User Reviews (1 - 11 of 22)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Faulty product, horrible service

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 32
Date: August 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have ordered this game based on excellent reviews in many gaming journals. The game arrived quickly, was nicely packed and included 2 CDs, both of which were the same, CD 1 out of 2! In orther words, there must have been a game packadging mistake, and I got twice the first installation disk, and the second installation disk was missing. I tried to install it anyway, without success of course, because the CD number 2 was missing.

Frustrated, I registered on the site of the manufacturer, and tried to get some help, either to get a delivery of a replacement, or possibility to download the missing disk. The registration process was long and detailed, requiring to download software on my PC. Well,in the end I managed to send an email detailing my complaint. I have received an automated reply, giving me a link to typical issues with the game, offering no solution to my problem.

Since then, I have received about five junkmails from them, every time trying to sell me something, so I conclude that their assistance system is focussed on selling stuff to people, rather than helping them.

I still had not have a chance to try the game, even though I paid 60 dollars for it, spent 2 hours trying to install it and get help, and to add injury to an insult, my email is used now by one more junkmailer. Nothing but prolonged frustration.

Vista Users, Beware!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 37 / 73
Date: March 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Although the game is advertised as being compatible with Windows Vista, the game constantly hangs/crashes on my system. Furthermore, there are numerous sound issues in the game with Vista. Technical support has yet to respond to me. Seems like a good game on XP systems, but avoid like the plague if you have Vista!

Problem with game freezing with some graphics card

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 20
Date: June 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was able to play the game for a few rounds when it froze. There's a problem with the Nvidia Geforce Go 7900 GS equipped computers with Vista. There are on-line forums that outlines which graphics cards don't work with the game. Supposedly, there's a bug in the driver and they haven't fixed it so there's no way for me to play the game unless I buy a different graphics card equipped laptop or get a little smarter in finding a program to update the driver. Which I am a little hesitant because I don't want to download something that can destroy my computer. Unless you have a different graphics card. Don't buy the game. It's actually a great game but because of the horrible support for the driver for laymen like me, I would rather not have purchased the game.... All it does for me now is taunt me whenever I see the game box sitting on my shelf.

too many details

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 22
Date: September 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I used to play these type of games but this one is kind of boring - If there were ship captains that would be cool but it is too much micromanagement

Galactic Civilizations II Gold

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Previously described by other reviewers as "Civ 4 in space."
Yeah - an extremely slow version of seriously micromanaged Civ 4.

The economics and planetary build-ups are also not terribly realistic.
I did play it, however, and continue to do so - but I liked Civ 4 much more.

I would not say that it was a waste of money - I just expected something different.

From MOO2 to GalCiv2

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Wow, this thing is really like MOO2. It's a worthy effort with some cool twists, but over all I feel like it lacks the real punch that could've pushed it over the top. I've played 3 games so far and feel that the race relations haven't really evolved since the MOO2 and would've had a profound impact to the game.

Overall I find it fun to play, just lacks the WOW! factor. Maybe a GalCiv3?

Good, not as good as Master of Orion II, but mods can make it even better

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

My own love of the game Master of Orion II may have prejudiced my review here but I stand by it. MOO II when it was released was considered the best 4X sci fi game ever made, & retained that title for several years, despite that several other games attempted to take it. For years I haven't seen a better game, & was disappointed with the attempts to top MOO II.
So I finally see ads that GCII is the only real 4x sci fi game that can take the "spiritual" sequel from MOO II. (MOO III got harsh reviews. I loved that game at first, even wrote a rave review of it, but several serious flaws in the game became apparent only after several days of playing it).
Is it good? Yes? Does it have the MOO feel? Yes, but its still not as good as MOO II.
However with the available mods on the internet, especially the Star Trek mod, this game is better than MOO II--again only with the mods.
Since almost everyone here has written a rave review, I'm going to focus on the things I didn't like about it (& remember I enjoyed the game overall)
-combat system lacks some of the dynamics of MOO-no Trek like transporters-your troops can't beam onto enemy vessels & take them over.
-No capturing of enemy vessels possible
-no retro-engineering of captured technology is possible
-the diplomatic relations in the Dread Lords version is pretty flat. The Dark Avatar expansions has improvements over Dread Lords, making it better than MOO II but I expected more & better given that MOOII is years old!)
-several of the technologies don't have a cool factor: e.g. in MOOII, mass drivers had a bunch of cool things like armor piericng ability, rapid fire etc. In this game most of the weapons improvements only have a few points of extra damage, that's it. No other special features.
-a non-serious approach throughout the entire game: this can at times be funny, but nothing in the game seems serious. E.g. in MOO when you got a new tech, the scientists explains how the tech worked. I thought that was kinda cool. In this game the scientists makes some sarcastic comment like "lasers II are better than lasers I because I say so!"
-NO SPECIAL CHARACTERS!: MOOII allows you to assign special talented governors & officers in charge of ships & colonies. Wish this game had that. It would've been great to have been able to add in modded characters.

The game though is good overall, just not at good as MOOII. Here are some of the improvements over MOOII
-better graphics
-ability to MOD this game--allows you to make your own ship designs, & empires! MOO SHOULD'VE HAD THIS FEATURE!
-Thanks to the internet community, several have made excellent mods allowing one to play in several of the popular sci fi universes such as Trek or B5. The Trek mod in incredible & if I were rating this game based on the Trek mod I would've given this game 5 out of 5 stars.
-use of influence in being able to take over enemies instead of only being able to conquer them through might
-ability to win the game from technological understanding alone

Overall a good game & worth playing, just not as good as MOOII. With the available mods-this game really takes off.

Galactice civ

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: April 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Its a really fun game but would be better with multilayer. Id get the original game but i would not get the expansion like dark avatar and gold edition just not worth it with out online play.

Good, but not Great

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The Good: Hours of addictive empire building
The Bad: Weak AI and no multiplayer makes for little challenge beyond building the perfect empire

Let me start by giving you some context - I'm a Noble level player on Civ 4. I've been playing Civ-style games since the old Empire game on Macs and the original Civilization on PC, and I won't make any claim to have ever reached the upper difficulty levels. I get plenty of enjoyment out of the bottom half of the difficulty tree.

So when I start my review by passing along that I have yet to find a level of AI in this game that is a significant challenge, that should tell you something.

I purchased GC2 with all the expansions, including the recently released Twilight of the Arnor expansion. Overall, I have spent many hours playing the game, and thoroughly enjoyed building up empires and conquering the galaxy. It's good, classic, Civ-style fun.

That said, it has all the weaknesses of classic civ. An "infinite-city-sprawl" strategy still wins every time - grab more planets than the other civs and it's hard to lose. The AI doesn't seem to "think smarter" at higher levels, it just gets to cheat; e.g., you just get more penalties and they get more bonuses. The problem is, the AI is so poor that the cheats aren't really sufficient to overcome its weaknesses.

You can tell the designers were concerned about the lack of challenge from the AI because they have added "mega events," which tend to be game-breaking, random events. Having experienced most of them, I turned them off. The whole point the mega events appears to be to give you the human player something else to worry about besides the AI - whether it be ridiculously numerous fleets of super-teched pirates, the return of the super-advanced precursor race, or economy-crippling viruses... (In one case, one of the AI discovered a lost pre-cursor warship that was so advanced that the combined fleets of every race in the game probably could not have destroyed it. Completely at a loss as to what I could do, I offered the AI all of my techs in trade for his ship. Amazingly, he gave it to me. Needless to say, my invincible armada quickly wrapped up the game.) The problem with these events is that the AI is even *less* capable of dealing with them than you are. So the human player must spend endless turns returning things to the status quo, just so he or she can get back to conquering the now-even-more-pathetic AI civs.

These flaws are very disappointing, especially considering the advances that have been made in the genre in the last 17 years.

That said, there are things about the game to like.

If you like customization, it's here in spades. Not only can you customize the design and look of your ships, but you can name *everything* in the game; ships, planets, stars, starbases, etc. You can design your own civilization, including looks, names, and abilities.

The combat system is straightforward, with a good rock-paper-scissors feel. And there are plenty of ways to win that don't require planet-to-planet conquest.

There are plenty of avenues for empire building. Whether it's getting your planets up and running, crafting that perfect fleet, or cobbling together a network of starbases to enhance your economy or spread your cultural influence, you'll find lots to keep you wanting to take one more turn.

In the end, I've returned to playing on the tiny map - its makes for a faster paced, more challenging game, as there are less planets for you to gobble up to get an "ICS" advantage over the AI.

If you're looking for a decent civ-style game to keep you busy while you wait for the next offering from the genre, I'd recommend this game. Just don't expect the depth and challenge you get from a game like Civilization 4.

Finally, Vista Users - I don't know what the other reviewer's issues were, but I'm running the game on Vista and it works beautifully.

Fairly good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: July 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I first learned about this game through a magazine I subscribe to. I then wen tot the the game's web site and down loaded the demo version, after that I was hooked!

Review Page: 1 2 3 Next 

Actions