"Doodleheimer Gold Awar.......Aw, screw it!"

Game Play-
10/10

Civilization II lives up to its predecessor in every single way. The options you have are amazing. You have the basics from the first civilization, and now you have more stuff to build, such as Police Stations, Airports, and Sewer Systems. You can use the airports to fly from cities. You now have a throne room to improve on, instead of a castle. You have more civilizations to choose from. The strategy has always been the best.

You are a civilization, and it is your job to take over all of the other civilizations of the world and grow large. It doesn’t make much sense when you are controlling the Japanese and you’ve taken over Berlin and St. Petersburg. (They changed the name back to St. Petersburg) But, it is all in the name of conquest. You can change the type of government you have, you can build an army of weapons and fighters ranging from Warriors to Catapults to Tanks to Fighter Planes. You can build many cities. (After a while, you run out of names and the names repeat themselves) You have to support cities, people, build stuff, and make weapons on a set income.

Your income depends upon how many tax collectors you have, what your tax rates are, and what type of government you have (Fundamentalism works for me), your businesses, and your general population. I really liked the map editor. It takes a very long time to create your dream world, but I think that it’s worth it. You have a bunch of different land types to work with. The control is much better. You can move in all directions. A great improvement over the original.

Graphics-
9/10

The graphics have improved greatly over the original game. You have great visuals; the graphics are more polished; yet they bear a spitting image to the original. The objects and cities are no longer outlined in a color. Now, they are much more detailed and smooth. The city view is much better. Now, you can see all of the objects in a much larger space. (I preferred the small cozy location in the original) The city council is very detailed. The world looks much better. The ocean looks really great, much better indeed. The returning objects have much more detail and color to them than the original game did. The leaders look a lot great too. The graphics in this game have to be the best graphics for its time. The different land types look good too. You have jungles, forests, rivers, oceans, grasslands, hills, mountains, tundra, and plains. They all look really good.

Audio-
10/10

The music in this game is partly composed of classic tunes, such as Ode To Joy. I don’t care that some of the songs already existed. As long as the soundtrack is excellent, I don’t care. (Tony Hawk 2’s soundtrack was excellent, and it was composed of licensed songs) The music really matches the game. This game has one of the best soundtracks of all time. The soundtrack matches up to the soundtracks of the Final Fantasy games. (Not better than Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy Anthology, but still in their same league) The music is a giant leap from the computer sounds of the original. I loved the soundtrack in this game so much. Everything in this game is great. The sound effects are extremely great too. They are great.

Enjoyability-
10/10

The game can be enjoyed over and over again. It ranks fight up there on the greatest games list with the Final Fantasies, the Monkey Islands, the Wario Lands, and Perfect Dark. I’ve had a lot of fun with this game, and I’m sure you will too.

Score-39/40

Overall-
10/10

If you did not already get the hint from the rest of the review, get this game NOW. You trust me, don’t you? Of course you do! So get the game and be happy. If you ever want to experience some of the greatest gaming joy ever, you’ll get this game. You'll be busy for months, trust me.

Street Price-$9.99

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/01, Updated 05/20/02