Civilization is a classic. No one would deny this. However, it's universally acknowledged that the game has always lacked a crucial element: the ability to crush other humans on the path to world domination. Finally, MicroProse has succumbed to half a decade of clamoring by rabid Civ fans and given you the power to do just that.
CivNet could be just a faster, prettier version of WinCiv. The tile graphics are (as far as I can tell) identical. There are some nice features that affect single-player mode, such as nicer window border graphics, the ability to spawn multiple gameplay windows, and a research advisor (who will help you figure out how to get from point A, where your technology is, to point B, where you want it to be).
Where the game really shines, though (naturally!) is in its multi-player support. You can play this game against other people in a startling variety of ways. You can employ the classic "hot seat" method to play on one PC ("I'm taking my turn - don't look!"), play head to head via modem or direct serial link, play over a LAN, over the Internet, or via an on-line service.
And just how DOES the game play, you might ask.
Well, it's definitely Civilization, make no mistake. No little enhancements to gameplay, no tweaking of the combat values of the units - the game design is virtually identical (except they finally give you an option to turn off the stupid map fizzle, which I've hated since the first days of Railroad Tycoon). In other words, if none of your friends are computer geeks like you, don't bother with CivNet, unless you find WinCiv intolerably slow - CivNet uses the miraculous WinG graphics API, so graphics performance is at least as good as it would be under DOS.
Multiplayer, on the other hand, is downright fun. One might expect, in a turn-based game, that you'd spend all your time waiting for the slow guy to take his turn. Fortunately, CivNet features a "simultaneous movement" option to make the game play smoothly. This lets all players move their pieces at the same time, then resolves conflicts and upkeep afterward. Much to my surprise, this works extremely well. Only rarely do I find myself waiting on other players, and it's inevitably at the beginning of the game, on turns when they have lots of pieces to move and I'm just building stuff. Also, in the multiplayer game setup, you can specify the maximum turn length in minutes AND a "sudden death" time span (ranging from ?? seconds to 2 minutes). When everyone has taken their turn except one person, the clock immediately begins counting down. This creates an environment where there's just enough time pressure to keep anal players from bogging the game down with their infernal need to micromanage, without constantly leaving you feeling as though you aren't accomplishing everything you want to. Also handy is the fact that you can review information about your civilization - its demographics, the status of your cities, progress on research, and so on - while you are between turns.
It's not the most fast-paced multiplayer game, though. It still takes many turns to build up enough units to accomplish anything. If you favor this sort of game, you'll probably get a major kick out of it, but if you're more of a slash 'n' burn, Command & Conquer or Warcraft-type gamer, you'll likely get kind of bored. ("Ooh, in only twelve more turns, I'll have a single catapult with which I will pummel those other puny civilizations into dust.")
The only other real complaint I have is with the damn tile set. With all the resources the developers invested into the nice 3D rendered intro flic, the enhancements to the interface, etc., wouldn't it have been worth their while to draw some new terrain tiles? I mean, come on! There's almost nothing complicated about doing this (especially compared to developing networking code) - it's just labor-intensive! I can understand that there's a risk of breaking the continuity with previous Civ games and confusing old-time players, but the terrain graphics are just not up to current standards. In fact, rumor has it that Civ 2000 will have these updated graphics. Does this mean we'll have to cough up for a CivNet 2000 in a year to get the pretty pictures? Or will Civ 2000 contain the multiplayer code from CivNet? Either way, isn't it just a way to suck more money out of the wallets of Civ fans everywhere? WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END? (Although, to MicroProse's credit, they DO have a pretty good upgrade policy, so if you're a registered Civ or WinCiv owner, you should check into the possibility of picking up CivNet, or future games, directly from MicroProse at reduced rates.)
It would be easy to be dismissive in summarizing this product. Yes, it's Civilization, exactly as it was in 1991, except that now, the Zulus could very well be your boss. Still, the visceral thrill of playing against another human (or six) cannot be underestimated. And MicroProse has invested considerable resources into making certain that multiplayer works smoothly and without hampering the addictive gameplay that made Civ the classic it is. In this respect, the game is a clear success. So go ahead - prove you'd make a better despot than the other people in your office. CivNet gives you the means. Finally!
