Back in the old days it seemed like games did something that no one had seen before. Nowadays, it's becoming more and more difficult to deliver a transcendent game experience, one that makes you think, "I never thought I'd ever be able to do this" or "this is a good reason to own a computer." Much innovation today is on the technical side of things, and since technology moves so quickly in this business, tomorrow we forget the advances of today. Good design, though, is timeless, but nowadays it's almost as if the well has run dry on original game design.
When a transcendent design arrives, as it did back in 1991 when Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley created Civilization, the result is twofold. First off, gamers are suddenly awakened to new possibilities of what the computer can do. Secondly, it inspires countless imitations and the inevitable sequels. We've already suffered through the imitation phase (and they still trickle in from time-to-time), and we've finally entered the sequel phase with Sid Meier's Civilization II.
For those gamers who have never played Civilization (both of you), or have gotten into gaming via brain-dead action games, here's a little analogy from the land of the id. Going from Civilization to Civilization II is like going from Wolfenstein 3D to Doom. If you think about that for a minute, remember that Doom took the same interface and design aspects of Wolfenstein and improved upon virtually every aspect, resulting in a game that was earth-shatteringly better.
Civilization II is an evolutionary advance from Civilization. The basic premise remains the same. You're the ruler at the dawn of your civilization, and through your management, controlled growth and exploration, you determine the fate of your civilization. Will you concentrate on military production and attempt to conquer opposing civilizations or build an economic and technological powerhouse and try to make it to space first? The real beauty of Civilization, and this sequel, is that these two approaches yield two completely different games. What makes Civilization II so superior to the original is that you can take the peaceful route and utilizing the improved diplomacy and new gameplay balancing elements, actually win games.
Initial games, especially on the easiest levels, do not adequately portray the sheer volume of improvements this game has. Gamers will be shocked to find out that most of the strategies that they've developed over the years for Civilization no longer work. The improved diplomacy, for example, forces the player to establish diplomatic ties with as many civilizations as possible as you'll need them as the game progresses. You can no longer attack a country, take over a couple of cities, and then make peace and expect them to forgive and forget. They'll make a treaty with you, as most of the civilizations work toward peace now rather than war,
All of the old railroad tricks no longer work. They only increase production of shields and arrows in Civilization II. They don't do anything at all for food - food production sees an increase with the discovery of refrigeration (you can now double irrigate squares once you've discovered it). However, and here's where the old balance comes into play, refrigeration is pretty high up the technology ladder, and without the food production you'll find that it's quite challenging to grow you cities above eight or ten (you'll also need aqueducts and sewers to grow cities).
The governments have been refined as well. Despotism is much worse than it was before, so monarchy is a key early advance. A new government type has been added, fundamentalism, and it will be the favorite of every military aggressor type. It eliminates unrest, you can build a new unit, fanatics and the limits on how many units you can have out in the fields versus at home is virtually meaningless. Like all Civilization features, it sounds great on paper, until you realize that s your scientific research a whopping 50%. If you want a good laugh, try changing from fundamentalism directly to democracy. It's a riot (ouch). Overall, all of the governments let the player have more units running around, which somewhat alleviates the need to switch to despotism or monarchy to fight a war with someone.
War, though, is not the cut and dry decision it used to be. You have be prepared to change your plans once you've made the decision. It's all about balance, as this game better than any straddles the line between war and peace. You will need to fight, but avoiding it at all costs is the best policy, at least until you've built up a big enough arsenal to defeat all of your foes. If you do choose to go for it and wage an all-out war, expect the computer to make as many alliances as possible, try to bribe you units and do whatever it takes to fend off your attack.
If you're out in front, either economically, technologically or militarily, you can expect the computer opponents to behave differently toward you. The allies will become jealous of your success and start to pester you for technology. They will also start to gang up on you, and depending on your own reputation in dealing with other countries, may start doing nasty things to you. Likewise, if you're struggling, allies may be benevolent toward you and actually give you technology in an attempt to bolster their own position by building you up. After all, it's better to have strong allies, but how strong do you want them to get?
There are a number of new units that really add to the enjoyment of the game. The new spies are a nasty unit, able to bribe troops, steal technology, poison water supplies and plant nuclear devices in cities protected by SDI early warning system. The computer uses them a lot so watch out - if you have a border set up, make sure to stack two units together, as that makes both impervious to bribery. If you are caught doing any nasty stuff, you can cause an international incident, and if caught trying to plant a nuclear device, you'll trigger immediate outrage from all other civilizations and they will all declare war on you. Other units of note include, and these are just a brief list, paratroopers (able to travel 10 squares), stealth units, battleships and subs that can carry cruise missiles and rain fire on cities. Engineers are the advancement from settlers, and they can not only build roads and irrigate squares but also transform terrain and build airports. If you build airports in multiple cities, you can transport troops from city to city quickly.
The included map editor allows users to created an unlimited number of worlds. When combined with the cheat mode (which is amazingly enough on the regular game menu at all times), gamers can create their own scenarios. The tiles used for the terrain and units are in a readable file format, and most of the parameters of the game are included in standard text files. This should guarantee plenty of repeat play for the game (as if that was a problem with the original).
There are a few rooms for improvement. The advice given by your advisors is fairly useless, as they always say they need more money or tell you that you're doing great. This may in part be due to the use of video to represent them, thereby limiting the number of responses to whatever was filmed, rather than allowing a full range of potential responses. Of course the Elvis advisor is moderately amusing, though the impersonator is fairly weak. They should have consulted the Las Vegas directory for quality Elvis impersonators.
If you successfully take a city, you have to keep it, rather than being able to raze it. This is keeping more with history than gaming, as you can only thing of a few towns that have been completely obliterated in war (Troy?). You can sell off the buildings and leave it for scavengers, but the problem with that is if it's the original owner, the game remembers this and the town will be considered "liberated," meaning city improvements aren't destroyed and no partisans are generated (this is another new unit - wacky freedom fighters, loyal and deadly).
The new isometric perspective is occasionally too clever for its own good. The air units, for example, look like they're sitting on the square directly above them, and more than a few times you may find yourself trying to attack something and missing it because you misjudged exactly wh square it was occupying. Overall, the graphics are OK, but not on the level of an Outpost (don't laugh - the game may have been a bust, but it was pretty). Some of the individual units are ugly (paratroopers and alpine units are particularly lame). The new cut scenes for the wonders are quite spectacular to look at, but they play back slow enough that most players will probably turn them off.
There will be many who will scream loudly about Civilization II's lack of multi-player play. Those who choose to not purchase it will be the losers here, as the hours and hours of play for a single game wouldn't make Civilization II a prime multi-player game. Of course it could be more fun against other humans, but then again is any game worse in multi-player mode? People bitching about MicroProse milking gamers if they choose to do a CivNet II really miss the point - why should people who enjoy solo play have had to pay for the addition (and inevitable delays) of developing a multi-player version. The multi-player people can wait. The rest of us can continue playing.
While Sid Meier isn't actually involved in the design of Civilization II (the excellent 200 page manual features an excellent design notes by Civ II designer Brian Reynolds), it still retains that Civilization flavor. Lord knows what would have happened if Reynolds had chosen to change too much. He has managed to retain that essential Civness to it all, while actually expanding its breadth and scope. Even SimCity 2000, perhaps the blueprint of how to do a sequel right, didn't do this good a job. It could be fascinating to see what Reynolds does for an encore, just as every design that Sid Meier works on is eagerly awaited.
When you're thinking about game ratings, Civilization would generally be regarded as the high-water mark when reviewing strategy games. It is the "five-star" game, the "100%" the "thumbs-up," whatever. Civilization II is now the new standard because, as good as Civilization is, this is better. In every respect. If we had a rating higher than five, erm, atom thingees, then this would get it. And I bought my own copy at the store, thank you very much, because if I end up playing Civilization II half as much time as I spent with Civilization, it will still be a better bang for the buck than any game I've played since, well, Civilization.
It would be possible to go on and on about how good Civilization II is, and all of the features that are improved, and why it may very well be the best strategy game ever created, and hell, perhaps the best game on the planet today, but it's going to start getting embarrassing very soon. Folks, this is as close to design perfection as it gets. Play and be awed. Play some more and be even more awed. It's hard to say how long it will take till that sense of "wow, they actually included that" wears off. If it's anything like Civilization, it may never go away. This is as good as gaming gets.
