Having voted it his second favourite Amiga game of all time, Andy Smith relishes the chance to get stuck into the CD version
| And what a glorious
experience playing Civ is. The game might be
ancient, having first come out in 1992, but it's
still just as much fun to play today. Just in case you don't know what it's all about, you're trying to build up an empire (to stand the test of time as the box blurb will have it) and defeat any of the seven (at most) rivals who are all trying to do the same thing. Along the way you'll decide how to develop your civilisation by choosing which areas of knowledge to study, from pottery to atomic theory, depending on what you've learnt already. It's a sugar-coated wargame though, the idea being to trounce the other guys, make loads of money and build lots of cities along the way. But it's the sheer playability that makes Civ so addictive and involving. You sink or swim by your decisions, making and breaking alliances when the time's right, stomping across the globe when you have enough firepower to take on anyone and going about things in a general megalomanic style. Sigh. And as to the CD version? Well if you've already got Civ on your hard drive then don't bother with it. Nick reckons there are some graphic changes but, although I hadn't played the game for a couple of years, nothing jumped out as different. Sure, Civ is brilliant and everyone should own a copy, but there's nothing new to the CD version. It's just well, Civ on CD. Actually, if anything, the game's slightly slower in this format -- it seems to take an age to switch between the little animated screens (when you build a new building) and the game screen, and it takes a while to respond to mouse clicks. It's especially lethargic when you're playing the non-AGA version -- but that is still better than Colonization, the sequel. Despite the speed problems, gameplay like this never goes out of fashion. Guildhall must be applauded for bringing out a version of the game on CD and for their general attitude to Amiga games. Of course, what we'd really like is for Sid Meier to come back to the Amiga and start coming up with some fabby new games. Much as we like being able to play classics like this, what we all want is something fresh. Ho hum. The upshot then. Civ's a brilliant game that's an absolute must if you haven't got it already, but the CD version isn't worth buying if you have it in the original format. |
 Your fledgling city starts to take shape.
This bloke here is Civ creator Sid Meier himself. With the secret of ironworking discovered, there's going to be no stopping the English (until the Babylonians destroy 'em)!
Early in the game and the Babylonians are building cities rather too close to your home town for comfort. War will ensue. You watch.
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| Nothing special but they have that something about 'em that makes you love 'em anyway. Very twee, bouncy little tunes and not much in the way of sound effects either. Once you've started it's very hard not to just keep on going. And going and going. You don't have to deal with the hard stuff until you're sure what you're doing. Great. Simply one of the best Amiga games of all time. A definite must for your collection. |
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