Tweet
CTP2 - For beginners only?
OK, I've played two games now and I have a pretty decent feel for the game so I thought I'd take a stab at reviewing it. So here goes...
As the title suggests, I've come to the conclusion that this game is mainly going to be fun for beginners - beginners to the genre and beginners to CTP2. Once you're used to the interface, tech tree, etc., you'll find that the AI presents no challenge whatsoever. If you're into mod making (like I am) or multiplayer, then it will have more lasting value.
Previously, I played SMAC, but had never played any other Civ type game before. So initially, I was having fun with this game just because I didn't have too much practice playing these types of games. But by the time I reached 1000 AD in my first game, I knew that I would never again be challenged by the AI. How dissappointing!
The positive player reviews that have come in so far, are probably the result of not playing enough. Unless you are really awful at these games, or you just like winning without being challenged, you're going to be bored after playing 1 or 2 games of this.
Besides having a pathetic AI (like SMAC did too), it's also pretty buggy. If it's buggy, then why are some people saying they've had no problems? Well, perhaps they just haven't done as much with their game or maybe they haven't been as observant, or maybe they've just been plain lucky. For example, some bugs only seem to occur under certain circumstances. But will you be so lucky?
So then, what's good about CTP2? You know, it's funny, because I had fun with this in the beginning, but now I'm having a hard time thinking of good things to say about it. So if you'll forgive me for this, I think I'll just continue to tell you what I don't like about it. There's already plenty of positive stuff you can read elsewhere, right?
My first game was on the default medium level and I had some problems getting going, but nothing too serious for an experienced troubleshooter like myself.
First off, the same song kept repeating over and over and over... Well, I fixed that with someone's help here. But once I got going, I was having lots of fun. Of course, I didn't know what I was doing yet either.
I was playing as the Hebrews and the most powerful civ by 1000 AD was the Cubans. But for some reason, they never really attacked me (a unit or two did). So I decided to send a bunch of fire triremes and blockade Cuba, expecting them to try and sink my ships with some of their own. Well, after a few hundred more years I realized they weren't going to touch my ships, so I got bored and decided to go on to the impossible level. Surely it would be more challenging, right?
Impossible? No, impossibly easy! In this game I was the Americans and there were 3 other civs (that's all I wanted). Also, there were no barbarians, since I didn't want the barbarians roughing up the AI and in general, making progress take longer. Some time early in the game, I noticed a Korean slaver pop up near one of my cities. I had no stealth units of my own, only a warrior who was out and about, scouting the area. Supposedly, these units aren't supposed to be visible without another stealth unit around (did I read it wrong?). Oh well, my warrior had him for breakfast, end of story. (I've seen lots of these kinds of bugs too, besides this one.)
I decided to go for an early conquest victory, just to keep from wasting too much time, so that I wouldn't find out in 2000 AD that the AI won't be able to challenge me. So I built up 10 cities and formed a 12 man army and decided to march on Israel. I asked for their map and when they refused, I threatened to declare war, so they gave it to me (they were stronger than me at this point - of course, I'm not saying they shouldn't have done this - just that they did.) After getting their map, I proceeded to take each of their cities one by one with my 12 man army (there were only three Samuarai's in this army - the rest were archers and warriors). After capturing each city, I would let my army stay there for a turn and regain all of their health, and then I would proceed on to conquer the next city. I lost only a few troops and replaced each loss immediately. Within a very short span, Israel was mine (this was around 500 BC).
I won't bore you with the rest, but it was just as pathetically easy to conquer the other two civs as it was Israel. Yes, I know that some people have found RANDOM occurrences of intelligent behavior, but overall the AI is really, really, awful. Am I getting repetitios now? Sorry.
So that's it folks. Should you buy it? If you like multiplayer, maybe (but maybe that's buggy too?), or if you like to do mods, maybe. If you're new to the genre or just aren't that good, or you don't care if the AI isn't much of a threat in any way, then maybe you should. Or maybe you should wait for a patch, so that you will be less likely to have problems. But, if you're a veteran of these games, you may want to steer clear. Then again, maybe you just need a quick Civ type fix?
So, would I buy it if I were given a second chance? Yes, but that's because I wanted to try out a game like this and didn't want to wait for Civ III. Also, I like doing AI stuff, and thought I might have fun there. I might also try out multiplayer (if it works?). But if I were just interested in single player fun, and fun for more than a game or two, I'd definitely steer away from this game, patch or no patch.
So if you buy this game after reading this review, don't say I dind't warn you first.
P.S. - I forgot to mention the manual. Of course, that's not hard to do since the manual hasn't come out yet and it will cost extra.
Oh wait, there is a manual in there after all! But seriously, I read through it, and while it helped a little, it's mostly useless. Read the forums here if you want real help, since the manual hardly explains anything at all. OK, I'll stop.
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by AI_Scripter (edited November 28, 2000).]</font>
As the title suggests, I've come to the conclusion that this game is mainly going to be fun for beginners - beginners to the genre and beginners to CTP2. Once you're used to the interface, tech tree, etc., you'll find that the AI presents no challenge whatsoever. If you're into mod making (like I am) or multiplayer, then it will have more lasting value.
Previously, I played SMAC, but had never played any other Civ type game before. So initially, I was having fun with this game just because I didn't have too much practice playing these types of games. But by the time I reached 1000 AD in my first game, I knew that I would never again be challenged by the AI. How dissappointing!
The positive player reviews that have come in so far, are probably the result of not playing enough. Unless you are really awful at these games, or you just like winning without being challenged, you're going to be bored after playing 1 or 2 games of this.
Besides having a pathetic AI (like SMAC did too), it's also pretty buggy. If it's buggy, then why are some people saying they've had no problems? Well, perhaps they just haven't done as much with their game or maybe they haven't been as observant, or maybe they've just been plain lucky. For example, some bugs only seem to occur under certain circumstances. But will you be so lucky?
So then, what's good about CTP2? You know, it's funny, because I had fun with this in the beginning, but now I'm having a hard time thinking of good things to say about it. So if you'll forgive me for this, I think I'll just continue to tell you what I don't like about it. There's already plenty of positive stuff you can read elsewhere, right?
My first game was on the default medium level and I had some problems getting going, but nothing too serious for an experienced troubleshooter like myself.
First off, the same song kept repeating over and over and over... Well, I fixed that with someone's help here. But once I got going, I was having lots of fun. Of course, I didn't know what I was doing yet either.I was playing as the Hebrews and the most powerful civ by 1000 AD was the Cubans. But for some reason, they never really attacked me (a unit or two did). So I decided to send a bunch of fire triremes and blockade Cuba, expecting them to try and sink my ships with some of their own. Well, after a few hundred more years I realized they weren't going to touch my ships, so I got bored and decided to go on to the impossible level. Surely it would be more challenging, right?
Impossible? No, impossibly easy!
In this game I was the Americans and there were 3 other civs (that's all I wanted). Also, there were no barbarians, since I didn't want the barbarians roughing up the AI and in general, making progress take longer. Some time early in the game, I noticed a Korean slaver pop up near one of my cities. I had no stealth units of my own, only a warrior who was out and about, scouting the area. Supposedly, these units aren't supposed to be visible without another stealth unit around (did I read it wrong?). Oh well, my warrior had him for breakfast, end of story. (I've seen lots of these kinds of bugs too, besides this one.)I decided to go for an early conquest victory, just to keep from wasting too much time, so that I wouldn't find out in 2000 AD that the AI won't be able to challenge me. So I built up 10 cities and formed a 12 man army and decided to march on Israel. I asked for their map and when they refused, I threatened to declare war, so they gave it to me (they were stronger than me at this point - of course, I'm not saying they shouldn't have done this - just that they did.) After getting their map, I proceeded to take each of their cities one by one with my 12 man army (there were only three Samuarai's in this army - the rest were archers and warriors). After capturing each city, I would let my army stay there for a turn and regain all of their health, and then I would proceed on to conquer the next city. I lost only a few troops and replaced each loss immediately. Within a very short span, Israel was mine (this was around 500 BC).
I won't bore you with the rest, but it was just as pathetically easy to conquer the other two civs as it was Israel. Yes, I know that some people have found RANDOM occurrences of intelligent behavior, but overall the AI is really, really, awful. Am I getting repetitios now? Sorry.
So that's it folks. Should you buy it? If you like multiplayer, maybe (but maybe that's buggy too?), or if you like to do mods, maybe. If you're new to the genre or just aren't that good, or you don't care if the AI isn't much of a threat in any way, then maybe you should. Or maybe you should wait for a patch, so that you will be less likely to have problems. But, if you're a veteran of these games, you may want to steer clear. Then again, maybe you just need a quick Civ type fix?
So, would I buy it if I were given a second chance? Yes, but that's because I wanted to try out a game like this and didn't want to wait for Civ III. Also, I like doing AI stuff, and thought I might have fun there. I might also try out multiplayer (if it works?). But if I were just interested in single player fun, and fun for more than a game or two, I'd definitely steer away from this game, patch or no patch.
So if you buy this game after reading this review, don't say I dind't warn you first.
P.S. - I forgot to mention the manual. Of course, that's not hard to do since the manual hasn't come out yet and it will cost extra.
Oh wait, there is a manual in there after all! But seriously, I read through it, and while it helped a little, it's mostly useless. Read the forums here if you want real help, since the manual hardly explains anything at all. OK, I'll stop.<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by AI_Scripter (edited November 28, 2000).]</font>
Comment