Rating: 
Summary: CAUTION - Can Be Highly Addicting
Review: Be sure before you start playing this game that you have someone around to stop you. I've frequently started playing for "just a few minutes" and lost whole hours four and five at a time playing this game. There's always just one more move to make. If strategy games are your thing this is a sure bet.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm really disappointed...
Review: I love CIV II and Alpha Centauri with a passion, but CIV III has left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I bought CIV III on day one, played it the whole day, and still could not make myself like it in any way. The user interface wasn't thought out enough. They were going for some kind of style, instead of easy of use. The game basics could be a lot better. The technology tree, unit interaction, and Wonders are all lacking indepth game-play thought. I'm selling my CIV III and am going to be very wary if they produce a CIV IV. Don't buy it until you talk to a friend and see it played first.
Rating: 
Summary: Good game but a disappointing upgrade
Review: If you don't have Civilization 2 and like strategy games, Civ 3 is highly recommended. But if you already have Civ 2, you might want to wait for the price to drop a bit so you feel you got your money's worth. There are some improvements, notably in diplomacy and trade. And there are some disappointments, such as the elimination of the beautiful video clips when you build a Wonder. The interface is simpler, but clunky at times: It takes NINE mouse clicks to save game and exit. Unlike other reviewers I've had no problems with stability and responsiveness (on a Pentium IV running Windows Me). But the game just isn't fresh enough to entice me to spend as much time on it as its predecessors.
Rating: 
Summary: A little Buggy
Review: A few crashes, a little buggy, and espionage is harder than any other version of this game....but I'm still addicted. The play is smoother, and the automatic upgrades of some of the soldiers/workers is good. I don't miss any of the event movies or other bric-a-brac that I used to turn off on the game. Not a bad purchase (...)
Rating:
Summary: ITS PRETTY GOOD BUT NEEDS WORK
Review: This game is pretty good but could use a little more game play its too much like the first in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Another awesome Sid Mier game!
Review: Buy this, you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: So far, so good!
Review: I was up until 12:30 this morning playing this game. As I said, so far, so good! That "gamer" guy doesn't know what he's talking about. He's obviously too in love with Call to Power (which I didn't like) to make an objective analysis. You can zoom in and out with no problems. Check your progress by hitting F8 (as I remember). You can toggle off grids from the Preferences menu. I do, however, agree with the calls of "bad Manager" on this game. I have Alpha Centauri (another Sid Meyer game) and the Manager there gives you a queue of 8 or 10 items. Why couldn't Sid use the Alpha Centauri manager? It works! I'm also not a big fan of the endgame. If you don't win, you lose! I came in second (my Greeks behind the English), among seven civilizations (my favorite way to play Civ I and II) and the graphic showed me all bandaged and losing. Those are my only two gripes. Learning that Wonders do different things than they used to is a fun challenge! The game is incredibly addicting and the "worker" units are a welcome change. Two hints: Build libraries and universities quickly and discover Republic (then Democracy) fast. That's the only way you'll get to Alpha Centauri before the game times out at A.D. 2050.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but frustrating :o/
Review: The long awaited Civ3 is a mixed bag. Sure, the graphics are nicer and the negotiations are far more intricate than the simplistic and limited interface of Civ2. The strategic resources and luxeries are a nice touch, as they often force you to work with your neighbors to get what you want. The addition of culture was also a welcome feature. I have two serious complaints, however, about this game. First of all, it suffers from difficulty level inflation. That is, playing at difficulty level three in Civ3 is like playing at level four in Civ2. Additionally, at level three and above, the AI civs spawn settlers and new cities like jack rabbits. This causes what I call the "Great Early Game Land Rush". Rather than spending resources building up existing cities and infrastructure, you are forced to quickly build new settlers (at a serous cost to your cities' growth)in an attempt to get the choice city building sites before the AI's do. Conversely you can go to war, but of course, this creates its own set of problems and can be risky in the extreme. As a corallary to the above issue, it seems that the small but efficient Civilization always seems to loose out to the larger ones. I guess in the Sid Meier scheme of things, bigger is always better. :o( This is especially irritating, however, when you see what terrible ground the AI's often place cities on as opposed to your own cities. Anyway, the bottom line is that this game can be very, very frustrating; much more so than Civ2 ever was. In my mind, frustration quickly translates to "a whole lot of no fun". :o(
I thought Civ3 would be a shoe-in for game of the year, but in all good consciousness, I must give the nod to Sierra's "Empire Earth"; a much more enjoyable gaming experience.
Rating:
Summary: Civ for dummies
Review: Firaxis and Infogrames have managed to create a Civ for dummies. While they've made the game more pleasing to the eye, they've removed controls and features that Civ II and CTP veterans will quickly miss.
Rating:
Summary: Civ III is a good game, period
Review: Civilization III may not live up to what most people expect. Between the hype and the standards set by Civ II, it has to meet giant expectations. While most fans of Civ II may see this game as a minor update to their beloved gem. Civ III builds on concepts from Civ II and Alpha Centauri, and ends up having it's own distinct feel.
Civilization III is not perfect in anyway. The unit balancing is completely unrealistic. Tanks will lose to swordsman, and air units are nearly useless. Sometimes it seems that an enemy spearman guarding a city can take out 5-7 of your units, while when the enemy attacks you your spearman will fall to the first or second attacker. The only other problem with the game is poor access to information. Most of the information on everything in the game is hidden in the in-game Civilopedia. The game manual gives you a run down of the changes, and a little help getting used to the game, but the core info is hidden in the Civilopedia. I wish they would have at least had a PDF file or web page I could print with all the statistics on structures, units, and more.
Civilization III, if looked at as a game by itself, and not hype or Civ II's great sequel, is a good game. If Firaxis fixes some balancing issues, and adds the multiplayer features it has planned. I will give this game 5 stars. If you like the previous Civ's, and can overlook minor flaws. Pick this one up, you won't regret it (well you might judging from some other reviews, but I haven't).
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