"The best strategy game ever made."

Introduction:
Sid Meier’s Civilization 2 was one of the first games that required windows to play and made full use of windows capabilities. This game showed what was possible with windows based games and its influence can be found in almost every game made since its release. Civilization 2 sold thousands of copies, immortalized Sid Meier, and is considered to be the best turn based strategy game of all time by many and for good reason.

Gameplay: 10/10
Gameplay is the one area Civilization 2 shines in more than any other game I have ever seen. What makes the gameplay so great is you choose how the game goes. Civilization 2 is a completely open ended game with many ways to play and many ways to win. You will never play the same game twice.
Most games will begin with just one settler about to create a thriving civilization in a barren world. Slowly through the years you will lead your civilization to greatness and ultimately conquer the world. But how you choose for this to happen is completely up to you and your playing style. One way to win which is my favorite is to destroy every other opposing civilization. But others ways to win includes an economic victory by achieving a set amount of money, a technological victory by being the first to space and etc.
One thing that also has to be mentioned is the computers you play with. The computers are very smart and you will often forget they are not human. If you betray one civilization, the next civilization you run across won’t be as eager to help you. Computers will also form alliances against you. If you are smart you will always have a powerful computer on your side.
The variety of gameplay and amount of thought required in this game is truly staggering. Even to this day the gameplay still shines brightly.

Story: 10/10
It may seem weird to give this a 10/10 since the only pre-story is you are a settler looking to start a town. But the way I feel is you are creating your own story as you play. After you finish a game (which can takes many hours on end) you look back and are truly amazed how real the history behind the game seems. It could have been real that the Zulus took over the world. Also the mapmaker given in the game even expands on this even more. With his you can recreate almost any old battle you want. Or if you want you could probably find one on the web. The D-day level already thrown in with the game is very accurate and very tough.

Graphics/Sound : 6/10
Sure they were impressive in the day but they really don’t do much now. The graphics are easy to look at and do the job. The music is very unimpressive and very unimportant. I usually just listen to MP3’s while playing.

Play Time/Replayability: 10/10
The amount of 1 game can go range from 1 hour to 50 hours depending on how your play style. But the real important part is the replayability. You can play this game for days, months, years and not get bored. Thanks to the unbelievable AI, randomness, and many ways to play this game can keep you hooked for a very long time. I can still boot up the game today and get sucked in for days without problem.

Final Recommendation: I feel there is absolutely no reason to own this game. Unless you hate thinking at all while playing video games or just don’t have an attention span, then you should buy this game now or just play again. In my opinion this is one of the 3 greatest games ever.

Final Score (Not an average)-11/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/11/03, Updated 06/11/03