If you can't experience Civilization II--one of the best computer strategy games of all time--on a Mac or PC, this faithful PlayStation adaptation is the next-best thing. Gameplay is turn-based and takes place on a world map that's broken down into an octagonal grid, with players controlling a civilization from its inception in 4000 B.C. all the way through A.D. 2020. You "win" the game by either conquering the world or being the first civilization to successfully colonize space; how you go about this--in terms of the social, economic, and political strategies involved--is entirely up to you. This freedom in decision-making, along with a good amount of game options and the fact that the "world" is randomly generated each time you begin a game, adds extremely high replay value.
While Civilization II has been slightly pared down and doesn't look as good as it does on a computer--the graphics here are muddy, and text can be hard to read--the customized PlayStation control interface works surprisingly well. (Keyboard and mouse controls generally don't translate well to the PlayStation controller, to put it mildly.) --Joe Hon
Pros:
Faithful adaptation of one of the best computer strategy games of all time
Control interface has been customized for the PlayStation
Extremely high replay value
Cons:
Muddy graphics; hard-to-read text
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Civ II - AWSOME Game Comment: If you don't have a PC for gaming, this is the next best thing. Civ II is a great game and the Play Station version is spot on.
This may be the ultimate strategy game of all time and it definitely translates well on to the Play Station format. Customer Rating: Summary: Not as good as PC version Comment: Let me start out by saying that I am a huge Civilization fan...but....the Playstation version does not hold a candle to the PC version. The PS screen is cloudy and difficult to see, especially your own cities growth numbers. It's difficult to determine whose winning a battle as the stamina bar is impossible to see. My absolute biggest problem w/ the PS version is not having "auto" control over settlers. On the PC game you can set settlers to auto so they go around building roads and mining etc.. You have to do it all yourself on playstation. Do you know how boring it is to build 5,000 roads w/ 20 settlers?? Some people want to micromanage every aspect, but there is zero strategy to be gained from controlling settlers yourself, zero. Why take this option away? I think this explains why they never made another version for the playstation. Civilization is a game that apparently must be played on a computer. Customer Rating: Summary: Elvis on the council???? Comment: I originally rented this game out of curiosity, and quickly got hooked! Ended up buying it because a 3-day rental isn't enough time to win here. The gameplay can take a while (depending on level chosen) but if you are looking to get your mind off the everyday routine for a couple of hours, this is a game that delivers. There are 21 different civilizations to choose from (Romans, Greeks, Mongols, Zulus etc.) that have no superiority over any others initially. After setting your tribal preferences you start off in the year 4000 B.C. with one settler unit and 0 gold pieces. How successful your tribe is depends largely on the site you choose for you first city and the development of the resources around it. Send out more units to explore the surrounding area and build more cities, and repeat. Every so often you will get the opportunity to meet with your "high council", who inform you how you are doing. One of the advisors is an Elvis impersonator who had me cracking up with laughter many times with his insights on citizens' happiness levels. Not to mention the satisfaction of attacking any other civilization that ticked me off at times. Definitely a game anyone into strategy games should own. Customer Rating: Summary: strategy pure and simple... Comment: If your looking for a strategy game tht challenges you... this is it. Its not pretty to look at, terrible music, and this game takes a long time to beat at its maximum level. I found it challenging and my competitive nature would not allow me to let go until i figured it out. However this is number crunching at its highest point. Its easy to go thru the menues but difficult to master the systems. This game is only for strategy freak like me who love a challenge if your looking for action, graphics, or storyline dont bother. The price is right though, but Romance of the three kingdoms, nectaris, or command @ conquer, or even panzer or allied general have a little more to offer. Customer Rating: Summary: A Model of How the World Works Comment: Civilization II is a decided improvement over Civilization I, already an outstanding game. Civ II features a number of new, improved, and snazzier units. It is also "equal opportunity," insofar as each civilization can have either a male and female ruler (although the latter is sometimes the wife of some noted male ruler), as well as female civilian units, engineers and spies, that appear in midgame and are twice as efficient as their ancient male counterparts.
I prefer to play on the "real world" map because it gives insights into the historical forces that shaped civilizations. For instance, the Mongols and the Russians are hostile, aggressive, powers because they were landlocked, resource (read arms) -rich, food- and trade- poor countries. England and Japan compensate with expansionist tendencies for their starts on small islands. Meanwhile the Americans are a friendly people (except possibly against the Aztecs and/or Sioux) because they were blessed with an ideal combination of trade, resources, and food, as well as a "splendid isolation."
The diplomacy function, which was the weak link of Civilization I, has been vastly improved in Civilization II. For instance, human players are penalized in terms of "reputation" for breaking peace treaties. And the computer players are great at forming alliances against the strongest country in the world (or on a continent) to prevent one civilization from running away with the show and conquering the entire planet. The alliance option is usually available to the human player too. "Peace" now forces civilizations to withdraw troops from each others' territories, while the "no war" state of Civilization I is called a ceasefire.
The combat function has been upgraded using protocols from other war games. Battles now have multiple rounds, typically resulting in one "killed" and one wounded unit, more nearly reflecting relative strengths, instead of "all or nothing" fights that do give weak, ancient, phalanxes a one chance in five or ten of destroying modern armored or battleship units.
There are seven new wonders, mostly representing the endowments of famous people in history (Leonardo's Workshop, Sun Tzu's War Academy), and the old wonders have been revamped slightly, usually by making them more or less powerful. (Free government changes aren't allowed until midgame after the discovery of Democracy and building of the Statue of Liberty, while the pyramids provide a granary in each city.) These add dimension and complexity to an already fascinating game.
