"A Very Detailed Game with Historical Empires"

Civilization II. The sequel to perhaps the best world conquering game ever. And this time, it's better. With new features galore (such as the wonders of the world) this is truly Sid Meier's greatest work to date.

You start out by creating your Civilization. You can customize your own, or play with a legendary one. (Mongols, Romans, etc.) All civilizations are here with great leaders.

Now you must begin to build cities by conquering small villages or using settlers. Once you have your capital, you can begin researching things like Writing and Religion. As you move on, you'll find forms of government and pieces to a space shuttle.

Each advance allows something new to occur. For example, by obtaining Democracy, your government can revolt and become a Democracy, plus you can build the Statue of Liberty. It all ties in to one goal- the space shuttle.

The war advances let you build infantry, like musketeers and horsemen. As you get more advanced, you can use Guerilla Warfare and Training Academies to build your army. You can even break peace treaties and use the element of surprise to crush your enemies.

You also have counselors to help you along the way. The graphics aren't great on these guys, as I will explain later, but it's great because they argue and give their opinions on your current status. They evolve throughout the game, from cavemen to disco dancers (complete with 70's clothing)

Now, you can win the game in two ways. First, you can whip everyone else's butt and take control of the world. Or, if you have a weak army, you can build a spaceship and be the first to colonize distant stars.

One problem- I could not figure out for the life of me how the space race works. I don't know how to build the ship. Even so, the gameplay will keep you coming back for more.

There is one problem- graphics. I suppose with all the features they couldn't fit in good graphics. The landscapes are detailed, as are the cities, but the soldiers and people aren't very good. The videos of the wonders of the world are interesting, but still a little blurry. Still, this is a minor point and doesn't take much away from the game.

The sound is excellent with background music that changes everytime the mood does. The war sound effects are great, here the shot of a musket or the downfall of an empire.

Overall, this game is great. Buy it. Definitely without question. The reason it gets a nine is because of the minor graphics detail and the space race problem. But please, don't let it stop you. This game is well worth your money, and you will get many hours of gameplay time. Highly recomended.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/11/01, Updated 04/11/01