At first glance, it looks a lot like Civ II, only with different improvements, different Wonders of the World, and most importantly, a longer time-frame into the future, where you can even experiment with futuristic weaponry. So far, so good.

But upon playing it I was sorely disappointed. The new improvements quickly lost their appeal, especially this weird corporate one with a little guy sitting at a desk who just moves around randomly. What exactly is he supposed to be?!!

But what really turned me off was when I attempted to check out the military aspect. I couldn't understand their system of combat. Everytime I attacked with a unit, it's like my single unit was attacking their entire defense! Finally, in desperation, I clicked on the CHEAT mode so I could attack a seemingly invincible group of old medieval cannons with a space-age, futuristic, high-intensity weapons-system of some sort --- but I STILL got beat! At that point, I turned it off in disgust, later giving it away to some guy I know (who also didn't like it, as he later told me.) I'm sticking with Civ II.


Good, but needs work...   January 22, 2001
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

This was the first Civ game I ever played, and soon after I purchased it I mentioned it to a friend who told me that I had wasted my money - I should have bought Civ II. Having now played both, I think they were probably right. CTP is certainly better in terms of graphics and other goodies, but there are some fundamental flaws (like a handful of cavalry men being able to defeat and armored tank, etc.) that really take away from the game. While having 7,000 odd years to either get tons of points, destroy all your opponents or breed aliens seems great, the game really starts to drag after a while. Turn after turn you land up doing the same exact things - slowly guiding your troops to attack an enemy, or crawling toward the latest wonder you're trying to build. An 'autopilot' type AI option would be wonderful, as it would free the player from some of the drudgery of guiding each individual troop (since they seem to easily come free of their stack) toward an enemy city (since troops also seem to 'forget' where they are going). I also found diplomacy to be a total waste of my time - enemy leaders need bigger and bigger gifts each turn so they don't begin to hate you and declare war, and in the end you're only going to attack them anyways, so it's kind of a waste. Save your money for rush buying a contaiment field or something. I gave this game three stars because despite all the turn off's, it is really fun. I have spent many an hour trying to find that last enemy city, or trying to build one more containment tank for the Alien Life Project. The graphics are far better than those in Civ II, and guiding your troops around is much easier, although mistakenly guiding them halfway across the world is also much easier, too. Overall, this game is fun. And it is worth buying, but just not for full price. Wait until it hits the sale bin, and then conquer away.


The graphics and advancements totally outweigh the porblems   January 25, 2000
 1 out of 10 found this review helpful

The game play is average for Civ games, you need patince, stamina, and above all time. These games are very time consuming and somtimes very adicting. You will need superior tactical skills to play this game, it is a bit harder then the rest. The Comp. usually cheats in the harder levels, but not to the degree that I will need to whine about it. And it sux when the terrorist ruin your Wonders without you knowing about it. But if your having that hard of a time with it, cheat.It is a dirty some what unrealistict fighting atmosphere, where horse men and warriors can attact futuristic battalion and win. But if the game is all that hard, I guess you wern't picked to rule the world, so don't whine.