More Gameplay

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.

Cultural Victory

Aftermath of a nuke

Building the spaceship

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.

Medicine is very important

The tech tree

Military Advisor

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?