Civilization


Title           Civilization
Publisher       Microprose (1991)
Game Type       Management Sim
Players         1
HD Installable  Yes (CD version also available)
Compatibility   All Amigas (AGA and ECS versions available)
Game data/utils numerous speedup and save-game editors - search aminet for 'civ'
Submission      Dennis Smith Profiled Reviewer

Review
Sid Meier's classic turn-based strategy game hardly needs an introduction.
This game of world domination is one of the best computer games ever
written, and it's impossible to explain exactly why - if you don't already
have it the best way to find out why is to go out and buy it now. The game
takes place from the humble beginnings of your civilisation as a wandering
tribe in 4000BC to your bustling cities of the present day - if you make it
that far (unless of course you are good enough to complete the game before
then). As you progress, you expand your tribe, build more cities, build
armies, explore and conquer the world. You can choose to play on an
Earth-like map or on a randomly generated one - the latter giving Civ more
long-lasting appeal, as exploring new territory is one of the great joys of
the game.

You come into contact with other tribes, other civilisations, and how you
deal with them affects how they behave towards you - if you are submissive,
they may be peaceful for now - but don't trust them for a minute! If you're
more belligerent, they may be cowed into submission themselves, or you may
find yourself at war. Too much arrogance can lead to you being at war on
several fronts, so a little peace is often a good thing, though the game
does seem to reward a more aggressive attitude. There are two ways to win -
either by total world domination or by being the first civilisation to
spread out to the stars in an end-game space-race. The latter is the easier
way to end the game, though as the years tick by it's a race against the
clock as well as your opponents (scoring ends at a year determined by the
difficulty level); out-and-out war is more difficult and depends more on
luck but allows you to win earlier in your civilisation's time-line,
bringing many more points than you'll ever earn from the space-race. If you
think you can invent nuclear arms before the end of the sixteenth century
you could stand a pretty good chance!

The only problem with the Amiga version of the game is that it is very
slow. There are patches which speed up screen update but even so it crawls
compared to the game on even a basic PC. Fortunately, being turn-based
strategy, it's easy to forget this when you really get into the game. A
little patience brings considerable reward. This is a top-class game -
unless you really have no time for 'thinking' games, you must have this in
your collection.

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