Well, I bought the game and here is my view on it

[Leonidas]

As most of you know I wasn't happy with the early release date of Civ3 nor with the items that were left out of it.

With that said, I saw that EB had some copies for sale, so I decided to try the game for myself (EB does have a 10 day return policy, so I had nothing to lose).

I have played for one hour so far, and here is my opinion (to date). I will continue my game and report back.

1) First my system: PII-350, 128 MB RAM, 16 MB Voodoo 3 2000 Video card, SoundBalster Live!, 19" monitor. Very basic system.

2) Install: It installed flawlessly in 7 minutes with the full 700 MB.

3) In the preference screen I turned off enemy animations (although they still animate in combat).

4) Initial impressions:

* beautiful 235 page manual - it will be a joy to read.

* it runs smoothly even on my system - but you can tell there's a lot going on behind the scenes.

* the music is pleasant, and the artwork is very nice. It has a very clean look about the interface. Even the chirping birds are OK

* Most things can looked at by right-mouse clicking.

* it's easy to navigate. The animations look very nice - especially during combat and when they assume the "fortified" position.

* saving my game took 3-4 seconds and took up 1.18 MB of space.

My only gripe so far is: I wish I could zoom in closer to have a look at those military units and cities, especially during combat. Firaxis PLEASE - if not in the next patch - then at least when the GOLD edition comes out - please include either a zoom function (to move in closer) or an 800x600 resolution. I want to feel closer to my civilization.

Currently, I am playing Germany at Regeant level, with 8 civs on a random map. The barbarians (in white) consistently make their appearance without being too much of a hassle.

It definitely has that one more turn feel. Oh, Sid you have done it again - you sucked me in. . .

With all that said, I will continue playing and let you know what I find out. The people who worked on this game, obviously put a lot of work into it. Shame on you Infogrames for forcing this game before everything was put into it. . .

To everyone - you have nothing to worry about - the civ tradition lives on. . . now where are those patches?

[Roland Ehnström]

I think you can zoom with the "Z" button, but I am not sure as I don't have the game myself yet.

Barbarians in white?!?

Peace!
-- Roland

[Stromprophet]

I have some questions real quick.

OK, they confirmed 12 scenarios with shipment, along time ago. I mean months ago. So Sid you lied to us??

Where the crap are they?

Second issue, why the hell won't my sound work? I can't play this game with no sound, it's too weird. My sound is working fine, I'm playing MP3's yet this game does not want to work with any sound?

Hmmmmmmmmmm. Need some help if anyone can help.

[me_irate]

I dont have the game yet but as for the sound problem let me give you a few sugestions. The first thing to do is this, On your taskbar at the bottom of your windows screen (far bottom right of screen to the oposite side of the"start button" you see that speaker magaphone looking thing, double click it. make sure the check box on your wave file thing is not checked and the volume is at least half. It is possible you have a different sound controler, i dont know your pc but do a simular check on it. Next check all of the menus in the game. In call2power2 i had problems with the 2 different sound control locations. One in a prefences during game play the other in the main menu. Whenever i started game without cd it allways turned the menu one off. So check all the in game locations possible. I know this probley didn't help much, but maybe someone with the game can help better. But those are the "dumb", "simple" things i always find that gives me probs.

[Stromprophet]

Yet again, I'm dissapointed, My sound is still not working. *This is pissing me off, because it works fine with my other games.

I go to play the Germans, my fav people, Panzar tanks, only an increased movement rate! Over a normal tank? Comeon, this is stupid, they should have a much higher attack than a normal tank and move faster.

Sid, look at a history book. Dear lord.

[Stromprophet]

Gwad, this is weird. The map building is kind of messed up, there are like no resources, and there are no huts anywhere in the game. Man. What is up.

[Simpleton]

Originally posted by Stromprophet

I go to play the Germans, my fav people, Panzar tanks, only an increased movement rate! Over a normal tank? Comeon, this is stupid, they should have a much higher attack than a normal tank and move faster.

I think a lot of things, including Panzer tanks, may not be modeled completely accurately in the interest of gameplay and play balance. I think this is a necessary evil with "historical" simulations.
By the way, if they come out with a patch that allows unit editing (which I'm told the will) you will be able to change the Panzer tank's stats to what you feel they should be. In fact, you may already be able to do that with the editor but since I don't have the game I can't be sure. Check it out!

[Rakki]

Historically speaking German panzers weren't that much better armed than their opponents - the "golden era" of the German blitzkrieg was when their innovative use of communications and combined arms allowed them to tear through the enemy lines and wreak havoc.

Later on, when German tanks developed a reputation for firepower (the mighty 88mm on the Tigers, and the 75mm on the Panther) the trade off was mobility - which wasn't that much of a problem since Germany was on the defensive anyway and good armour / deadly fiirepower was much more important.


So the Panzers having better mobility is ... rationalizable

[Faboba]

Re: Well, I bought the game and here is my view on it

Originally posted by Leonidas


1) First my system: PII-350, 128 MB RAM, 16 MB Voodoo 3 2000 Video card, SoundBalster Live!, 19" monitor. Very basic system.

* it runs smoothly even on my system

Lenoidas - You've just made my day. My system is the exact same specs except my processor is a 1.4 Athlon.

[Leonidas]

Review Part II

I've been playing for about 5 hours now.

Impressions:

* there have been no crashes and the game continues to run smoothly. There is a slight jerkiness, but no real problem. I even turned on the animations for all units and it didn't slow my system down. I have a wheel mouse and you can even scroll the game screen with it. . .

* Be forewarned: the AI WILL attack you with a vengeance. It is very, very, very aggressive. Did I mention that the AI is aggressive? It's the turn-based game's equivalent of Command and Conquer's tank rush. I kid you not. The barbarians and British swarmed me. At one point, a single town of mine was attacked by no less than 8 horsemen. That poor pikeman - he earned his gruel that day, I can tell you. Although, he was probably slapping himself silly from not having any time off. Darned if I'll pay union wages. . .

However, by 390 AD, the AI basically handed my butt to me on a platter. . . it took over most of my major cities. My jaw dropped. . . I can't remember the last time that happend to me in a game of Civ2.

* When a worker is on a square you can't tell what he can do to improve the terrain. It would have been useful to be able to right click on the worker and then have a panel appear that highlighted the functions the worker could perform on that particular terrain. As it stands now you either have to guess or search through the civpedia for the info. Even so, after an hour or so, you kinda know what he can or can't do on the terrain.

* Rush building will cost you big time, and not just in cash. Rushing a job means over-working your labourers, and that means some of them will die. So if you try to rush build an improvement, then that city may lose a citizen.

* Diplomacy - so far I find it kinda under-whelming. I have only contacted two other civs - so it's still early early in the game - but there was no real interchange - they just kept demanding stuff - and the British went to war on the slightest provocation. What me? I'm sooooo peace-loving. . . The portraits are kinda small - I liked the full-screen figures in Civ2 better. But again - it's still early in the game.

Overall - I found the essential Civ experince is there in the core game. Everything else revolves around that essential core. However, there is very little "extra" included in the game - like wonder movies, real voices, dramatic opening movie, and even the diplomacy is kinda matter-of-fact.

For comparison, I would direct you to the game Shogun: Total War - Warlord Edition. Now THAT is a game. It definitely has the WOW factor.

I didn't find Civ3 had that WOW factor, probably because everything is a bit under-whelming, and kinda stripped to the core game.

I remember seeing the opening movie to SMAC for the first time and it drew me right into the game. There is nothing like that in this version of Civ3.

Also, there are NO included scenarios, and you cannot design any scenarios with the current editor, even though the game says you can. Another casualty to a rushed release.

Well, I'm starting over on a new game and I will continue reporting on my experiences right here in this thread. . .

[Simpleton]

Originally posted by Leonidas
Review Part II


However, by 390 AD, the AI basically handed my butt to me on a platter. . . it took over most of my major cities. My jaw dropped. . . I can't remember the last time that happend to me in a game of Civ2.

What level did you play this game on?

[Leonidas]

Hi - I'm playing on Regeant level which is the third highest difficulty level. At this level - supposedly you and the AI are on equal terms.

If you like aggressive AI and want a battle on your hands, then you have found it in Civ3.

Now that I know better, I'll be better prepared. "Captain of the guard! Prepare my mount. . ."

[Grunthex]

Originally posted by Leonidas

* When a worker is on a square you can't tell what he can do to improve the terrain. It would have been useful to be able to right click on the worker and then have a panel appear that highlighted the functions the worker could perform on that particular terrain. As it stands now you either have to guess or search through the civpedia for the info. Even so, after an hour or so, you kinda know what he can or can't do on the terrain.

Look at the little buttons at the bottom when it's your worker's turn. The only ones that show up are the ones he can perform.

[BeBMan]

Sounds good, Leonidas

I´m really glad that the game itself is very good. Now since they have obviously done a great job on the gameplay, they need to do the same with mp support and better scn editing options...

[Zanzin]

Thanks for the info. Civ3 sounds like a pretty solid gamming experience.

Do you think they could have done more with it, given a few extra months?