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Civilization 3 Review December 11, 2001 Terence 'Nemisis' Wong |
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Summary: The first time was the charm. In fact, so was the second. Now, Firaxis presents Civilization 3, designed by the original master of turn-based epic strategy, Sid Meier. But does he still have that magic touch? Gather your military, economic, and diplomatic units and find out here!
 Game Overview | Page:: ( 1 / 9 ) |
Publisher: Infogrames
Civilization III Official Page: www.civ3.com
Genesis 1:1
Before First-Person Shooters, Real-Time Strategy, Massively-Mulitplayer Online RPGs, e-mail, and the Internet, there was Sid Meier’s Civilization.
And it was good.
So good in fact, that Civilization was the standard to judge all other games by. Every time you played a game you’d have to ask yourself, “Is this as addictive as Civilization? Do I play this as much as Civilization? Do I spend every waking moment thinking about it like Civilization?” If a game even came close to being as good as Civ it was a great game.
As time went on, Civ started to show its age. New games were released, genres came and went. Civ was still a great game, but the new games were much sexier. Then Civilization II was released. How could they make arguably the best game ever made (at the time) better? Well, they did, and with flying colors. Civ II was everything Civ was with better graphics are more options. Instead of telling people, “You have to play Civilization,” you’d tell them, “You have to play Civilization II!”
Now that Civ III is out, there’s only one thing to say: “You have to play Civilization III.“
Note from the editor: Screenshots for detailed strategy games like Civ3 tend to be huge (in resolution and file size). We’ve resized all these images from an original setting of 1024x768 to 800x600, and lowered the quality of the jpeg compression to make the downloads bearable. If you’d like to see full-quality, full-sized shots for Civ3, please check out our Gallery page.
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The Brief
For the poor souls out there who have never played any of the Civilization games, I’ll describe the experience as briefly as possible: You are the supreme leader of a historical civilization, i.e. Cleopatra of the Egyptians. You start with a small group of people under your control, willing to build a city to start your empire. You can build more cities and improve them with civic buildings like Libraries and Churches. You can also build military units to fight other civilizations. As time passes you learn new technologies, from written language all the way up to genetics. To win the game you need to dominate the map through political or military power. You can alternatively build a spaceship and send it to Alpha Centauri for colonization.
Sounds simple, but Civilization is everything but. We’ll get into the gory details in a bit, let’s talk about the aesthetics first.
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SIDEBAR: Minimum
300 MHz CPU
32MB RAM
500MB Hard Disk Space
DirectX 8
FS Recommends
1 GHz CPU
1 GB! RAM
| Graphics and Sound | Page:: ( 2 / 9 ) |
A Massive Chessboard
The graphics in Civilization III have no bells or whistles, figuratively. You won’t find a bit of 3D accelerated, “let’s throw this in here to look hip,” junk that many developers add. Sid Meier and Firaxis know from experience that a good game doesn’t need fancy graphics if the gameplay is exceptional. This doesn’t mean that Civ III is ugly; quite the opposite in fact.
All of the graphics are high in detail. For example, you can see the belt and buckle on the hat of a Rifleman (think civil war era soldier). All of the units, buildings, and terrain have this level of detail. I can imagine an artist pushing pixels for hours on each image until it’s just right. It’s tough working on a small canvas, but Firaxis performs admirably.
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Initially the map doesn’t look like more than a pretty picture. As you play more and start analyzing what you’re looking at, you’ll realize that there is a ton of information right in front of you. For example, when you’re scouting areas to build a new city it is very important to choose proper terrain for the type of city you want to build (if you build a city surrounded only by plains, you can have a huge population, but very little production). You need to pick apart what the map tells you about the terrain – this is easy to do with Civ III’s graphics. The information is all there, and is so elegantly presented that it doesn’t get in the way of the aesthetics.
The only animations in the game are units moving, working, and fighting. All of these are functional as well as fun to watch. Workers have several tasks, each with its own animation so you can tell what a worker is doing without pulling up any menus. It’s also neat watching units fight – you can see Archers load their bows and fire, Spearmen stabbing their spears, Bombers fly bombing runs, and units falling apart when they lose. A far cry from the original Civilization where you would see two tiles bump into each other, with the loser vanishing.
One thing you should note is that Civilization III requires a lot of RAM for optimal performance. I upgraded from 256MB to 1GB of RAM (extravagant even only a year ago, but an investment of less than $75 nowadays) while I was playing this game, and it made a huge difference in the speed. Simple things like scrolling around the map and waiting for opponents’ turns to end were a lot faster. RAM is cheap nowadays, and playing Civ III is a good excuse to upgrade.
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Sound
Firaxis nailed the sound effects in Civ III. I like that every unit has its own set of sounds – an M1A1 tank doesn’t sound like a guy on a chariot. I can see many a game company cutting corners and using the same sound effect for several units, but Firaxis has its act together.
Music isn’t quite as good as the sound effects. It’s only there as background music to building an empire. It does change depending on which era you are in, so you’re not listening to the same three songs all of the time. The music doesn’t do anything for me in particular, but it’s nowhere near annoying either.
SIDEBAR: The original Civilization was released in 1991. For a game released over 10 years ago it really has stood the test of time.
| What’s New? | Page:: ( 3 / 9 ) |
Change is good
This section is on what’s significantly different from Civ II as compared to the other Civ games – it may not make sense if you’ve never played Civilization games before - feel free to skip to the next page if so. For everyone else let’s take a look at the major differences in the third installation of Sid Meier’s private Iliad.
Culture: Cities now have culture points based on cultural city improvements like Libraries, Temples, and Wonders. These points translate into a sphere of influence on the map (more culture, more influence). Add the influence of all your cities and you have your empire’s borders. This is easily my favorite addition to the Civ series. In previous Civ games you could only claim the area directly surrounding your cities. You had to setup military units in a line to create a border, but if you didn’t anyone could establish a city in the middle of your empire. Now in Civ III cultural borders are like a fence around your house – pesky neighbors can’t poke around where they’re not wanted.
Culture is also a good addition because it allows you to take over cities passively. That is, if one of your cities has high culture, neighboring foreign cities will be in awe of it. If the grass looks green enough on your side of the fence they’ll switch loyalties – with no military action on your part. This pays off spending cash on improving cities – you can actually expand your empire without lifting a finger.
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Resources: Want to build a knight on a horse? That’s hard to do if you don’t have a horse. In Civ III you now need to have access to a resource before you can build units that need it. This is a huge strategic change in the gameplay. Now as you build new cities and deal with other empires you need to balance resources found on the map. So even if you don’t like the nasty Romans, you may have to grease their palms if the only way to get horses is by trading with them. If a resource is just out of reach of a city, you can build a colony to harvest that resource, saving you from overlapping cities.
Trade:No more camels and no more trudging across a continent to setup a trade route. Personally, I never liked all the work involved with setting up trade in previous Civ games. Finding a city that produced a desired trade good, finding a city that wanted it, building a Caravan, and walking the caravan to the second city was way too much work. In Civ III you just need to make sure your capital city is connected to the capital city of the empire you with to trade with. Not just by roads, but through a network of roads, harbors, and even airports. Contact the leader you wish to trade with, shake hands, and you have a trade and a source of additional income.
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Leaders: The most significant change in combat is the Leader unit. When an elite unit wins a battle, there’s a chance that a Leader unit will be produced. This Leader can do two things, create an army and hurry production. Armies are vital in winning wars – they’re groups of units that attack together, with cumulative hitpoints and increased attack/defense. Hurrying production is another huge change – by sacrificing the leader, you can finish a building in any city in one turn, even Wonders. So if the Pyramids normally takes 200 turns to complete, a Leader could finish it in only one turn.
What does all this mean?
Compared to the previous Civ games, Civ III feels streamlined. Everything is easier to control since you can access the command options quickly. Long menus are replaced with command buttons and right-click menus. The game feels more focused since redundant units and options are gone. This also speeds up the game considerably. All together, Civ III is a spit-shined version of an already spectacular game.
SIDEBAR: Sid Meier’s Colonization is a lesser known Civilization-type game, but it’s just as good as the others. Instead of building a Civilization, you set out to colonize the Americas. Starting with a few pilgrims and supplies from a European country, you need to build colonies, deal with the Native Americans, and become the dominant power in the new world. Instead of researching technologies, you research great leaders of the new world like Ponce De’Leon who give your country bonuses. To win you declare independence from your host country, fight a huge war, and claim sovereignty.
| Gameplay | Page:: ( 4 / 9 ) |
Just one more turn…
The first thing you should know about playing Civilization III is that it is incredibly addicting. You can literally play this game for eight hours straight and not realize that the sun is rising. Eating and sleeping will be secondary to finishing one more turn. Why is this game so addictive? For the same reasons MMORPGs hook gamers -- the more you play, the stronger you get. There’s always something on the horizon that will make your Civilization stronger. A new city improvement will double your income, or a new technology will allow you to explore new lands, or you just need a few more turns to conquer an enemy. There’s never a break in the flow of the game, but it’s not like you’d want one anyway.
Managing your cities is the heart of Civilization III. This is also the most complicated portion of the game, due to the fact that everything else revolves around how well you manage your cities. You constantly need to balance between improving your cities, keeping your population happy, maintaining a strong military, and staying ahead of your rivals. City management is made easier with the excellent city management screen. There is a ton of information coming and going but the city management screen lays everything out clearly. Automating workers also eases the stress of managing cities, as workers will automatically upgrade the surrounding terrain to maximize the city’s output of food and capital. Governors are another help in managing cities. You can set the priorities for the governor, and he will manage a cities population and building queue for you. They’re not as useful in the early stages of the game when you only have a few cites, but when you get more than 30 cities the governors save you a lot of time.
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War and Peace
War in Civilization sets it apart from a simple simulation game. Much like a tech tree in an RTS game, Civ III’s tech tree allows you to build better units. The difference is that units progress through history, from the first horse-mounted rider to musketeers to stealth bombers. It’s rather funny watching a guy with a spear beat on a tank. You have a lot of options in fighting as well. As technology advances you can have massive naval battles, and even naval blockades. When you discover flight you can rain bombs on your enemies, and later smart bombs. Rocketry allows you to use cruise missles and even Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) loaded with nuclear warheads. Again, the numerous options add a lot to the fun of playing Civ III.
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Diplomacy in Civilization III is a tricky beast. Besides taking care of your own empire, you need to deal with everyone else on the planet. Trade, treaties, and sharing technologies all depend on how well you can wheel and deal with other leaders. Some leaders are xenophobic and demand a lot before they’ll deal with you, while others are there only to please. Be careful however, as all of them would love to screw you over and win the game themselves. Diplomacy also adds something that other simulation games (like SimCity or Rollercoaster Tycoon) don’t have, namely competitors that you need to interact with to win.
SIDEBAR: When you’re attacking a neighboring empire, bring a lot of Workers with you. As you attack and take over cities, build roads and railroads along your warpath. This way you can send damaged units to heal, and send fresh units to the front of the battle.
| More Gameplay | Page:: ( 5 / 9 ) |
You against the world
After numerous incarnations, the AI in Civilization III is something to behold. On the easiest levels the AI lets you play at your own pace and figure things out slowly. At the middle difficulty levels the AI will give you a run for your money, constantly pressuring you to keep up your technology and military. At the hardest levels the AI will hand your ass to you on a silver platter. The computer never breaks any rules either (although sometimes it feels like it does), it just plays the game with maximum efficiency. If you want to really learn how to play Civ III well, play against eight opponents on Prince difficulty – you’ll have to break your back every turn to win.
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There are 16 civilizations available to play in Civ III, less than Civ II and missing some notable Civilizations. You can no longer create your own civilization, nor can you name yourself. These changes may upset some, but I didn’t really mind because Firaxis added qualities (cultural and economic advantages) and civilization specific units. These unique units add a lot to the gameplay since they replace regular units. For example, the Zulu replace the Warrior unit with an Impi unit, a stronger version of the Warrior. This gives the Zulu a huge advantage at the beginning of the game since they can attack with superior units early on. This causes you to learn about the civilizations you’re playing against and adapt accordingly. This is good because it adds variety in the opponents you play against, as well as the civilization you choose to play. In other words: more replayability.
Civ III features multiple ways to win the game. Each way allows you to play the game in the style you prefer. If you like emphasizing technology and commerce, you can build a space ship destined to colonize Alpha Centauri. If you’re into conquest, you can win by destroying all other civilizations on the map. You can win politically after the United Nations Small Wonder is built if you can get yourself elected Secretary General. If you’re good at building up your cities, you can win by achieving such a high culture rating that even other leaders want to join your culture. Through a mix of culture and war, you can win by controlling two-thirds of the land on the globe. I really like multiple victories because it allows you to play Civ III the way you want to. If you don’t like dealing with other civilizations you can seal your self off from the rest of the world and still win scientifically or culturally. If you’re a good at schmoozing with the other leaders you can get yourself elected Secretary General. It’s all about how you want to play the game.
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Is there anything you don’t like?
That’s a tough question, and I really have to pull things out of the air to come up with some nit picking points, but here goes. There’s no multiplayer. I don’t think this is a big issue, mostly because I don’t like playing Civ games in multiplayer settings. Who has eight hours to kill with a group of friends - online? Not to mention it takes a long time to complete a turn, which could get boring very quickly. Maybe if an e-mail would work better, but even without multiplayer Civ III is an excellent game.
I can’t call Civilization III innovative either, but that’s mainly because it’s the third installment of a franchise. If this game came out today, with no prequels, it would still be just as good, but reviewers like me would stamp “innovative” (or whatever buzzword is going around these days) all over it. Alpha Centauri was innovative – it takes the Civilization concept but instead of starting as a tribe building an empire, you’re colonizing an alien planet. Technology starts with spaceflight and goes into the sci-fi realm of things man may discover one day. But to accuse Civilization of copying itself is like accusing John Woo of using too many slow motion gunshots – he came up with it, how can you knock him for using his own style?
SIDEBAR: In the early stages of the game you should expand, expand, and expand some more. The computer loves to build cities in the middle of your empire if there are any unclaimed squares. If you set a clear border you can politely ask their units to get the hell off your property.
Also, a large population is the key to winning. Since your cities can’t grow larger than 12 before you discover Medicine, you’ll need a lot of cities. Be careful about corruption however – the farther a city is from your Palace/Forbidden Palace the more corruption it will suffer.
| Why is this game so good? | Page:: ( 6 / 9 ) |
Reasons to play
Some games are so good that it’s hard to describe why you like them. Well, after playing the Civilization franchise for years I’ve come up with a few reasons:
Constant Rewards: Every turn you get some kind of reward. You win a battle, a city builds a new improvement, you learn new technology, you capture a city, etc. Each of these rewards open up new opportunities. For example, if a city builds a hospital, it can expand past a population rating of 12, which will increase the city’s productivity, income, and cultural influence. If you learn a new technology, you may be able to build a new type of unit, city improvement, or the general welfare of your empire will grow. This constant reward and opening of doors drive you to keep playing Civ III for hours on end.
What If? What would the world be like if the Persians came from Canada? What if Columbus discovered a new land with tanks, airplanes, and solar energy? What if man landed on the moon in the 18th century? Civilization III is also fun to explore what might have been. You can see how civilizations are affected by the environment (political and natural) that surrounded them. Perhaps the Romans couldn’t conquer most of the world if they were from Asia. Of course we wouldn’t call them Romans either.
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History 101: I know more about history, technology, and ancient empires because of Sid Meier than all of my history teachers combined. You can actually learn something from a video game, the humanity of it all. If you read the Civilopedia descriptions you’ll pick up on a lot of the advancements of human civilization, why they were significant, and when they happened. Obviously you won’t learn historical dates on wars or locations of cities, but there is a wealth of knowledge available.
War and Peace: Strategy gamers will appreciate the complex military aspect within Civ III. War is an underlying theme in all of human history, so it’s clear why war is such a big part of this game. More than just building cities and handling politics, you’ll be stretched to strategically conquer your enemies with good ‘ol brute force. You’ll also see what it takes to keep your empire at peace when you deal with other civilizations and their demands.
El Duce: It’s good to be the king. It’s even better to be the deity of a vast empire. Everyone likes to be the head honcho; calling all the shots and having people bend to your will. This is one of the reasons games like The Sims, Civilization, and Roller Coaster Tycoon do so well. The sense of power over people’s lives (even if they are digital) appeals to everyone.
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Everybody wants to rule the world: No, Wham isn’t on the Civ III soundtrack. I’m talking about taking over the world. You don’t need to be a cat-stroking super-villain to do it, either. Civ III lets you be an armchair conqueror, taking over the world through military, cultural, or diplomatic means.
Do it again:Civilization III is one of those games that you can play over, and over, and over, and over again. There are no two games that play out the same way, even if you choose the same civilizations, map, and starting positions. Hell you can load a game ten turns back and never have the same outcome. Luckily, the random map generator, 16 civilizations and multiple difficulty levels will never put you in that position.
SIDEBAR: Build spearmen to defend your cities early in the game. They may cost a lot more than Warriors, but they can be upgraded. As you enter the industrial and modern age you’ll be able to upgrade your spearmen all the way up to Mechanized Infantry.
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 7 / 9 ) |
Pros
It’s Civilization
Civilization is one of the few franchises that has never let anyone down, and the third installment is no different. If Sid Meier puts his name on it, it’s good.
Infinite Replayability
No two Civilization games are alike. Add in the random map generator, 16 different civilizations and several difficulty levels and you’ll be able to play Civ III until Civ IV comes out.
Play it Your Way
Civilization III has so many options in city management, units, diplomacy, and winning that you can play whatever style you like and still have a good time.
A Cerebral Experience
Civilization III is a thinking man’s game. You’ll think so hard you’ll use parts of your brain you didn’t know you had.
Learning is Good
God forbid you learn something when playing video games! Civilization will teach you about history and technological advances in human history, and you won’t even realize it.
Better than Crack
If you need a new gaming addiction, try Civ III. You’ll see why this game was the original fix.
Lots of Help:
Between the tutorial and expansive Civilopedia, you can pick up Civ with ease. Mastering the game is a completely different story.
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Cons
No Multiplayer
There’s no multiplayer in Civ III. Perhaps we’ll see it in the future, but if you’re looking for something to replace Alpha Centauri as your eight-hour turn-based multiplayer fix, this isn’t it.
Fewer Civilizations
There aren’t as many Civilizations in Civ III as there was in Civ II. You also can’t create your own civilization.
You may ruin your life
The Surgeon General should put a warning on this game: Playing Civilization III is known to ruin marriages, cause students to drop out of school, and significant weight loss due to lack of eating and sleeping.
More of the Same
Civilization III isn’t a huge leap from Civ I and II. It’s the same basic concept with changes to streamline the gameplay to make it more fun to play. Don’t expect a drastically different game.
SIDEBAR: You may have noticed no reference to Civilization: Call to Power in this review. Just like Her Majesty’s Secret Service isn’t a real James Bond movie, Call to Power isn’t a real Civ game. Why? Because Sid Meier wasn’t involved in its creation. Civilization I-III, Colonization, and Alpha Centauri are the only true Civ games, even if Alpha Centauri doesn’t share the Civ franchise.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 8 / 9 ) |
FiringSquad Says
Civilization III is that damn good. It’s everything Civ I and II were, but focused and easier to play. It may not have bump-mapped curved surfaces with a million polygons, but gameplay always supercedes looks. It’s also not a new, super-hyped game that “redefines the genre” (how many times have you heard that phrase?). Yes, it’s comfortable. It’s an old sweater in the PC gaming world. But it’s an old sweater that you’d never throw out.
Civilization III touches on a lot of aspects that making PC gaming great. We’re big on games that require a lot of thought. In Civ III you need to think about where to build your cities, what you cities should work on, how to conquer your enemies, how to keep your people happy, and how long you can neglect everything else in your life to keep playing this game. Civ III is also a tough strategy game. Complex combat, climbing the tech tree, and resource management (commonly found in RTS games) make Civ III a deep strategy game – far beyond a simple Simulation game. Even more than just gaming, Civ III touches on human nature. Are you a pacifist, sharing knowledge and information with anyone, or are you a hard-nosed militaristic strategist that would like nothing more than to squash your enemies under your boots?
Who would we recommend Civilization III to? Everybody, their mother, and their dog. The first Civilization is a legend and a hallmark in the history of gaming. It set the stage for strategy games as a whole, and RTS games wouldn’t be where they are today without Civ. A lot of people may never have had the chance to play it however, as PCs weren’t as prolific as they are now. Civ III is your chance to see a piece of gaming history. If you don’t like slower, thought-oriented games then you may not like Civ, but the vast majority of PC gamers will appreciate this game.
There’s a lot about Civilization III that I didn’t touch upon in this review, but I doubt you would want to read a novel on one game. There’s only two things you need to take away from this review: Civilization III is good. Go buy it.
SIDEBAR: Can a sequel to a sequel not only be better than its predecessors, but also set a new standard for gaming? Francis Ford Coppola couldn’t keep up the Godfather streak after II, and George Lucas set for himself a pretty low bar with Episode 1. How does Sid Meier stack up? Speak out in our Comments Section!
| Gallery | Page:: ( 9 / 9 ) |