Civilization III

The Civilization series have consistently been the benchmark for high quality turn-based strategy games over the last ten years. The creator, Sid Meier, has devised a deep and immersive gameworld in which players really feel their decisions effect the course of history. For those who may not be familiar with the basics, Civilization III's basic premise is that you are are leader of one of 16 separate races of humans. You start off with only a few basic units in the year 4000 B.C. You goal is to guide your civilization through thousands of years of progress, strife, famine, and exploration. The path will not be an easy one as the world is a dangerous place full of roving barbarians and rival civilizations competing for the same resources and land.

Each of the 16 separate factions has a few subtle strengths and weaknesses that gives it a distinctive flavor. For example, the Chinese are militaristic and tend to spread very rapidly, while the Indians tend to be more passive and intent on their own culture. As you guide your civilization through the ages you are confronted with a never ending series of choices and compromises to achieve your goals. You must focus your efforts and decide whether to research the printing press, democracy, or steam power. At the same time you will also need to make all sorts of diplomatic decisions regarding the rival civilizations you encounter.

Civilization III is played out on a two-dimensional isometric map of the world. When you first start the game your knowledge of the world outside the radius of where your units start is extremely limited. You begin by building a city with your settler unit. You must decide what to focus your city's resources towards accomplishing. Should you start building another settler so your civilization can expand or should you build a military unit to protect you from roving barbarians or invaders? Planning is essential as most of the rival civilizations controlled by the computer will efficiently begin to expand almost immediately. If you are not aggressive enough you will quickly find your own civilization lagging behind in technology, cultural influence and military strength. These disparities will only grow worse with time if you don't take steps to correct them.

Combat in Civilization III is fairly basic. Units are generally divided into air, land, and sea units and attack by moving into a position occupied by an opposing unit. Although there are some limited options for bombardment and attacking with ranged units, combat is fairly basic and straightforward. There is really no maneuvering or micromanagement to be done as this isn't The Operational Art of War! Generally, more advanced units will defeat weaker units in a fairly predictable way. A unit of horse cavalry will be hard pressed to fight against modern main battle tanks. Units are rewarded with combat experience that effects their performance on the battlefield. Overall, combat has been tweaked a little since earlier versions of Civilization, but it is still basically the same.

As your civilization grows and evolves you will discover that other civilizations have access to raw materials and resources that you don't possess. While you may have wines, furs, and rubber, you don't have what you need to manufacture gunpowder. Without access to the resources you need you may find yourself cut off from the ability to create modern combat units. No matter how militaristic you decide to be, you will need to engage in diplomacy at one time or another in order to bargain for resources.

The rival civilizations you will encounter will range from those who are in awe of your own civilization to those who will attack you almost with no provocation. If you wish to avoid conflict you can usually bribe your way out of almost any situation as long as you are willing to kiss up to stronger nations and give them what they want. This will usually involve some basic extortion schemes such as forking over part of your income every turn or handing over a coveted technology. Of course, this is a two way street and you can treat other civilizations the same way. Other civilizations will tend to treat you unfairly if they greatly outnumber your military forces or are technologically superior. At times these demands can put you at odds with multiple civilizations at once. Unless you are very well prepared you'll have a hard time fighting a protracted war with several other nations at the same time.

Diplomacy in Civilization III involves more than just bargaining for resources or declaring war. You can also trade technology with your rivals, buy luxuries, offer tribute, trade information such as maps or communication access to world leaders. You can also strike military treaties for mutual protection or allow your units to freely pass through your allies' territory.

Generally, the diplomatic portion of Civilization III works well, although the computer controlled civs tend to be a bit heavy handed. They will never cut you any slack if they don't need to and will not hesitate at all to lord their technological or military prowess over you. You can also expect to be backstabbed on a regular basis.

Your interaction with rival leaders is fairly unique and has evolved since earlier games in the series. You can talk to foreign leaders that you have already met at any time by accessing your foreign advisor and clicking on the appropriate icon for that civ. While you are talking to another leader they are represented by an animated portrait that shows the general state of their feelings toward you. If they are very unhappy or hostile toward your civilization, it will be readily apparent by their facial expression. This is one of the coolest features of the system.
What's does it look like?

Civilization III's graphics are a marked improvement over Civilization II and Alpha Centauri. The units are reasonable detailed and each has unique animations during combat or movement. Although the terrain is quite similar to Civilization II it has been refined and looks quite a bit better. Your cities will expand as they grow and also change in appearance as your civilization attains higher levels of technological advancement. Overall, the graphics are not going to blow you out of the water, but they are clean and functional.

Although Civilization III is a very well thought out game and is certainly among the most addictive games you'll run across, it isn't quite perfect. For starters, civilizations controlled by the computer will sometimes make what appears to be completely irrational decisions. One minute the Greeks think you're the best thing since sliced bread and five minutes later they demand all of your gold and technology or threaten war. The computer opponent also don't seem to truly barter when you are negotiating with them. They seem to already have made up their mind before the negotiations ever begin and will almost never compromise. Their trade proposals are usually hideously unfair and attempt to milk you for everything you're worth. This unfortunately has a tendency to turn the game into a technology and arms race. You'll get a lot further with aggressive military action than you will pursuing diplomacy most of the time. Your rivals also seem to remember your negative actions for a lot longer than they do your positive ones. The diplomacy model is sound, but it could still be refined a bit further.

Another disturbing aspect of the game is that is doesn't seem to have evolved as much since Civilization II as it should have. In fact, it has taken a step backwards from Alpha Centauri in several respects. Alpha Centauri introduced a 3D terrain model which allowed for all sorts of neat terraforming operations. Civilization III has reverted back to a refined version of the simple 2D isometric view found in Civilization II. This is a major letdown and takes a whole aspect of civilization management away.

One additional quibble is that the short video sequences that used to play when a wonder was created have been replaced by a simple picture. Overall, wonders have been reduced to simple force multipliers and feel like they have a lot less impact.