Civilization III Review
11 August 2003 | By Magpie
Start your civilization with a few people and build it into a powerful empire that will beat the time
If you haven’t played past Civilization releases, the story is simple. Start your civilization with a few people and build it into a powerful empire that will beat the time. But the path to that empire isn’t simple. You will found cities, invest in new technologies, culture and in military, only to get that one more resource that will give you world trading hegemony and pave the way for building more lethal units. Beware however, because your rivals are always watching you and if, or should I say when, you make a wrong move you and your people will pay the consequences.
As mentioned, you need resources. You need them for trading and creating units and buildings. For example, you will need the iron resource to make Swordsmen, oil to build devastating Battleships, saltpeter for Coastal Defenses etc. And last but not the least, you will need to gather luxuries that will make your population happier throughout the empire. Luxuries are also very profitable for trading.
You have a wide range of units available for construction. As you discover new technologies you get new units become available for your use. From primitive Axemen to much more sophisticated stealth bombers, B-52 and more. The combat system is little more complicated than in past releases of Civilization; e.g. now if you are standing on one side of the river and somebody attacks you from the other you will get defensive bonus. All in all combat is really much like real life and you can pretty realistically decide your next move.
If you are a good leader your people will from time to time award you by building and improving your palace.
Each civilization can undertake the construction of wonders that will, when completed, give the builders useful bonuses. Most of the wonders can only be built by one civilization so it’s a constant race to see who can build it first. For instance, if you build Hanging Gardens your people will be more content throughout the empire while building Magellan Expedition will give all your sea units additional movement bonuses over sea etc.
“Speak your mind and be on your way!” you will hear from the rival civilizations leader after you offer him resource of Horses for their resource of Uranium. Trade your technologies carefully and you may see your tanks run over an entire civilization defended by only spearmen in a few turns. Even if such differences are rare, they can occur. Diplomacy is sophisticated and you can offer / ask anything you can think of.
There are a lot of things to like in Civilization 3. The first part I should mention is, of course, the computer artificial intelligence.
The computer will always hit you where you least expect it. Indeed the AI is very clever at times and will repeatedly surprise you! The game is almost unbeatable at any level higher than Regent. At Regent, the computer doesn’t get any bonuses but will still give you a more than a decent challenge. You will always have to be on the watch for the enemy cause he knows where you are the weakest and he will attack you there if you give him a chance. Difficulty levels wont give any rival civilization artificial advantages/ disadvantages in combat, it will only reflect on fighting with barbarians.
When you start a crusade, you will have to pause after every conquered city unless you have a strong military at your disposal. If you don’t have it you might not want to attack anyone because, lets say that you by mere luck or with technologically advanced units conquer one enemy city. If that city is even the medium size you will lose it in two turns cause your unit will be overthrown by the rebel’s. You must rebuff the rebels in each city after you conquer it with strong force. Only one unit won’t do it, and you may want to wait for backup cause it will most likely be lost if you decide to attack.
Each unit in Civilization III is beautifully animated and you will enjoy watching them move and fight. They are interesting and inspiring. The look of your empire will change every time you move from one age to the other. From ancient times to middle ages. From the middle ages to the industrial age. From the industrial age to modern times. Your cities and units will look differently to reflect their current era. A lot of people, including me, will be glad to hear that there is once more an option to view your city from up close. Yes!
Finally, when you finish the game, you can watch a slow motion replay that will tell you what happened one step at a time till the year you finished the game. It’s really interesting looking at it!
Civilization III doesn’t have many bad sides, but as often there are few.
Even if the AI is quite strong he will from time to time make some questionable moves. Two examples.
Imagine that you have a civilization that is established on island. If you don’t occupy each square of that island somebody else will. But that shouldn’t concern you a bit cause sooner or later you will control that city not by a sword but with your culture. One lonely city can’t stand the cultural pressure from all your surrounding cities on that island and it will sooner or later bow down his flag and put up a new one, yours.
The other example of bad AI judgment was this. In one game, there was one small island not far from our coast that was occupied by Englishmen. After ending one of my turns I got message that England declared war on the Aztecs. A few turns passed and I saw Aztec ship unloading troops at that island. They attacked and conquered the city without much trouble. I said goodbye to Merry England but after two turns they came back with one Caravel filled with troops and freed the town from Aztec occupation. Then, after two or three turns the Aztecs were back. They conquered the city again. Then England again. Then the Aztecs. Then again England. You catch my drift. It lasted long and I was pretty disappointed with the glitch. As much as I wanted to see some reasonable AI strategy, he just couldn’t pull it off. All they needed to do was conquer the city and place one unit at the only square on that island besides the city square and no enemy civilization would’ve be able to unload troops on that island for a long, long time. But hey, I guess that was too much to ask.
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| The interface in the game is intuitive and with time, will become your best friend. |
You will start off with virtually nothing, but smart tactics will expand your empire. |
As mentioned, you need resources. You need them for trading and creating units and buildings. For example, you will need the iron resource to make Swordsmen, oil to build devastating Battleships, saltpeter for Coastal Defenses etc. And last but not the least, you will need to gather luxuries that will make your population happier throughout the empire. Luxuries are also very profitable for trading.
You have a wide range of units available for construction. As you discover new technologies you get new units become available for your use. From primitive Axemen to much more sophisticated stealth bombers, B-52 and more. The combat system is little more complicated than in past releases of Civilization; e.g. now if you are standing on one side of the river and somebody attacks you from the other you will get defensive bonus. All in all combat is really much like real life and you can pretty realistically decide your next move.
If you are a good leader your people will from time to time award you by building and improving your palace.
Each civilization can undertake the construction of wonders that will, when completed, give the builders useful bonuses. Most of the wonders can only be built by one civilization so it’s a constant race to see who can build it first. For instance, if you build Hanging Gardens your people will be more content throughout the empire while building Magellan Expedition will give all your sea units additional movement bonuses over sea etc.
“Speak your mind and be on your way!” you will hear from the rival civilizations leader after you offer him resource of Horses for their resource of Uranium. Trade your technologies carefully and you may see your tanks run over an entire civilization defended by only spearmen in a few turns. Even if such differences are rare, they can occur. Diplomacy is sophisticated and you can offer / ask anything you can think of.
There are a lot of things to like in Civilization 3. The first part I should mention is, of course, the computer artificial intelligence.
 |
 |
|
| The game is beautifully animated. Although it looks simple in stills, it looks gorgeous in action. |
One of the Civilzation series' main draws is starting from feudal times and working up to the present. |
The computer will always hit you where you least expect it. Indeed the AI is very clever at times and will repeatedly surprise you! The game is almost unbeatable at any level higher than Regent. At Regent, the computer doesn’t get any bonuses but will still give you a more than a decent challenge. You will always have to be on the watch for the enemy cause he knows where you are the weakest and he will attack you there if you give him a chance. Difficulty levels wont give any rival civilization artificial advantages/ disadvantages in combat, it will only reflect on fighting with barbarians.
When you start a crusade, you will have to pause after every conquered city unless you have a strong military at your disposal. If you don’t have it you might not want to attack anyone because, lets say that you by mere luck or with technologically advanced units conquer one enemy city. If that city is even the medium size you will lose it in two turns cause your unit will be overthrown by the rebel’s. You must rebuff the rebels in each city after you conquer it with strong force. Only one unit won’t do it, and you may want to wait for backup cause it will most likely be lost if you decide to attack.
Each unit in Civilization III is beautifully animated and you will enjoy watching them move and fight. They are interesting and inspiring. The look of your empire will change every time you move from one age to the other. From ancient times to middle ages. From the middle ages to the industrial age. From the industrial age to modern times. Your cities and units will look differently to reflect their current era. A lot of people, including me, will be glad to hear that there is once more an option to view your city from up close. Yes!
Finally, when you finish the game, you can watch a slow motion replay that will tell you what happened one step at a time till the year you finished the game. It’s really interesting looking at it!
Civilization III doesn’t have many bad sides, but as often there are few.
Even if the AI is quite strong he will from time to time make some questionable moves. Two examples.
Imagine that you have a civilization that is established on island. If you don’t occupy each square of that island somebody else will. But that shouldn’t concern you a bit cause sooner or later you will control that city not by a sword but with your culture. One lonely city can’t stand the cultural pressure from all your surrounding cities on that island and it will sooner or later bow down his flag and put up a new one, yours.
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| Trade is crucial to acquiring resources necessary for expanding your empire. |
There is information on virtually every unit in the game in the Civilopedia. |
The other example of bad AI judgment was this. In one game, there was one small island not far from our coast that was occupied by Englishmen. After ending one of my turns I got message that England declared war on the Aztecs. A few turns passed and I saw Aztec ship unloading troops at that island. They attacked and conquered the city without much trouble. I said goodbye to Merry England but after two turns they came back with one Caravel filled with troops and freed the town from Aztec occupation. Then, after two or three turns the Aztecs were back. They conquered the city again. Then England again. Then the Aztecs. Then again England. You catch my drift. It lasted long and I was pretty disappointed with the glitch. As much as I wanted to see some reasonable AI strategy, he just couldn’t pull it off. All they needed to do was conquer the city and place one unit at the only square on that island besides the city square and no enemy civilization would’ve be able to unload troops on that island for a long, long time. But hey, I guess that was too much to ask.
CIVILIZATION III VERDICT
The other example of bad AI judgment was this. In one game, there was one small island not far from our coast that was occupied by Englishmen. After ending one of my turns I got message that England declared war on the Aztecs. A few turns passed and I saw Aztec ship unloading troops at that island. They attacked and conquered the city without much trouble. I said goodbye to Merry England but after two turns they came back with one Caravel filled with troops and freed the town from Aztec occupation. Then, after two or three turns the Aztecs were back. They conquered the city again. Then England again. Then the Aztecs. Then again England. You catch my drift. It lasted long and I was pretty disappointed with the glitch. As much as I wanted to see some reasonable AI strategy, he just couldn’t pull it off. All they needed to do was conquer the city and place one unit at the only square on that island besides the city square and no enemy civilization would’ve be able to unload troops on that island for a long, long time. But hey, I guess that was too much to ask.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Being the dominant civilization when all things are said and done, and proclaiming your superiority with an awe-inspiring wonder.
