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For those wondering which version to buy...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 35 / 59
Date: September 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was curious what the differences were, so I popped over to the official FAQ from Firaxis:

"Is Civ III: Play the World needed in order to play Civ III: Conquests?
No! You will not need Civilization III: Play the World in order to play Civilization III: Conquests since it will contain all content including: Civs, leaders, special units, and features from the Civilization III: Play the World™ expansion."

The FAQ also notes that Conquests contains full multiplayer support over the Internet.

Conclusion? The original Civ3 plus the Conquests expansion contains everything included here in 'Civilization III: Complete'. Buy these seperately on Amazon and save money over this package.

Civ 3 Conquests fixes many gameplay problems in earlier versions, and should have been the first to see the light of day. Rather than continue issuing 'expansions' Fireaxis should have fixed these issues before the first release. Is it fair to pay extra to fix an incomplete program? You decide.

TURN-BASED ANCIENT-WARE!!! BEWARE!!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 251
Date: October 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Before PCs had the horsepower to deliver a real gaming experience, turn-based games were a handicapped alternative.

Sure, it's more like a board game such as Risk. If you want THAT, play a board game with friends. This is frustrating, boring, and lacks everything modern gamers expect. Don't waste your money. Buy instead: Age of Mythology (Titans), Age of Empires II (Conquests), Warcraft III, or even the fun-ware Medieval Conquest, which is brand new, glorious 3D rendered, and only $20 bucks, or Sim City 4 for an alternative experience. In comparison, I wonder why anyone would finance a turn-based game nowadays.

Since it has gotten such rave reviews, I thought I would give Civ 3 a try, although I turned down the original Civilization for the same reason. Turn-based games are like 5.25 floppy disks. So yesterday, totally like Q-Bert or Pac-Man.

I installed Civ 3 one night, removed it the next. I'll either give it away, or throw it in the trash as money wasted.

Get with the times, Sid. Turn-based is like a *real* modern game in stop motion, with little interest. BORING!!!!

Very disappointed gamer. Beware!!!

Civilization III is finally Complete!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 114 / 123
Date: November 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Civilization III Complete is the entire set all in one thorough package.

Civilization III (called "Civ3" by most of its fans) is the best turn based sim game of its type available. So what if it's turn based? Real-Time Shooters (called RTS by their fans) often don't even give you a chance to think before someone sneaks up behind you, and you're a piece of burnt toast. That's no fun. A Turn Based game can give you a chance to review your options before making a decision.

Of the World Building games, Civilization 3 holds the crown of leader of the pack. If you play games like Settlers, Pharaoh, Caesar III, Tropico, or older versions of Civilization, you owe it to yourself to check out this great game.

If you don't yet own Civ3, this is the perfect present. It includes all three of the packages - the original Civ3, the "Play the World" edition which adds the multiplayer option (including online and even play-by-mail!), and the "Conquests" disc which adds new world leaders and many great scenarios. The option to install just one, just two or all three sets of data was a great touch.

But if you already have Civ3, it's probably cheaper to buy just the "Conquests" add-on disc because it also has the "Play the World" data in the same package.

Recommended for anyone who wants to see what it would be like to own the world. Highly recommended for "sim" fans.

Civilization 3 is a great game but it's not for everyone

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 36 / 38
Date: December 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Civilization 3 is a great game but it's not for everyone. It is akin to chess and Risk but much more complex than either.If developing a civilization from a single tribe to a modern superpower sounds like your cup of tea then you should already have this game. You manage all aspects of your chosen civilization: War, diplomacy, trade, etc... .This is a turn based game, slow paced and not action oriented. If your looking for great graphics this is not your game. I think an active imagination is essential to the enjoyment of this and maybe a fondness for history. Patience and much thought must be put into playing this and some people don't enjoy that for entertainment. Understandably I suppose.
Personally this is my favorite game ever. If I could only take one game with me into eternity this would be the one. The replay-ability on this game is phenomenal. I have been playing it regularly since it was first released. For me thats its greatest strength. In this age of jaded video gamers (including me) its truly something for a game to remain so intriguing no matter how many times you've played it. There is so much dept its staggering. However, most of that dept is below the surface and isn't really needed until you start playing on Emperor difficulty or above. After 3 years of playing this I am still learning new things.
One aspect of Civilization that you should be aware of is the modifications people have made for it online. This extends the replay value even more so. The Warhammer mod for this game is excellent. If you want a fantasy setting with elves and dragons etc.. The Rise and Rule mod makes this epic game all the more so by adding hundreds of new technologies and units. There are far to many good mods to address here. Seriously, the mods change Civilization 3 into different games practically. If you have Civilization and haven't taken advantage of the mods your missing out. They can be found at the best gaming community I've ever had the pleasure to lurk upon: The aptly named www.civfanatics.com. Along with strategies and game analysis.

The best stategy game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: January 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome. The whole series is. You can make your own maps to play on, there are so many new resources, and more civilizations to choose from. There are scenarios that are really cool too. You can play anywhere from ancient Mesopatamia to WWII in the Pacific. If you are looking for an awesome stategy game this one is for you!!!!!!!!!

They ruined it!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 20 / 37
Date: February 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I don't normally play video games, but I'm a huge fan of Civilization 3. Too huge in fact - it's a real problem for me. I find myself skipping meals when I play this game. Civilization 3 is my favorite of the Civilization series. I think the zone of controls concept is natural to the gameplay, and the ability to have cultural takeovers of other cities is fun. Some of the oddities and cheapness of the previous versions have been removed - it's not really possible to build every single wonder, for instance.

I hadn't played the game in a while, so I decided to get this complete package when I saw it at the store. However, the several years of updates have really hurt this game. The problems haven't been addressed - most notably, the diplomacy AI is terrible, and the endgame, with its emphasis on large amounts of indivisual military units, is so ridiculously slow that I can still only rarely make it through without quitting, frustrated. Instead, the main change is that resources are much more scarce. These recourses are essential to the progress of your game. However you have no way of knowing if you'll have, say, a coal resource somewhere in your map, until you've already been playing for 5 hours.

If the scarcity was a matter of instigating small military attacks on your neighbors, or heavy diplomacy, that would be fine. However, this weakness plays off the game's other weakenesses. Often the necessary resource will only be available halfway around the world. Launching a military attack is so ridiculously slow that it isn't worth the time even for the most addictive player (that being: me). And the diplomacy AI is so worthless that other empires won't trade their essential resources even when you throw ridiculous sums of money and technology at them.

Anyway, it's no fun to play for hours and hours before you find that your game is a lost cause due to the map you were given. Also, the expansion disks are (to my mind) worthless. So I'd strongly recommend just buying the earlier editions of Civilization 3, which are much cheaper.

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)

A great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: March 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This Game is really good. It has much more resource to gather and much more civilizations to choose from. It also has more modes. The expansions are nice too. This doesn't have too good graphics but it's OK. It is a little slow too. Tis is a realy GOOD GAME.

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.

disappointing at the least

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 77
Date: March 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

after all the reviews, i was looking forward to a good graphics game. i though i was back in the early 80's. i kept waiting for a space invader to pop out. premise is good, build and conquer, but thats where it stops. have been playing rome:total war and was looking for its equal or better. this ain't it.. not even close. also after playing railroad tycoon 3 vs locomotion, ill never buy another sid meier game. thought about buying pirates, ill stay with port royale. the 1 star rating is only because i had to put at least 1 in for the review. save your money.

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