CTP ROUNDUP
(24 April 2000, 4:14 EST) It's been a while since i have posted anything, but there really hasn't been much going on when it comes to CTP. The bugs have been ironed out by the two patches and now it seems that everyone is happily gaming away on it. It took it upon me just to point out a few things.
I had noticed that prices for the game varied wildly from the exorbitant $49.99 at ebworld
to the more friendly $39.99 at Mac-o-rama
The two companies, from a mainly european point of view offer opposing benefits. At ebworld it seems you can get most games very quickly. I found CTP there way before it became available at Mac-o-rama. I also found that this early availablity cost me big time with a final bill including shipping to the Uk at around $85!!!

If you can find it at http://www.mac-o-rama.com first then go there. As for the domestic market in the Uk i know there are prices even cheaper than 39.99 but it depends where you look.

Happy hunting, and if you hear anything of interest on the CTP front be sure to drop me a line. I'd be happy to post it up on the website. -Baston

CTP IN MAC-O-RAMA GONE FROM TOP 10
(4 April 2000, 6:53 EST) The latest top ten from http://www.mac-o-rama.com shows that Call to power has slipped from it's previous position to out of the top ten list :(. I probably didn't help by pre-ordering my copy of Baldur's Gate last week. Sales still seem to be doing well, though now it is an established game sales will most likely continue to level off. -Baston

CTP REVIEW IN MACADDICT
(2 April 2000, 9:43 EST) The May 2000 issue of MacAddict contains a review of CtP for Mac. They give it a "YEAH, WHATEVER" rating. The review has the same tone as the MacHome review. GOOD NEWS: Civilization was one of the all-time best games ever, and this is still Civilization. BAD NEWS: Vastly inferior new user interface. Some absurd units weaken the game. Subscribers have the issue now, the mag should be on the newsstands soon and the review posted on the website within the next week or so. -macuser

CTP SALES STILL GOOD
(30 March 2000, 5:28 EST) Browsing through various sites earlier this morning i noticed that Call to Power is once again selling well. Specifically though this is through Mac-o-rama (where i tend to buy most of my games) but the indications are good. For $39.00 you can buy your copy of this 7th place best selling game from the online store.

http://www.mac-o-rama.com -Baston

CTP REVIEW AT MAC GAME GATE
(27 March 2000, 4:32 EST) Rob Mallows has posted his review of Civilisation Call to Power on Mac Game Gate's website. He rates it at 3.5 out of 5, and speaks favourably of the game. Check out his review at: http://www.macgamegate.com/reviews/reviews/CTP/ -Baston

APOLYTON INTERVIEW PHIL SULAK
(21 March 2000, 7:19 EST) Phil Sulak from westlake interactive spoke to Apolyton recently about CTP and his work on the Mac port of this amazing game. It's a real good read into the work that went on and Phil's own impression of the Mac platform.

http://apolyton.net/misc/interviews/mac_attack-sulak.shtml -Baston

CtP FOR MAC REVIEW IN MACHOME
(19 March 2000, 14:24 EST) The April 2000 issue of MacHome magazine contains reviews of both Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (SMAC) and Civilization: Call to Power (C:CtP). They give a stellar 5 of 5 "Apples" rating to SMAC but hold back a little on C:CtP giving it 3.5 "Apples".

The reviewer, Alex Handy, writes the following of C:CtP:

"At first glance C:CtP seem to be more of the gloriously addictive gameplay we've come to expect. But the further you delve into the depths of a game you discover that it is no longer Civilization. It's addictive, fun and original, but it's no longer a sequel. ... The space system is a bit pointless, and a lot of the futuristic units seem to fall short of the capabilities they're intended to have... And yet, the game is still surprisingly addictive." He also comments on problems with the interface, unit movement and menus. From the SMAC review he additionally comments: "...C:CtP is a fun game, definitely worth playing for hours on end, but once you try Alpha Centauri, you'll begin to see that Activision simply didn't put enough care and time into C:CtP. Alpha Centauri is a perfect example of how to make a Civilization clone correctly. C:CtP is an example of how to lose sight of your goals amid a large budget and false pretenses."

The magazine is in the hands of subscribers now and soon available on the newsstands. MacHome posts their reviews on their website, so I expect to see both the SMAC and C:CtP reviews online after the magazine has been available for a while. An excerpt from the SMAC review is posted on the SMAC page. -macuser

MAC GAMERS LEDGE DEAL ENDS TODAY
(17 March 2000, 5:35 EST) Macgamersledge are ending their Call to Power deal today, so if you havent got it yet and are looking for a good deal (Just $35) head over to them:

http://www.macgamersledge.com/NEWS.chtml#0316-7 -Baston

CTP TOURNAMENT
(5 March 2000, 4:29 EST) Terje Skaaland e-mailed me a couple of days ago to say he was starting a Call to Power tournament soon. The link seems to be up and running and the format looks good. However there still seem to be some PC to Mac PBeM gaming issues that are as yet unresolved so be aware of this if you are thinking of joining.
http://home.c2i.net/w-298441/ -Baston

MACGAMENEWS.COM REVIEW: 7 OUT OF 10
(27 February 2000, 15:28 EST) Jeffrey Chen from macgamenews.com has reviewed Civilization Call to Power and marked it fairly favourably. He summarized by saying:

"In the end, Call to Power isn't so much a Civilization game as a turn-based Age of Empires. Instead of an open-ended, multi-tactic empire game, you're guided towards a military, action-based philosophy whether you like it or not, and your technological advances are geared towards that end. The domestic administration features are more of a backdrop than an essential feature, despite the fact that these are the best improvements. The gameplay and interace suffer from this muddled mentality, and that's a shame, because if Activision had gone one route or the other, this could have been a very good game."

http://www.macgamenews.com/games/civctp -Baston

MGL REVIEW: 4 OUT OF 5
(27 February 2000, 6:37 EST) Head over to Mac Gamers Ledge for Greg Weston's review of Civilization Call to Power that has just been posted. It would have no doubt scored higher if it were not let done by its system requirements. Greg's conclusion was:

"The system requirements really killed me on this one. It's a decent enough game in general, and I'm giving it a good rating because for a typical strategy gamer it'll be fun, and as a game it's decent. There are, however, some technical issues that a potential buyer should really be aware of".

http://www.macledge.com/Reviews00/CTP/CTP.chtml -Baston

1.2b POST INSTALLATION
(27 February 2000, 4:22 EST) In various reports filtering through on the newsgroups and by way of personal e-mails it seems that the patch has largely been very successful in rectifying many of the problems:
* The unable to restore AI appears to have been eliminated
* There still seems to be a DVD issue with Music and Wonder movies forcing some players to "force quit" the application response.
I haven't heard any remarks about any other patches yet, so presumably everything has been technically resolved.

MEMORY
Several people have e-mailed querying the new memory requirements for the game. This is what to expect:
Here's the complete rules for CTP's memory requirements:
- CTP now requires at least 75MB of memory. If it can't get this amount, the game will not run (you'll get a warning dialog).
- By default, CTP will request 105MB of memory (the "preferred size" in the Get Info window). If it can't get this amount but there is still at least 75MB available, the game will run in whatever amount of memory is available. In this case, a warning dialog will be displayed to let you know that CTP is not running with the full amount of memory that was requested.
- If you have changed the "preferred size", the rule above still applies. CTP will request whatever amount is in the "preferred size".
I'll be looking out for any more news on future patches. -Baston

1.2b DOES NOT MEAN BETA!
(26 February 2000, 17:32 EST) In a posting on the newsgroup comp.sys.mac.games.strategic Phil Sulak from Westlake Interactive posted the following interesting point:
"IMG currently has CTP 1.2b listed as a Beta patch. It's not. It's simply the second update we've released for CTP 1.2 (1.2a was the first). In the future, Westlake will try to label their patches with uppercase letters (ie, CTP would become 1.2B) to try to minimize confusion." -Baston

NEWS ARCHIVE

Apolyton Civilization Site Copyright © Daniel Quick
All trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.