"Sid Meyer's masterpiece and an all-time classic. That's Civ 2."

Civilization, released a looong time ago, is considered one of the best games EVER released. It was a game of the time when graphics simply couldn't be that great, as computers weren't as powerfull as today and nobody ever tought about a 3D card. In fact, sound cards weren't very common either. At that time, gameplay was the main attraction of a game. And Civilization II follow that style perfectly. Civ 2 is a turn-based strategy game, of the empire-bilding type. It is sigle player only.

The game is basically this: you choose your civilization (or create one, it's just a name anyway) and start playing on 40.000 BC. You build your first city and from there, you build military units and research technologies, wich are the heart of the game. The technologies are based on the development of the real human race, so the first things you research are Writing, Wheel and other simple things. Then your knowledge evolve, and in the end of the game, around 2000 AC, you'll be beneffiting the joys of Nuclear Fission and Laser. The units and cities change as you discover new things. It would be quite interesting to play just like that already, but you'll have the company of other civilizations, who may either be friends or foes, depending on how you treat them. If you treat them well, they may turn into allies, give you presents and exchange knowledge with you. Otherwise, they can declare war upon you or compete against you in the Space Race (yes, just like Russia and USA. But this time, the first to reach Alpha Centauri win).

The AI of the opponets is far from perfect, but it is quite satisfatory. There's a good balance in the game, I mean, you can focus on economics, military strenght, researching or any other strategy you think of (like using spies to conquer the cities of the unsuspecting enemies by surpise) and the chances of suceeding in the game are the same. There's no simple formula of sucess, many ways lead to it.

Gameplay: 10
I would give more than 10 if I could. This is one of those games who can keep you playing all the night without looking at the clock even once... You'll just keep thinking "okay, just one more turn."

Graphics:6
The graphics are bad, even for it's time. But as I told before, the game is not about it. The graphics are functional, but not beautifull. The beauty is in the gameplay. The Graphics are a lot better than in the first version tought.

Sound: 8
The same apllies to sounds. They are nice and adequate, but not exceptional. The music is in CD Track.

Replay Value:10
The game can generate random maps and comes with a map editor. You can also play scenarios, where you play in pre-generated situations, like World War II.

That's it, the game is fun, get it, it is cheap now! And there are lots of add-ons too. It runs fine in any Pentium, and even on a 486, if you're worried about it. Runs with 8 MB RAM, but you'll need 16 to see the animations in the diplomatic screen.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99