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#207 A BOLD STEP FORWARD INTO THE PAST It's never to early to start discussing Civ4, Ron argues #206 WALL STREET GAMES ONLINE GP would like to live in a branching virtual world. This could be his big chance #205 CIV3`S NOT SO GREAT LEAP FORWARD Civ III's "Great Leap Forward" isn't as great or as forward as Dr Nemo hoped. By.... Dr Nemo #204 TALKING WITH SID AND SOREN Small civ3 details shared by the big heads of the development team. By Jonathan Speelman #203 CIVIII'S BIG MISTAKES A disheartened fan sends a letter of grave concern to Firaxis #202 CIVIII WILL DESTROY FREE WORLD As if Civ couldn't get any more addictive? It didn't COLUMN ARCHIVE

    I have read the articles about Civ III. It would be great to rebutt them, but I can't. I have played the game enough to agree with what is commented about it. Overall, I'd like to view it as "a work in progress."

    What I mean is that the general consensus is that "it's cool, but..." I'm a sales person for MicroCenter and often conversations with customers come around tothe games they play and, when I get one that is a Civer, I can't resist asking them about their experience. Combining their responses with my own, I can sum up the CivIII easily.

    The longer you play a game, the less exciting it gets.

    First of all, we have lost a lot of the eye candy. No wonder movies. No cute council. Even the intro movie is a bit of a bore. Still, I said to my self "Self! Play the darn thing and see the improvements." So we lost the more entertaining aspects, it must make up for it in details and play. Ok, topographical maps look a little better. Animations are a little smoother. Fight seens are underdone. Again, no eye candy. Even the less heralded Call to Power series at least had fullscreen fight scenes in which a number of units could fight a number of the other units (armies) in one stroke. The closest you can get to this in Civ III is creating a leader and then you can only combine a limited number of units together. Yes. The visual thrill is gone.

    Second, as Shakespear would say, "the play is the thing." But, it isn't. It starts off with less choices in Civs to be and, up until that patch came out, you couldn't just pick any one of those Civs without a bit of sexual confusion. After you finish a few games, you know what to do to start a game that will last. Don't turn on the cultural victory and, quite likely, you won't want to turn on the diplomatic victory. I play the Archeopalmnmnmnmn whatever setting because it is the only onewhere you can put the emphasis on ships and exploring. Lord knows by the time your Civ can actually develop Explorers you've pretty much been all over the map anyway. I play the 5000 year old planet just to have a chance to sample more resources andeven up the playing field. I usually only play against the computer, it is about assophisticated as my simple mind can handle. Once you've reached the 1900AD area, it starts to turn into a boring technology race. Spy missions are expensive and useless because by the time you can use them for smear campaigns, the otherCivs are immune to them. And why is it that no matter where I try to covertlyc reate Privateers, other AI Civs seem to always instantly respond to them.

    Finally, mixed feelings. Everyone agrees the AI is better and Civ specific and resource dependant developements make the game more interesting. But it is justenough different to lose the interest of some of the more dedicated Civ players. Was there just not enough room on the CD to put in Wonder movies? No one liked the idea of bombarding a city into oblivion? Can't be bothered by terraforming the land? Spies to be heard, not seen? Wonders not so wonderful? Early enslavements too controversial? If you want the game to be this radically different from the way things progressed on our planet, then make it an SMAC or The Sims or some otherthing other than Civ. Playing with history should be more fun and faithful than just a balance of power.

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Unorthodox Civ Player

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