8 to 1.

The Archer unit has an attack value of 2.
The Spearman unit has a defense value of 2.

I witnessed ridiculous streaks of 15-20 hitpoint battles won in a row by the AI.
I have rarely seen such streaks of success by my defenders, upon being attacked by the AI, when I had the HIGHER defense values, including "bonuses". I have NEVER witnessed such streaks when my units had the same defense values as the AI attacking units, INCLUDING the situations where I had defensive "bonuses", and all of my observations were on the difficulty levels of Emperor and below, which discounts the theory that what I have experienced was because of the higher "difficulty" level.

In other words, their defenders, on supposedly defense-free grasslands, in supposedly defense-free towns, without the defensive bonus of city walls, beat my attackers, in three separate reloads, 25 to 0, with me scoring a few hit points, and with their defenders clean-sweeping my attackers (the AI winning battles without losing a hitpoint), at a ration of 8 to 1, before I took out their FIRST defender, who had the same defense value as my attack value.

This game is a fraud.

The designers of the game, in response to several message boards, presenting similar studies as above, posted on the longest running Civilizations fan-sites that exist, such as Apolyton and CivFanatics, swear that the AI does not gain any battle advantage on any difficulty level, much less the higher ones.

Guess what?

Their lying.

Test if for yourself.
Waste whatever money you have on this collection, or the other previous incarnations of this game.

Go right ahead.

Should I buy this game?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For the Civ fans: definitely. CivIV has way too many annoying features and bugs in my opinion. That's why when my CivIII CD was crushed, I went again for the same version.

For the concerned parent: I love Civ. But I am way above my teens. The first "part" of the game is all about building cities, culture, doing research and keeping your population happy. At some point though (about after 1/3 to 1/2 of the game) your main occupation is fighting wars with your neighbours. Even the most determined player that wants to make a serious effort achieving only cultural victories will have to build weapons and fight a war or two. However, deaths are not graphic, there are no dead bodies lying around or blood splashed over the screen or anything disturbing. So if you are fine with the notion of war, then this is probably the best way for children you can have a war in a game. The game can be fully customised, but there are no parental locks that will force somebody go for the cultural victory rather than world domination. Over all, personally I would not be too concerned for people in their late teens; however, I do believe in the right of an informed parent.

I curse the day I ever got this game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The latest research suggests that video games can be psychologically addictive and Civ 3 is no exception. I have spent weeks at a time playing this game, and have had to wean myself away just so I can get anything done in the real world.

Civ3 complete is much better than just the original and is very low in price. Save your money by buying this rather than Civ4, I found Civ4 to be boring and over the top in options and possible methods for victory.

The complete version has plenty more wonders, tribes, governments and units in case you were starting to get bored with the original civ3.

In short, if you like strategy games, buy at your own peril.

Best game I've ever played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is so addictive that you should be prepared to give up hours of your day each day for time indefinite. I never get tired of this game. Like it much better than IV.

just a synopsis of the SCENERIO EDITOR only...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 17
Date: February 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Analogy: What Risk is to Axis and Allies, Civ3complete is to Empire Earth/Age of Empires, etc.

The following numbers are on a scale of five (stars)
Difficulty:5
Entertainment:4.5
Addictiveness:5+
Strategy:5
Historical accuracy:____up to you (opinion ommited for risk of bias)
sound effects:3 (some may be turned off)
customizability:3.5-4 (world map only acurate in scenario editor, which is limited in and of itself)

Good Choice for the Civ Fan

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I haven't yet tried Civ4 but I've loved Civ3 for years. I had a new computer and wanted to get up and running on Civ3 as soon as possible, and Civ3 Complete let me do that without having to worry about installing a lot of patches, etc.

If you have 40 or 50 hours to spare ....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

start playing this game!!! With the CIV 3 complete, i now get to see how much time i've spent playing (when you 'retire', it will tell you) - unbelievable how much time i spend on this game - but i just love it. For now i'm just playing a game w/ the regular huge map but i think its awesome that i can customize my map in so many ways - also there are some new leaders in the complete version - which makes it fun. i would highly recommened this game. Not too bad of a learning curve to get up and running - just start w/ the lowest level and work your way up. i've played for years and stil haven't been able to win a game at the hardest level.

Excellent!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is an awesome game. I love playing this at any level. Another reviewer said this was "not engaging"..was he playing the same game I've been playing? I doubt it. This game absolutely rocks. I was never confused or baffled not even on my first game (which of course I lost) It's a learning experience. It is after all a Strategy game. You develop skills. This is the best game I have ever played.

BEST PC GAME EVER!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: April 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing Civ 3 for 5+ years now, in a single player competitive mode. See [...]. For those reviewers that lost and thus gave this a low rating, shame on them. Give yourself a low rating.....this game can be played at sand lot or level 8 (Sid).....something for everyone. This game has been patched and the above website will raise your game and you can become the best player in the world at different levels of difficulty, map size and victory type. I know because I did. Be careful, it's addictive.........for a long game, you can spend 200+ hours; a short game, 10 minutes!!

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