Civilization II

"Sid Meier's (Potentially) Greatest Work... but not neccesarily on the PSX"

Sequel to the venerable Civilization line, Sid Meier's Civilization II stands unsurpassed in the world conquest/empire building genre (with the possible exception of Alpha Centauri). Replayability is pretty high, and the game is usually always fun (for those who like strategy games anyways :-) True fans of the game should invest in the PC version however...

Fun Factor: 10
Hey, any game where you can take control of the Aztec civilization and completely annihilate the Roman empire fits my definition of a fun game! The large number of civilization possibilities makes the game worth playing over and over, just to see the different paths you could take on your path to world domination (or whatever other goal you choose)

Difficulty: 8
The learning curve is fairly short, and it's an easy game to pick up, but it takes quite a bit of gameplay to master all the intricacies of the game.

Control: 6
The lack of adequate buttons on the controller make it difficult and sometimes tedious to lug through all of the menus the game has. Loading times are WAY too slow at some points.

Story: 8
You get to make your own story in this game, right? Napoleon beats the Zulu nation in the continent of South america.... Whoa. Lots of food for the imagination. For those without imagination, the score would probably be quite a bit lower, say a 3.

Music: 5
Not as good as the PC version, probably due to space constraints. Not horrendous, but probably worth muting after awhile. Can get quite repetitious and can even put you to sleep at times.

Sound FX: 7
Pretty decent FX, most of the best ones involve the specialized unit attacks during combat. Again, not as great as the PC version.

Replayability: 9
No two games are ever the same, thus you can replay with new surprises each and every time. AI is a bit repetitive at times, which can hamper the Replay value.

Rent or Buy: If you own a PC, buy the PC version, it's superior to the PSX one. If you don't have a PC, buying is a definite possibility, although renting and playing a few scenarios can definitely pass the time on a slow weekend.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99