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Shameless marketing by the publisher!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 603 / 608
Date: December 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First off, Civilization III is a fantastic continuation of the 'Civilization' series of PC games which I've been playing since the first one hit the shelves back in 1991. However, I'm not here to give a review of this great game (there are plenty of reviews out there already) but rather to guide potential buyers for choosing which Civ3 version to get (or not get as the case may be).

The Civ3 games are as follows:

- Civilization 3 was originally released in 2001. It is the full, stand-alone game title.

- Civilization 3: Play the World was later released in 2002 as an add-on to the standard Civ3 game. It was generally considered buggy and incomplete and took a few patches to get it (almost) right.

- Civilization 3 Gold, released this year (2003), is essentially the original Civilization 3 game packaged with the "Play the World" add-on.

- Civilization 3: Conquests was also just released (2003) and is the latest add-on to the standard Civ3 game. IMPORTANT: the Conquests add-on includes EVERYTHING from the Play the World add-on plus adds a whole lot more goodies!! In a nutshell, Conquests fixes many of the problems with the PTW add-on and has a bunch of new stuff to boot.

So, my advice to anyone considering buying Civ3 Gold is thus: DON'T! Because you're better off buying the original Civ3 (which is extremely cheap now) with the Conquests add-on. It will cost you about the same for both anyway and you're essentially getting THREE Civ3 titles instead of only TWO.

I hope this helps save you a few bucks to spend on something else this holiday season. Enjoy!

Nice Game but Unnecessary Purchase

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 88 / 90
Date: February 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Civilization 3 Gold is really nothing more than the original Civilization 3 game packaged with the first expansion, Civilization: Play the World. While this may seem like a good deal, you can actually buy the second expansion in the Civilization series, Civilization: Conquests, which is included with the first expansion as well. So if you'd like an even better deal, buy a copy of the original Civilization game (which sells for a VERY cheap price new or used) and then buy the Civilization: Conquests expansion and you'll spend the same amount you would for the Gold Edition, get the expansion Civilization: Play the World as well as new content in Civilization: Conquests. If you'd like to know what the Gold Edition brings to the table, basically the purpose of the Play the World expansion was to enable multiplayer, a feature once originally promised in the original game. Atari probably realized it could make more money holding out multiplayer in an expensive expansion pack but if you never gave in to Atari's demands, now is your chance to try it. Multiplayer is a bit of a disappointment in Civilization. The online community isn't large and it's not the same thing as randomly joining a server in a first person shooter or other poppular online game because of the dedication required for long online games. One reason the community isn't that large is because when Play the World was first released it was a buggy disaster! The online game was full of lag no matter what game mode or connection speed you used. Some of the common problems have been fixed with patches but multiplayer has never been a great success with Civilization. Play the World even introduces a simultaneous turn mode which allows the game to speed up and imitates the mechanics of a real-time strategy game. Unfortunately, Civ 3 really isn't meant to be a real-time strategy game and it doesn't run as smoothly as a Rise of Nations or Warcraft game would. If you have a home LAN, that's probably the best way to play Civilization against others. The most successful method of play is still singleplayer, though, so I recommend you buy the Conquests expansion along with the original Civilization game like I mentioned above because that expansion does a better job adding more features for singleplayer but also comes included with the content in Play the World.

Good value, but...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 19 / 23
Date: August 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game is fantastic, it's fun educational (for you parents), and more fun!!!

With 24 civilazations you can play as, 4 time periods in which you have to discover many technologies, and city managment from deciding what kind of things to build to telling exactly what to build is great, and with the multi-player feature it's impossible to turn down! NOTE: First game i've ever seen where two people can play on the same computer!!!

Only one problem, if your planning to get conquests too, get the original game. all the extra features in this game are from the Play-the-world expansion pack and in conquests too.

Overall it's the best, just better for the wallet to get the original and conquests.

Civilization III - Three Times the Fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: November 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

OK - I admit it - I'm a "Sim" game addict. I've played previous versions of Civilization, and many other world building style games, and this one takes the current crown.

This game is a lot like its predecessors. You take the position of the leader of a great civilization and must build your nation into a true world power. From its tiny beginnings as a single village (Watch where you build your first city!) to a true world power, you are in control. You can discover new areas of the world, build your cities and infrastructure (like farming and mining to name two examples), and strike out to explore new areas of the world - all at the same time.

The new national leaders are much more interesting. Do you want to conquer and explore, or are you more interested in scientific approaches? Do you want to enter the space race or just stay on Terra Firma? Note that the computer controlled characters have the same goals as the ones you can choose at the beginning of the game. You can use this info to decide if you want to trade discoveries or fight.

The new unit hit point display allows you to see if your unit(s) are damaged, and by how much. I really appreciated this feature. The graphics are much improved over older editions. The other leaders seem much more intuitive and really give you a challenge, especially early in the game. Even if you want to discover and explore, you will, sooner or later, run into another nation that's more interested in killing you and taking what you've worked so long to build away from you. That's where things get interesting.

The Multiplayer supplement disc included not only allows you to challenge other players of Civilization III online, but has even more national leaders for you to choose from. This game is just about perfect. The added scenario editor allows you to not only change the conditions by which you win in existing scenarios, but allows you to create whole new worlds to share with other players so that they too can explore your creation and download other's creations and see if you can beat the scenario they designed.

BTW, there's a new add on pack that adds, believe it or not, even more world leaders to choose from, even more discoveries to make, and even more challenges for you to take on. Try looking for the "Conquest" expansion pack and really have the best of the best.

Of the World Building games, Civilization has long held the crown of leader of the pack. This great new version of the game regains that crown for Sid Meier. If you play games like Settlers, Pharaoh, Caesar III, Tropico, and older versions of Civilization, you owe it to yourself to check out this great new version. Highly recommended for "sim" fans, and recommended for anyone who wants to see what it would be like to own the world.

the best game of all time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 23
Date: October 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

OK, if your into a good solid stradegy games, Civilization 3 is for you. i wasent really into it until i started playing it however, because just looking at the screen shots makes it look boring, but belive me, its not! And now their puting out a gold addition, how cool is that?!?! So if you are looking for a game where you dont have to blow limbs off people or just making a village, collecting resources, and then finally destroying your enemy, GET civ. 3 gold addition. becasue your not just making a little village, your making dozens of citys, with road systems, wonderers and strategic resources. Its also always fun to lunch nukes, destroy the earth, and leave the planet waist land to start a new civilization some where else.

Wish I could give a 4.9

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 24
Date: December 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

There has never been a game like Civ III and this Gold Edition proves it. Civ III is so far advanced over Civ II that there is just no comparison. The additions in units, nations, advances, city structures and overall graphics is astounding. What is infuriating is the excessively long waits as one nears the end of the game. I have tried everything - don't show enemy moves, don't show automatic, etc. But nothing seems to work faster except perhaps a more powerful computer.

Awesome game. Just don't buy this Version!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Basically you can purchase the Conquests version for a little more money and it's the Gold edition with a few more features. Plus if you buy this version, you will NOT be able to play multi-player with others (most people) who have the Conquests edition.

Love the game, but I should have researched before buying.

The best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 27
Date: December 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

My friend just got this game for christmas andn I we played it at his house.we were on the computer for the whole afternoon. it is so cool!!! the object is to build cities and advance in tecnology, but also to conquer your enamies. it has great multiplayer levels, too. i haven't played the other civilization games, so i can't really compare them, but i don't see how anything could be better than this one.

Advanced your love for this game if you are a civ2 lover.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 14
Date: December 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The game is much more interesting then civilization II, added advance AI for your enjoyment, buy it if your a civilization fan. Be warn by me and the developers. It will ruin your life.

Fun and CHEAP!!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: August 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

but not as fun as 2nd Version but it is a great buy plus you get multiplayer!!

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