"Fun for awhile, but then the flaws begin to shine through"

Sid Meier is one of greatest game designers out there. He made a little game called ''Civilization'', where a player could choose to found one of the major world powers and fight for military, domestic and scientific dominance. Unlike most strategy games where the only way to win is to wipe out all the enemy units and cities, Civilization allowed for a peaceful ending to the game: A space race to Alpha Centuari. Civilization was very successful but when it came time to make a sequel Sid Meier didn't want to work on it anymore and instead delegated the work to Brian Reynolds. This turned out to be a very good move, Reynold's Civilization II and Alpha Centauri represented a significant improvement on the original game.

Reynolds has himself become quite popular with the strategy crowd, so much so that he left Firaxis when development on Civilization III began. The loss of Reynolds strategic mind ultimately dooms Civilization III from reaching the levels of excellence its predecessors possess.

Graphics (8/10):
The best thing this games graphics have going for it are the animated models. Every unit, from Tanks to Settlers has a little animation from when they move from square to square. All of the tiles for the game seem to be rendered in pastel colors, which works rather nicely for the land but makes the oceans a strange bright-blue color. Overall, these are not state of the art but they certainly serve their function.

Music/Sounds (7/10)
The sound effects are done very nicely, warriors clash with each other and you can hear the steel on steel. When tanks move into an area there is a loud BOOM. The same BOOM is used when you bombard an area from afar. Overall, very nice.

The music on the other hand, is quite annoying. Each era is fitted with a ''period piece'', a very cool idea. During Ancient Times, the Middle Ages and Renaissance the music is a little grating but not terrible. Nothing can prepare you for the terror that is ''modern age'' music. Evidentially the development team felt that Kenny G. represented the best music of the modern era.

Gameplay (4/10)
Civilization games actually have a fairly simple gameplay design. Each player starts with one ''settler'' unit, which can turn into a ''town''. In the town, the player can build many things, collect taxes and conduct scientific research. As the player continues to build more settlers he gets more towns, and each of the town then increases the power of his nation exponentially. Other civilizations are meanwhile doing the same thing, slowly expanding their territory. Eventually, you meet them and engage in Diplomacy, War and Trade until the end of the game.

Civilization III has a few problems. First of all, as the player builds more cities the rate of corruption increases. This in theory is fine, as in earlier Civilization games you needed to switch to more advanced government forms to curb corruption. In Civilization III this is not an option, no matter what your system of government corruption gets out of control after you've control of about 20 cities. Since adding more cities to your Empire creates a greater burden than boon, gameplay prohibits developing a vast worldwide empire.

Another problem has to do with the combat. Once again, it is possible for Phalanx to repel the attack of a Panzer Tank. This should just be a statistically impossible outcome of a battle, yet it seems to occur occasionally.

Third of all, the game has been horribly streamlined. Earlier installments of the game allowed for the player to develop their nations from a large palette of potentials. An Empire could be large or small, focus on scientific or military development etc. Now, it seems that all Empires have around 20 cities at best and they all develop the exact same sets of technology. Furthermore, the way that tech acquisition has been reworked, through the Ancient and Middle Age eras, technological progress is fairly uniform across all Civilizations. The idea that one civilization could be in the Space Age while another is stuck trying to make a wheel seems to be left behind. Alas, Civilization III is simply a game with a very rigid structure.

The final fault which I will point out is the AI. My enemies will actually run through my territory in order to establish a city in the middle of a FREEZING Tundra, that won't produce anything due to corruption. The entire AI seems to work rather well at the goal of founding as many cities as humanly possible, yet understand little to nothing about actual diplomacy. More than a few times have I had nations still fighting their war with The Three Musketeers challenging my Panzer Tank division. Finally, the AI which can be turned on to self-govern cities is terrible as it makes Ancient Era units during the Modern Era.

Civilization III does have some good things going for it. The Civilopedia makes its return, giving in-game explanations as to what everything is. Another good addition is ''Natural Resources''. There is only a limited amount of oil, gunpowder, horses etc. on the map, and you'll need at some point to negotiate for their use with another country. This will add a lot to the game, actually adding something which could require the player to give in to the demands of the computer.

Replay (7/10):
This game DOES have good replay. Each game can take a long time, and actual function of the gameplay varies depending on the size of the map. On Tiny Maps each city produces a TREMENDOUS amount of money/resources, while on Extra Large maps each city doesn't contribute all that much.

Overall (6/10):
Sad to say, this game doesn't live up to its legacy. While you will have fun for awhile, eventually you will get bored of playing the exact same sequence of events over and over again. Another annoyance is that enemy turns often take too long because you have to watch each and every one of them move. Even pressing the ''fast foward'' button is of little help.

Overall, the game makes a noble attempt to build on Civilization II, but it just fails due to a number of flaws.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/28/03