"Arguably the Best TBS Game Out There..."

I've always enjoyed one of Microprose's other big games, a Civilization clone in the fantasy genre. Well, this came as part of an "Ultimate Strategy Pack" of four games. I can honestly say that this is the one that gets probably the second-most, if not the most, playing time. I'm really pleased at how well everything meshed together.

Gameplay: 9/10

(Battle: 8/10)

Simple and to-the-point. My biggest complaint is that it just seems like there's too much dice-throwing, and sometimes that can lead to rather... bizzare scenes.

Say you have fortified a Legion on a mountaintop, so your overall defense is about nine. Some ding-dong comes along with his AIRCRAFT CARRIER and attacks not with his aircraft, but his ship. With an attack of one. And the Carrier dies. ...While you have to be an idiot attack with the ship and not the Bombers and Helicopters, that image just doesn't sit right. Yes, it's more a transport than a warship, but...

They DID make an improvement over the original in that there's Hit Points and Firepower, so the rather interesting picture mentioned in the manual, a Phalanx destroying a Battleship, will probably not happen unless someone tweaked the game a little much. Of course, if some yahoo (Like me...) decides to try to destroy a Legion fortified on a mountaintop with an Aircraft Carrier, you'll still have some humor at the end of the day.

I AM going to complain that they underpowered the Marine unit a bit. My dad, an ex-Marine, said that you ought to have the Marine unit at five moves if the tanks get three. Thankfully, you can mod the game with the "Rules.txt" file.

(Standard: 10/10)

As far as the standard, turn-by-turn game, it's pretty simple. It's more a matter of constructing your cities properly than warfare. You can build buildings (The term used is "Improvements," but I prefer buildings.) to increase trade, production, happiness, or even food. Of course, you can also improve your defensive capabilities within the city via Coastal Fortresses and City Walls. And, if you so desire, you can try to win the game on pure economy by constructing a space ship to colonize Alpha Centauri. But who wants to wimp out like that...?

There's also a couple special units that require mentioning. Namely, the Diplomat and the Caravan.

The Diplomat can enter enemy cities and try to do some nasty things. Think terrorist. Or, if you'd rather take what you can destroy... Say I want to get a city that I just can't get capture with brute force. Or I don't want to declare war on that nation for it. Well, I simply send in a Diplomat and buy it! Of course, that other nation might not be too thrilled to lose his city, but by paying twice the cash, I keep that from happening. The joys of Democracy and pacifism...!

The Caravan, meanwhile, sets up trade routes from one city to another. So, let's say I send a Caravan from Edo to Athens, using the world.mp map. (We're going to end up with a definition of the term "Trade" here in a moment.) Well, my merchant gets there, sells his goods, and I get a percentage for the national coffers. The guy decides to stay for a bit and hears someone mention that the Greeks had some brand new idea. He then tells of a different idea that the Japanese have. When he gets home to Edo, he tells everyone of this new idea, and word spreads round. ...That's the basic idea...

Sound: 8/10
(Sound Effects: 7/10)

Okay, I like Monty Python and the Holy Grail and all, but hearing the "Black Knight vs. Green Knight" sound effects fourteen times in a row gets on your nerves. On the flip side, I enjoy the nuclear blast sound effect for some reason. ...Now that I think about it, it sounds similar to the sound effect in SimCity 3000 for the siren...

(Music: 10/10)

I enjoyed it tremendously. I'm NOT the guy who stands in the front row at a rock concert next to an amp. Quite the opposite. So, the classical-sounding music is relaxing and enjoyable to me. Although, after about thirty cities in a row declare a "We Love the President Day," you're going to be sick of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in a hurry. There's also a slightly depressing-sounding Funeral March when a nation ends up completely conquered.

Graphics: 10/10
(Standard: 10/10)

No complaints here. I prefer the old-time lookin' graphics, not these flashy 3D polygons. They are actually very detailed. If you zoom in on the map, or even check the Civilopedia, the units are remarkably detailed. The cities themselves are also very well-detailed. And, they include some alternate schemes for you to play around with. ...Just be good at Photoshop or Paint, or you're limited to cut'n'paste. You can even customize the units and icons to your hearts content. So, if you want the Submarine to be underwater, you can make it underwater. If you want to cartoonize the game, feel free. The only thing you CAN'T do is mess with the 3D representations on the "View Cityscape" option, which is just a button that lets you see the general city. You also can't mess with the High Council, but there's a way around that...

(Animation: 9/10)

Okay, I'm going to complain on one thing. You can rather easily tell what the advisor on the High Council is going to say just by looking at the first frame of the animation. But other than that, it's great. If you build a Wonder, the game shows a brief animation related to that Wonder. For instance, if you build Leonardo's Workshop, you'll see various images of his works and journals. Favorite one of that is Shakespare's Theatre, which has a monologe from a play.

High Council: 10/10

You wonder why most nations are rather... messed up. Just look at the fivesome you have to deal with. You've got a bloodthirsty Military advisor (Who also, apparently, raids the Wine caravans from time to time.), a rather loony Science advisor, a greedy Trade advisor, a scheming Foriegn advisor, and Elvis is your Attitude advisor. So as not to make them look super-advanced or super-primitive, as your civilization discovers certain techs, the advisors change with the times. Early on, they look like they're from Rome or Greece. Later in the game, they look like they're all from feudal England. Finally, they look (and sound) primarily like Americans, with a Frenchwoman for your Foriegn. And there are some rather cheesy moments. By far the best moments in the game is a content mideval Military advisor, fresh off raiding the Wine caravan, and a pleased modern Science advisor, who seems to have drunk too much coffee.

Replayability: 11/10

With the randomization, and random civilizations to face, you're in good shape. To be politically correct, and not offend anyone outside the U.S., each civilization is pretty much the same, only differing in leader and city names. Although the world map has some civilizations being better than others in terms of tactical locations as such. And, heck, you can make your own maps and tweak the game settings as you see fit.

I'll give it a bonus point for just how much you can customize the game. You can personalize the game as much as you want. You can even make the council insult each other with whatever words you desire. The actual animation will be unchanged, but the message in the picture box beneath them will change to what you want.

OVERALL: 10/10

IN CONCLUSION: If you are only going to own one TBS game in your life, you'll have to choose between the board game Risk (It's the company you play with that makes the difference.) or Civilization II. The ONLY thing that could make this game better would've been a multiplayer, but I think you need a patch or another version in order to get it. Eh, needs something to bring it down...

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/07