PC review: Minimal evolution with 'Civilization III'

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By Star Dingo

(IDG) -- Sid Meier's "Civilization" stands as one of the greatest and most enduring gaming landmarks of all time. It is the revered founding father of the PC empire-building strategy genre, and there are still people around today who'd rather revisit the original 1991 incarnation over and over again than sully their hands and dull their minds with a copy of Westwood's latest RTS. This begs the Eternal Question: What do you do to improve on a game millions perceive as holy without disappointing its disciples? "Civilization III"'s answer: You don't really have to do a thing.

Holy Roman Empire

While there's clearly a "III" up there in the title granting the game official sequel status, "Civilization III" is more like a new faceplate for your cell phone than a brand-new phone. The big improvements are all superficial: The art has been majorly prettied up (though it's still 2-D, lest ye be worried you'll need to buy a GeForce 3), and the map interface has been nicely redesigned to make your cities' current projects and civil uprisings easier to spot. The sound is good, if minimalist: The game, by virtue of its slow turn-based nature, doesn't rely on sound effects, and its soundtrack doesn't tread much outside the boundaries of pleasantness.

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Other than that, the state of the "Civilization" is pretty much status quo. Firaxis has left the core gameplay indistinguishable from that of "Civ 2," from the way you move your tile-based units to the assignment of citizens as tax collectors or entertainers to combat civil discontent. Interaction between rulers of rival countries still essentially amounts to curt, condescending "Greetings, puny worm, give us X in exchange for Y or face the wrath of WAR" conversations. "Civ" vets will even notice that the city-state governors frequently make the same exact wonky decisions about how to allocate laborers to gather food, production, and money. There's also a very obvious -- especially in an age when "PC game" and "online multiplayer support" are almost synonymous -- lack of any multiplayer game options whatsoever.

Cultural Advances

What few gameplay changes there are, thankfully, are all good -- though they're the kind of tweaks you usually associate with a Version 2.0 patch than a whole new game. Unique culture-specific units have been introduced. Bartering and trade options have been expanded. The hands-free, quick-n-dirty combat has been improved with a more instantly understandable stat system and more intricate territory rules. A greater emphasis on Culture makes non-military victories a far more plausible thing. The random map generator also seems to build much more interesting, believable worlds, with continents that take on a form that you'd actually expect to find in nature.

Of course, all of these are things that only the hardest of the hardcore "Civ" fans will even notice; most of us will only note that "Gee, the mountains sure do look a whole lot nicer, and cool, the game hasn't crashed even once!" "Civilization III" is a rich, timeless, and time-sucking strategy game -- if you thought it felt more like a math test than a video game back in 1991, then 10 years' time probably won't have changed your mind. It's still just "Civilization," holy and true.

'Civilization III' at a glance

Graphics: 3.5 (out of 5)

Sound: 3.5

Controls: 4

Fun factor: 3.5