"Fun, but a disappointment to the Civilization series"

First off, this is the latest (as of 2002) in the “Civilization” series by Sid Mier. Civilization II was, in my opinion, the best of the three, at that was designed by Brian Reynolds. Perhaps because Brian Reynolds did not have any role in designing Civilization III, it became an almost unrecognizable game from a Civ standpoint.

Graphics: 6/10 For a game of its type, it is clear that Firaxis really did spend an inordinate amount of time on this. The units are animated, there are in game movies, and the palace looks pretty cool, no matter which style you choose. This isn’t cutting edge, though, so it won’t get 10/10. (But come on, you guys, graphics don’t make a game awesome, look at MOO.)

Gameplay: 10/10 Ohh, it’s fun. Very fun. Don’t get me wrong, like Civ II, I can spend hours and hours playing this game. It is truly addictive. (However, I should warn you to get a decent computer, at least over 300 mhz, otherwise spending hours on this game will advance you a turn or two.)

Audio: 2/10 Well, these tunes sound familiar! Hey! They are revamped versions of the Civ II themes! Wow, fancy! They sound ok, but I don’t even know why they included music if it sounds so similar to Civ II music, I mean, let’s see: Civ II music survived through about 4 games: Civ II, Conflicts in Civ, Fantastic Worlds and Test of Time.

Replay value: 7/10 When I get home to my computer, I almost always have an internal fight with myself over whether to play Civ III or to play SMAX. After the 1 minute it takes to boot up my computer, I’m almost always going to choose the latter. However, I must admit that I have played Civ III from start to end with 4 different Civs on Regent difficulty.

Concept design: 0/10 Because this game does not even meet the requirements set out by Civ II, I am not going to dignify it with a score in this category. For one, the number of government choices had dwindled to a basic 5. Zones of control are limited to certain units. Bombarding units can never kill, and nukes, cruise missiles, and bombers are all bombarding units. Cruise missiles, because of their range, are a primarily defensive weapon unless you bung them onto a mobile unit (actually, I haven’t tried this). Most importantly, there is NO customization, what so ever. Everything is hardcoded, there are no .txt files to edit, and you are stuck with what they give you. All the above just annoy me, and if that were it, I would give the game a 5/10 for concept design. However, compare it with the game that MADE Firaxis (and also gave Sid Mier the license to Civ III), SMAC. Let me count the ways that Civ III is inferior in concept design:
1. Social engineering vs. Governments: (possible) 64 choices vs. 5
2. Unit design: flexible, customizable vs. static and in many cases, infuriating
3. Terrain enhancements: more choices (terraform up, down, level, etc.) vs. Civ II options
4. Maps: more interesting terrain features vs. Civ II style
5. Interface: faster vs. slower (on my Celeron 300 mhz, I’m sure this isn’t an issue for Pentium IIIs)
6. Manual: thorough, interesting vs. simple

Civ III is not an ideal game. It is fun, but in my opinion, it is not as good as it should be. My advice is do not pay the full price for buying it now, wait until you can buy it on auctions for $1.99 or something.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 04/29/02, Updated 04/29/02