Rating: 
Summary: Recreate History
Review: The Civilization series has always been about starting with one city and expanding to build a great civilization. If Civ III had only built on the legacy of the first two games in the series, it would be a magnificent triumph well worth the money. However, Firaxis took a chance and built a new gaming engine mostly from the bottom up. It worked. The result is a game that is rich in the diplomatic, military scientific, economic, and cultural areas of civilization's development over time. This is an excellent strategy game in the turn-based tradition. You, the player determine the level of micromanagement you want to engage in, the decisions you want to make in groups or one step at a time, and the level of interaction you have with the computer-generated players. The more you discover, the deeper your understanding becomes. This is history looking forward, you are in the shoes of the great decision-makers. The AI in this game is much more capable than any other available, and the game is fun, even exhilarating. This is one of those life-disrupting, just-one-more-turn, I'll-just-see-how-this-goes, type of games that keeps full-grown adults up into the wee hours of the night while they play. Definitely buy it, definitely play it, but you've been warned.
Rating: 
Summary: Not an upgrade
Review: This is not an upgrade of the Microprose version of Civ II. It has new features but also lacks many of the old ones. It is harder to get information and give orders. If you have played II until tired of it, the change might be refreshing, but if you don't have II or have it and still like it, forget III. It also has nothing to compare to the additions in Civ II Test of Time.
If you do get it, make sure you have the recommended processor speed--500 or better. At 333, even with all the graphics turned off, I keep a book by the computer to read while waiting for the game to catch up.
Rating:
Summary: This game is awesome!
Review: I bought the game last week and I've been playing it non-stop. It is a deep and addictive game. The AI are much more sophisticated and negotiations are a lot of fun. It's amazing to play against 15 different AI's on a huge map. It gets pretty complicated with all of the different military alliances, mutual protection pacts, and trade embargo agreements. I think it's great that the units are now all animated, especially when they fight. They also have health points so you can see how much life they have left after a battle. I think they could have done better on a few details, however. For example, why do the AI still build all those damn mines EVERYWHERE??? More importantly, why do they still move around like crazy for no good reason during their turn? That just takes up ALL the time waiting for your turn! Overall though, the game is awesome and a definite buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: Civilization II and Alpha Centari are my favorite games bar none, other games come and go but these two remain on my hard drive. Civilization III will not be joining them. The company's focus seems to have been on making Civilization II look brand new and high tech but the result was that it made the game unplayable. The printing in text and on graphics is eye straining; I ended up trying a magnifying glass to help me read what was on the screen. This didn't help much when text was superimposed on existing text. The unit types look basically identical to each other and are difficult to differentiate (scout? worker? settler? Your guess is as good as mine) Asking what a particular unit is tends to make the system lock up though not as bad as trying to look at a city screen. I doubt that there was enough play testing done on this monster. My advice for anyone wishing to play Civilization III, get yourself a good book, you will have tons of free time.
Rating:
Summary: I was still playing Civ II last week!
Review: O.K. this won't be an unbiased review. Simply put, I LOVE the Civilization series. I bought Civilization II in 1996, it was still on my hard drive (and still being played) last week. Sid Meir is a genius! O.K. enough hyperbole, I loaded up the game this past Tuesday night and have spent more than 20 hours playing it in the interim four days. It's just as addictive as the previous incarnations, and there will be people who'll say it's just a "dressed up" version of Civ II but it's much more. While the basic concept hasn't changed (build your civilization, conquer the world.) the way you go about doing it has. Whereas before you could win one of two ways (conquer the world or be the first to land a spaceship on Alpha Centauri) there are now 5 ways to win: the two aforementioned and now you can win a cultural victory, you can be elected president of the UN or you can dominate the world economically.
Graphically the game is very nice, though not 3D and the units are a tad small. The interface has been streamlined dramatically, instead of all the tedious pop up menus you can right click on anything (terrain, city, unit) and get info, change orders, zoom. I won't go into all of the changes, but suffice to say that "culture" is the big difference this time around. Accumulating culture points through city improvements, and wonders of the world is critical to any successful strategy in Civ III. You can make trades more easily and assimilate enemy cities without trying, if you have a better culture than your foes. I bought the Limited Edition but to be honest I haven't even bothered to look at the extra stuff that came with it, I've been to busy playing! If you're a fan of the series you'll love this update, if you are new to the genre, you're in for a treat with Civilization III.
Rating:
Summary: BE cautious
Review: Look, all these reviews were written BEFORE the game came out. Do not make the same mistake I did. I bought the game (I am a devout CIV I, CIV II, Colonization etc... fan). The game is actually WORSE than CIV II. The interface is clunky and the development is almost nil. Strategic materials was a good idea, but they are not placed on the map in may cases (even after you discover technologies) thereby making advancements worthless. I played the game six times and could not get to republic any earlier than 300 AD. By the time I started getting into technological age, the game ended.
Diplomacy is bull again, because the computer up and attacks you for no reason as it always has.
There was NO new development in this. They are ripping you off. Play CIV II, have fun, enjoy yourself. This game truly (aweful). If they had a negative rating system I would give it. I just hope I can return the darn thing.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely atrocious
Review: I loved Civ 1 and 2, and I also loved colonization. What made those games truly great was the endless depth and the ease of play. Civ III is a radical departure from the latter. It is just too difficult to figure out. The interface is clumsy at best and the game play in my opinion has really slowed down.
All in all, I am really dissapointed in Civ III. Sid Meir had to fail eventually.
Rating:
Summary: A much more challenging "Civilization"
Review: There are only a few games I have stuck with to completion and Sid Meier is the only developer that has produced two of them - Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri. This is not a reflection on the quality of other fine titles such as Half-Life, Quake 2, Diablo 2, Red Alert or others (I did finish the original Quake and C&C though), it's just that I suffer from "Adult Deficiency Disorder" - there are so many new titles coming out that it's easy for me to put down what I'm currently playing. The failure of others to copy his formula stands as a testament to how addictive his games are. I, like many of you, was highly anticipating this new offering. The graphics are up-to-date, and the game runs smooth. Unfortunately, it suffers from the now-common annoyance of dumping the entire game on your hard drive (well, technically it's "minimal" install will put 500MB on the drive but it's good enough to deserve 700MB of space.) I've only been playing this game a short while, but I'm writing this review to counter those who say this game is simply a cleaned-up version of Civ2. They couldn't be further from the mark. One major difference in this new Civilization is the removal of the so-called "unit block", the tactic of placing units at various places on the map to block other units from passing by. I used to exploit this weakness frequently to keep other civilizations from entering my territory or other lands I was planning on settling in. Now units pass side by side without problem and even trespass on other lands quite frequently. The AI has significantly improved in this game as well. I used to collect information and trade skills with every nation I had diplomatic relations with. Now it's much more difficult to trade freely. It's apparent I can no longer wheel and deal my way to greatness. Instead the computer opponents are much more demanding and I usually can't trade skills without getting the short end of the bargain. This will make winning the game thru economic domination much more difficult. I was able to beat both Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri the first time around. Of course I made mistakes along the way and did things I would do differently had I played again, but for the most part I found the games challenging, but not difficult to beat. Already in two plays of this game at monarch level (second from easiest), I have had to retire early as I am getting my (...) whooped! The dynamics of this game have changed dramatically compared to the other two. My initial impression is success in this game is more dependent on a "land-grab" strategy. At least that's what the computer opponents seem to be doing. I'll put up a more comprehensive review once I get further along in the game.
Rating:
Summary: Kiss Your Life Goodbye
Review: I've had Civ3 for two days and haven't gotten to sleep before 3 a.m. since then. If you are at all interested in strategy gaming, you already know about Sid Meier's string of "Civilization" games - challenging, intelligent, infinitely replayable chances to recreate world history in your own image. This latest version is, simply put, amazing. Intricate gameplay with splendid graphics and animated units - there is simply no space here to tell you about all the upgrades, but if you're reading this review you've probably been drooling for Civ3 for weeks already, so just go and buy it, but read the following first: Coming to Civ3 from Alpha Centauri, as I did, has made me notice a couple of things that are missing from the Civ3 controls - things that I miss very much. You can no longer set your military units to Sentry or Patrol an area - you have to move them manually every turn or just set them to Fortify/Hold. Also, there is no way to customize units that are built. Both of these lacks can mean a royal pain in game play. But other than these couple of minor quibbles, Civ3 is all you want in a strategy game and more. So just buy it and kiss your life goodbye, because you're going to lose interest in everything else but "One more turn...!!"
Rating: 
Summary: A little disappointed.. A slight anticlimax
Review: As one of the legions of fans of Sid Meier and of the Civilisation genre I had been following Civ III's development and counting the days until the release. Having had the game for a day or two now and having played it several times I still haven't been 'sucked in' as I was expecting. For me it is a great piece of work and there are many improvements over its predecessors such as the diplomacy model, the distinct cultures, the beautiful artwork and the additions to the basic elements of the game, notably the importance of 'culture'. However there is something almost intangible missing from the game. The game does flow very easily but perhaps thats where I am let down. The music is well composed and balanced with the timeline and slides into the background almost unnoticable after a while. But I want it to be noticable.. every now and then I want to be 'woken up' by something like 'ode to joy' in the previous games. Also there was a decision to not have 'videos' for creating wonders and the like. Again this may keep the game 'flowing' but every now and then you need something different to 'break the flow' and make yourself feel proud of the achievement. Really these sorts of design decisions are at the heart of my disappointment, the game flows so well that after a while there is a sense of monotony that creeps in. I also have to say I'm baffled as to why you can't make a custom size for your game map without using the very detailed yet cumbersome map editor (the lack of a zoom feature can be annoying for navigating around the map).
All things considered this is still a first class game but there is something missing that stops it from being classed a 'great' in my opinion. I rate it a 4/5 and would recommend it to fans of this type of genre.
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