Millennia is a new time travel strategy game coming from Take 2 in which you have somehow gotten shoved into an alternate dimension and in it, an evil race called the Microids has destroyed four other friendly races and it's your task to set things right. Of course, all the other races are now extinct so you have to use your time machine to travel back and forth in time helping the races achieve certain advances at key points in time which will help them drive off the Microids. When the Microids are defeated there's only one thing left for you to do: escape from the galaxy altogether.
The time span in which you are working goes back 10,000 years from the present time, in which the Microids have killed everyone off. Your time machine can make leaps of 100 years at a time in which you can intervene in certain "historical events" of the races. Depending on the event that you change and the manner in which it was altered, the entire future of the planet will change. Through this method you attempt to bring the race to the point in which it can defend itself from the onslaught of the Microids. There are around 80 inventions which you can use ranging from the wheel to nuclear power. Obviously these races did not advance at a fast enough rate to survive the Microids so you must help them along by taking inventions from one race and giving them to other races which speed up their development. Of course the inventions you give them can't be too advanced or the receiving race won't have a clue as to what it is or how to use it, so you're forced to help the races along at an accelerated pace rather than just giving them the weapon they need to stop the Microids. The type of the race you're dealing with also determines what kind of invention you give them. You don't give an underwater race a gun for example.
All this would be simple if it weren't for one thing: there's folks out there who like things just the way they are. The Microids in particular have an interest in keeping you from messing around with time and they're quite prepared to attack you. Also, some of the races that you're trying to help may think they can do just fine on their own and decide to turn against you. On top of all that you've also found that you aren't alone in going through time. There's someone else messing around with what you've already accomplished, so before you can make any serious progress that person will have to be dealt with.
In your travels, there are other concerns to worry about besides these races. You have to keep your ship fueled by refueling in the systems that have gas giants, kinda like cosmic Texacos, from which you can skim off the fuel you need. You also have to arm your ship against attacks, so as you visit different races at different points in time you can trade for the armaments you need to survive.
When you complete the task of driving off the Microids the game shifts gears and you're then faced with the task of escaping the galaxy. Upon the destruction of the Microids, all of the races which are developed enough become capable of changing any unsuitable planetary environments to suit their needs, which leads to an all out war. In order to escape the galaxy there are certain items each race can produce which your ship will need. The main problem is that each one of the items requires a huge amount of resources which, after the war with the Microids, will be difficult to put together. So in this war between all of the races you'll be forced to work with one race or another to get the resources produced and the items you need made. From there it's just a matter of trading for the items you need.
The look and sound of the game should be quite impressive. An extensive amount of animation will be used for all of the different parts of the ship (i.e. communications, navigation, teleporter room), combat sequences, the different types of weaponry, and to do nice things like spin planets on the axis. There will be many special musical sequences to enjoy and when you speak with planetary representatives you'll see digitized video in which the representatives are portrayed by actors in latex costumes. The onboard computer is also being giving it's own artificial intelligence so it will be more of a companion instead of just a tool.
In a genre filled with Civ and MoO clones, Millennia looks like it could be on to something. With an idea that's simple in it's premise yet complex in it's application Millennia should be just right for fans of sweeping strategy games. Expect a release date in late September of '95.
