User Reviews (1 - 11 of 27)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

An excellent Sequel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 20
Date: January 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Being an absolute Civ. II maniac, I obviously approached Civ. III with a little bit of aprehension and fear that this latest sequel would not live up to its hype. I was wrong. Civ III successfully incorporates all the great elements of Civ II and adds on a whole new level of diplomacy, trade, strategy unparalelled in the gaming world. All in all, an excellent buy!

Good ideas. Poor execution

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 45 / 50
Date: February 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This sequel enhances both the good and the bad of Civ II. The graphics and sound are both far superior toCiv II, as would be expected. And the new concepts, suchas allowing cultural domination, diplomatic victory (taken from Alpha Centauri, no doubt) are good touches. Making trade a high level decision is, pehaps, ahistorical, in that rulers rarely became involved in the details of trade until AFTER a particular item was proven critical, but I won't quibble over this particular interpretation of economic history. New minor wonders, a few new inmprovements, all good. BUT......

There are several flaws that make the game frustrating to the point of being unplayable. The most significant is the rampant, uncontrollable corruption and waste in the cities. As with the earlier version, the further you are from the capital, the worse the corruption and waste. But this version takes this to an unworkable extreme. "Distant" cities on the same continent waste almost all product and steal almost all trade -- and forget cities off continent. The court and police improvements do next to nothing to stop it, even under Democracy. No historical society could have survived the levels of corruption and waste that regularly exist in the game.

Trade is another problem. It quickly becomes apparent that the AI will accept nothing less that 1/3 of your income in return for next to nothing. Don't even bother trying after you get into the A.D period.

Speaking of the AI! The A stands for artificial , NOT AMORAL. The cheating was often bad in Civ II, but it's stunningly disappointing in Civ III. AI Warriors consistently knocking off tanks!?! Yes low-tech may triumph occassionally in the real world, but not nearly as often as in Civ III.

The Mac version shipped without a terrain editor, but one has been promised by the MacSoft website. I hope it is as versitile as the Civ II editor, and that, unlike the Alpha Centauri editor, we'll be able to score the maps that are user made. The Alpha Centauri editor didn't allow this: I guess the developers thought too many users might be "cheating."

Which brings me to my last point. I get a very strong feeling that the makers of this game think there is a "right" way to enjoy the game. PLEASE! It's a game, a toy. Some days gamers want a challenge, on others we just want to kick (...). Given the quotes from Kant and Keirkegaard in Alpha Centauri, I wil assume that there are at least some philosphy readers on Meier's team, so I implore you to remember your semiotics. Linguistic utterances that are closed and allow few interpretations are like technical manuals, those that offer multiple interpretations are like poetry. Civ II was, for the most part, poetry. Civ III feels like a big, slow technical manual.

And how often do you re-read technical manuals?

No Multiplayer Support

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 9
Date: February 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The MacOS X port of this game is done pretty well. However, Civilization 3 is a lot like its predecessors in terms of gameplay. The main changes being improved user interface, graphics, and no multiplayer support. I subtracted 3 stars for going backwards.

Incompatible with older iBooks

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: March 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I played Civ 3 on a friend's PC and loved it so much I couldn't wait for the Mac version to come out. I still think that the game itself is great, but it turns out that if you have an older iBook, as I do (the clamshell style that came in different colors), you absolutely should not buy Civ 3 because you won't be able to play it on your computer. Old iBooks cannot even open the program because it requires a higher resolution than the computer can support (the max resolution an old iBook can support is 800x600 and the bare minimum resolution that the game requires is something like 1024x768). The box doesn't mention this resolution requirement. So I guess I'm reinstalling my copy of Civ 2 today. Pretty disappointing.

Great fun, but with two HUGE flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: March 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is, of course, an evolutionary step above Civilization II. It provides basically the same gameplay, but with the addition of nifty features like resource-dependent production, negotiable deals, and spheres of culutral influence. Also, the largest maps really are HUGE now, making it unlikely that you will ever reveal the whole thing without lots of map trades or the deployment of satellites. Lastly, the terrain generation algorithm has been refined to the point where the "random" geography finally resembles what you see in the real world, with distinguishable jungles, deserts, and mountain ranges.

However, there are two massive, glaring flaws here. First, the user interface and subsequent documentation is attrocious. Only the most basic commands are available on screen; everything else must be done through command keys, and those are given only in a tiny appendix in the back of the manual. Furthermore, there is no consistency in what is and is not clickable on any of the city or advisor screens. A real step back from Civ 2.

Second, the AI is a real jerk. In diplomacy, it often makes irrational demands, and in combat its units regularly win impossible battles. Also, I simply do not understand how the various AI nations can make these huge technological leaps and maintain these massive standing armies, all without doing any landscaping or building any improvements. In a word, the AI cheats, so plan accordingly.

(I used to have an additional paragraph here, describing how much of a dog the Mac port is. Slow and buggy. However, with the 1.21g patch, most of the outstanding performance issues have been resolved, so I've edited this review to remove the complaint and add a star.)

Great game, even better

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 20
Date: March 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As a game, Civilization 3 is a much more sophisticated game than its predecessors. Rather than trying to provide a detailed discussion and evaluation of each change, I'll just note that the most improvements have taken place in the real of diplomacy and economics. Specific changes worth noting include: much more sophisticated diplomatic interaction; three different categories of resources exist (bonus, luxury, and strategic), each with its own purpose; national boundaries (like exist in Alpha Centauri); national identity of citizens (i.e. if the French conquer a Chinese city, the population remains Chinese and may still have strong ties to the Chinese empire); trade routes/networks that are based on the existence of roads and navigable waterways rather than caravan units; historical resource discovery (i.e. you don't see where strategic iron resources are until you discover Iron Working; you don't see where oil sesources are until you discover Refining); etc. Also new-- and quite crucial to CIV3 is the idea of *culture*. Temples, libraries, cathedrals, universities and cultural wonders (like Shakespeare's Theatre) give 'culture' points to your civilization. If you have a high culture, cities from rival civilizations may voluntarily and peacefully choose to join your civilization.... or if you don't have a respectable culture, your cities might revolt and join another civ! It is also possible to win the game by having a 'cultural' victory, in addition to the traditional 'military conquest' and 'space race' victories. There are of course plenty of other changes I could mention, but hopefully this will be enough to show those familiar with the previous versions of the game that Civ3 is a major leap forward.

So much for CIV3 qua game-- let's talk about CIV3 qua software product. I've heard a lot of complaints from folks about how *slow* this game is on the Mac-- but I haven't seen this at all on my G3 (running 8.6) at all. Perhaps those folks who are complaining about long delays are running this on System X? Or maybe they're playing this on the *max* level, with a "huge" world (rather than the normal standard size one) and with all 16 possible civilizations at play (rather than just the normal 7)? I just haven't seen any problems like this at all. Complaints about the relative unhelpfulness of the manual and of certain aspects of the user interface, however, are dead on. The manual is awkwardly written with crucial information hidden away in appendices. The online 'Civilpedia' is a much more reliable guide than the manual... although even it falls short in some ways. Some things, like the establishment of embassies and the conduct of espionage require very specific-- and rather unusual user actions to activate... and it's almost impossible to figure out how to do them etiher from the manual or the civilpedia. (Thank goodness for fan sites telling how to do these things!)

One other thing I should mention is the extraordinary degree to which this game is really being *supported* on the Mac. The company is putting out regular patches to fine tune errors, and even to make minor revisions in the game due to fan suggestions. As a Mac gamer, I have to say I really appreciate that.

Anyway, all in all-- excellent game, if you like empire-building strategy cames that have both military and economic development to them (e.g. previous versions of Civ, Alpha Centauri, Masters of Orion). I don't know if this would appeal to folks, however, whose main gaming activity is to play first-person shooters like Quake and Doom. I'd give it a solid 5 as a game, although I was tempted to lower it to a 4 due to the weak manual and clunky user interface. But the game itself is so good, that I think it more than makes up for those problems-- so a solid 5 it is!

Really Disappointing

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 25 / 30
Date: April 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Civilization III in a word is simply a dissapointment. Measured on its own, its an OK game but compared against previous masterpieces like Civilization I, II, and Alpha Centauri, Civilization III pales in comparison. First off, the new graphics are quite impressive, however one cannot enjoy them because the game does not seem to be optimized at all for the Macintosh or PC. Whereas, the games' response in the three previous versions was snappy and quick, Civilization III plods along. Second, the AI is very poorly done. Though the whole diplomacy concept has been redone admirably, the AI is very one-dimensional and more often than not, a cheat. Alpha Centauri I believe had the most refined AI to date in a Sid Meier game. The AI of Civilization III is simply frustrating. I cannot tell you how annoying it is to have lost battles to units which are light-years behind in technology. That is, to lose a modern tank to a warrior or a phalanx unit. It happens too often. Third, the game seems to follow a trend now being set by software manufactures, especially those for the Mac OS. The game is incomplete and unfinished. One has to download two patches, PC users probably more, to correct major flaws in gameplay and stability. I really do not think it fair to pay on the order...for a beta-quality software product. Also, the editor does not ship with the Macintosh version. Also, the great elements of Civilization I, II, and Alpha Centauri were not incorporated into Civilization III. For example, the feature of Alpha Centauri whereby you had over 32,000 possible unit types was omitted from Civilization III. Definitely a step backwards. Also with Civilization II, it was, in practice, truly possible to win the game other than through war and conquest. Civilization III in practice forces you down one track. Expand feverishly, and conquer, conquer, conquer. Finally, my biggest qualm with the game is simply the replay factor. Civilization I, II, and Alpha Centauri kept me up for hours and sometimes days at end. This is especially dangerous for me as I am currently in college. Civilization III however does not do it for me. I have surprisingly played the game only 7 days and then put it back on the shelf. Civilization III's underlying concepts and ideas have enormous potential to provide an unprecedented challenge and yet still be addictively fun. The actual game itself however becomes boring due to either frustration or banality. I hope Civilization III is not a sign of things to come from Sid Meier.

Enjoyable as ever, just not as good as it could be

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: April 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've always njoyed Sid Meier's games, he produces a world with rules and an objective or objectives in the distant future and lets the user figure out how to get there. As a result the user is responsible fo plotting the course of his experience. This offers infinite replayablillity while the game itself rarely gets old. The Civilization franchise has been around for nearly a decade and has included some excellent titles so I was eager to grab up Civ 3, however after countless hours I've enjoyed the game tremendously but noticed a few nasty flaws.

First, the gameplay in Civ 3 is excellent, and the game adds a few new dimensions to the turn-based strategy game and they all work well. Improved borders, more detailed trade and better resource management come to mind. These improvements make the game more fun and realistic by centering combat and strategy around specific areas such as a key road junction or resource area. However these are simply minor improvements and do not make the game unique. However for some strange reason my Civ 3 games seem slower and more monotonous than previous efforts in other turn-based strategy games. I wouldn't call the game boring but it seems to require more patience than its predecessors.

The Civ 3 interface has been cleaned up and better designed, now you run the game from the keyboard rather than the complex system of menus in previous titles, however the interface, especially in the city screen feels too cluttered it is difficult to figure out exactly what everything is. I prefered the contextual menus of Alpha Centauri.

Civ 3 has good graphics, music, and sound effects which only add to the experience but be warned that most of the sound is disabled by a bug until you install a small upgrade from MacSoft. The Mac version also plays somewhat slower than its PC sibling but other than this the OS X version at least is solid and well ported.

My biggest problem with the game is the lack off multiplayer gaming suport. Sid Meier & co have had plenty of time and experience to make a fun multiplayer game but they simply don't seem to put any thought into it.

In the end I enjoy Civ 3 but it isn't one of my favorite games of all time and unlike past games such as, say Alpha Centauri or Escape Velocity It won't last the test of time.

It does not match up to its predecessors.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 25 / 29
Date: June 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Civilization III is a great game, very in depth and enjoyable. However, it is NOT a civilization sequel, by no means does the game continue the legacy of the undisputed best game series of all time.

To start off, the game is built for a windows interface, which makes the game simply a windows' game that runs in a Macintosh, even the instructions have commands that make use of the right click. This makes the Mac version user-unfriendly.

Furthermore, to mention a few flaws, the game lacks the details that had made the previous versions so enjoyable. Details such as the male/female civilization leaders, among others.

The game does not have a world map, something I personally enjoyed. I liked running the Spanish empire from the Iberian Peninsula, not from... wherever. Also, there is no longer a Spanish Civilization as well as many other loved civilizations from Civilization II.

Multiplayer games are not available, fact that simply put my copy into the closed closet.

There are many other things that are not to my liking, but I do not feel it is necessary for me to write a 1000 word review about them.

I have heard a Gold Edition is in progress, I can only hope that they make this version specifically for the Macintosh and that they use the game foundations from Civilization II, which are by far better.

In few words, Civilization III is a dissapointment.

thanks to civ iii, i no longer sleep!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: June 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Civ iii is a remarkable improvement to Civ ii. It is a smoother playing game, and the new and various ways of winning keeps it challenging and exciting. The fact that one no longer needs to be a vicious war loving maniac to win gives even a peace-nik such as myself hopes of a win. There are trade-offs, but all in all, it is a very satisfying and addictive game.

Review Page: 1 2 3 Next 

Actions