"Improving Upon Perfection"

As a general rule, sequels to blockbuster games are much like sequels to blockbuster movies: well-crafted but hollow retreads that feel too familiar, mostly because the people behind them were too afraid to tinker with a successful formula. And can you blame them? Die-hard fans are more than willing to eviscerate well-meaning game designers when they make too many changes in a big-name sequel. (Legend of Zelda II for the NES, anyone?) While sequels are reliable money-makers, they can be no-win situations on the artistic side of things.

Civilization II seemed to be destined for such a fate. The original Civilization was a perfect game in any way you could name, so what could a sequel possibly do to improve things?

"Hey guys, Civilization is a brilliantly replayable game that kept me up until dawn for months on end. Can't you do any better than that?"

It turns out, of course, that they COULD do better, by using a sneaky little strategy: improving little problems that you never really even noticed until they fixed them. And thus, Civilization 2 was born - the greatest turn-based strategy game of all time. Any gamer that hasn't played this game (and cried "just one more turn!" into the wee hours of the evening/next morning) is, quite simply, insane.

The concept behind Civilization 2 is grand, but simple: you're the leader of a small tribe, and it's your mission to transform your little gang of followers into a mighty superpower. The game takes place over 6,000 years of history, so you'll start in the Stone Age but finish in modern times. (Assuming, of course, that your culture survives that long.) You run everything in your empire: the economy, city-building, the military, research, etc. The wealth of gameplay options lets you adopt any strategy you desire: peaceful and productive, militaristic and aggressive, defensive and research-minded... whatever you like. Of course, your carefully-laid plans can be useless when three rival powers are attacking you and your people keep going into unrest because you're not pampering them enough, so being able to fix things on the fly is a key asset for all strategies. All in all, the total control you have is intoxicating, and it provides a lot of gameplay variety that keeps you coming back for more. There's something wonderful about a game that lets you build a library in your capital right after you set your cannon units upon an enemy city.

While the whole game is fantastic, I love the early stages the most. Your cities are small and developing, so they need more care, and the world is basically unknown to you. Who knows what your exploring units might find? Little tribal huts littered across the map can lead to free goodies, or a random attack by angry barbarians. And you'll eventually stumble upon a rival civilization, who might welcome you with gifts and open arms... or, perhaps, a spear to the throat. Even if your neighbors are peaceful, you'd be amazed at how quickly tempers can flare up when you're contesting for a perfect spot for a new city. A war can rage on for centuries (or millenia!) that started over a simple grab for territory.

While your troops are important, your cities are the heart of everything. Do you build a gang of chariots to roll out to the front lines? Or does the city need a marketplace more, to boost your income? Maybe a Wonder of the World - a unique construction that provides a special benefit - is what you really need, provided you can spare the time it takes to build one. The decision is never simple, and that's the fun of it.

There's also the issue of government to consider. Running a despotism is easy and provides for complete military freedom, but your empire's trade and production suffer greatly. On the other hand, the highly-profitable democratic government is hard to maintain, and the Senate will veto any attempts you make to start a nice, healthy war. Constantly juggling governments leaves you lurched in anarchy, where production is nil. It's not easy, being a grand dictator. But it sure is entertaining. (My personal favorite? Communism, where war is accepted, unrest is squashed. and spies are skilled and plentiful.)

You may be asking: "that's great and all, but how do you win this freakin' game?" Well, I'll tell you. You can either conquer the world by eliminating all other civilizations, or you can win the 'space race' by sending some colonists to Alpha Centauri, a nearby planet. This gives both warmongers and technologists a way to win, although either victory requires a mix of both military savvy and quality research. After all, an aggressive empire needs constant research to put higher-end units into the field, and a science-hungry empire needs to ward off enemy invaders while they slap together the spacecraft that will lead them to victory. Nobody wants to be the combat-oriented empire that's still using knights in the year 1984, or to have their space shuttle destroyed because their capital city was being defended by a unit of volunteer firemen with pointy sticks.

The one thing that almost all legendary games have is replayability, and Civilization 2 has replayability to spare. Want to play as the Babylonians on a small-sized map full of tiny islands? Go right ahead. Or maybe take the Mongols on a big, land-based map and charge across the plains? You can do that, too. Want a cold world with lots of tundra squares? Or a hot one, full of jungle and deserts? You can customize the map in a dozen ways, and the randomly-generated worlds ensure that no game is the same twice. (Of course, the designers included some static maps modelled after the Earth or Europe, if you'd rather do that.) There are plenty of civilizations to choose from as well, although they all play the same other than their color and default city names. Still, it's nice to be able to choose from such a wide variety of nationalities.

The Civilization 2 design team made plenty of changes to the original Civilization, but they were all carefully planned-out and expertly implemented. Older military units now have a disadvantage against more modern ones, no matter what the offensive/defensive 'numbers' say. Overly-powerful Wonders like the Pyramids were tweaked, and wimpier ones were beefed up. Units were added to fill in holes in military research progression, so fans of 'fast' units can now use cavalries and dragoons, rather than using knights for eons until you finally develop tank technology. Explorers were added to help you uncover the world, and they're so handy you'll wonder how you ever played without them. The designers actually discuss all of the changes/additions in the manual, so I won't keep rambling about them here. But it's amazing to witness how game designers CAN improve on an amazing game if they do so carefully and intelligently.

The graphics were also beefed up, of course, and the game looks fantastic. While the visuals won't blow anyone away, the map squares were 'drawn' with skill and personality, and they provide a charming backdrop for your cities and units. Who needs hardcore polygon crunching when you can feast your eyes on a rich, colorful world map?

Civilization 2 features a soundtrack that can be best described as 'interesting.' There are a bunch of different songs that play as you run your empire, ranging from ominous synthesized booming to groups of chanting singers. The songs aren't bad at all, but the constant switching of themes and moods can be disconcerting, and during the inevitably long play sessions, you'll hear them all a dozen times. You might want to provide your own music after a while. Sound effects are appropriate and well-made, especially the random shouts and explosions when opposing forces collide.

Of course, I can rave and rave about this game, but here's the bottom line: I've been playing it on and off for the last 8 years or so. How many games can keep your attention for 8 weeks, let alone 8 years? What I love most about Civilization 2 is that it's incredibly broad in scope, yet you can play through an entire game in a few hours. And because it's turn-based, there's no frantic button-clicking, and you can set aside as much or as little time to play as you want. It's very Windows-friendly, too, so you can run it while instant messaging or E-mailing without having to Alt-Tab back and forth between programs.

What else can I say? Civilization 2 is one of the finest PC games ever made. So play it, and remind yourself why you love this crazy hobby so much.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/06/04