Rating: 
Summary: Skip this junk!
Review: I bought this junk thinking it would be something like good old Master of Orion only to the discover how wrong I was. Let's see:1. Gameplay - worst elements of the games of this type combined. The designers clearly missed the point that much micromanagement is not the same as truly good control. Ships cannot be customized. Space battles are as primitive as in a game from 10 years ago! Lots of menus repeating the same useless info in different ways. Anybody who has played Master of Orion will think this game was made by Idiots Co. 2. Graphics - while some enjoyment can be found in the goofy style, the quality is one absolutely substandard for a modern game. Some of the color schemes will make your eyes blurry after an hour. 3. Fun factor - this game is no fun. I uninstalled it the next day after I bought it. Enough said. Trust me, I would think this game is a piece of junk even if it came for free. Or, don't trust me, and find out for yourself at the expense of forty of your hard-earned dollars.
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievably fun and AWSOME customer support...
Review: 'nuff said, go to the galciv.com website forum and check out the support and comments of actual players yourself, this game ROCKS!
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable replayability value!
Review: Galactic Civilizations is one of those rare gems of a game that keeps you playing long after you know you should go to bed. But what really makes it stand out is that each game truly feels like its own epic. In most strategy games, Civ, HOMM, etc. each game feels pretty similar. But in GalCiv, the computer AI, random events, and randomized galactic maps, help give the game a radically different feel each game. The game is turn based and it is designed for single player action. But this is the first strategy game I've played where the computer players really seem to play like real people. If you're looking for a thinking man's strategy game, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Everything MOO3 forgot about
Review: I got Masters of Orion 3 after months and months of hype and waiting. It was a terrible disappointment. This game makes up for it. If you were disappointed by the lackluster showing for MOO3 but really loved the first two, you need this game.
Rating:
Summary: Most excellent, far better than the Disappointing MOO3
Review: I waited years for a successor to Master of Orion series (part III), and as horribly disappointing as that game was I found what I needed with Galactic Civilizations, the true successor to MOO2. There are some differences, such as simplified combat, but everything you ever wanted in a 4x ('conquer the galaxy') game is here. I highly recommend this product.
Rating:
Summary: The game that saves the genre
Review: Master of Orion 3 is a failure, but it's GalCiv that saves the day. It's pretty different from MOO (Master of Orion) and brings many things that are totally new in turn-based strategy gaming. I see GalCiv as the summum of all TBS (turn-base strategy) up to now. As a gamer, here's the TBS I've already played: Civilization 1-2-3, Alpha Centauri, Colonization, Corporate Machine, Capitalism 2, Master of Orion 3. What's so special about GalCiv? Sheer fun is there and it's the game that best manages an empire, a civilization. You may give money to support someone's war, you can win WITHOUT WAR or by many other ways, spying is there and efficient (propaganda too), intern politics are incorporated in a simple manner, the economy is nicely and coherently modeled, your civilization is totally customizable (even if it's always humans), etc. Indication: Yet, I played about 30 hours of it. Go see [the website] for more information and the official forums.
Rating: 
Summary: Friendly Criticism
Review: GC aims to concentrate on strategy rather than micromanagement but IMHO kinda falls between. It doesn't have the detail to involve eg planet type is defined by a single no. vrs eg stars! 3differnet parameters which suited different races, different mineral levels needed for different kit. Ends up as bland, arrive dump people if planet no over 14, repeat. No decsions such as well it doen't suit my race but if I put a holding colony in how about a trade with race X which its ideal for or 'garden world' vrs 'mining hellhole'. On the larger map sizes micromanagement still ends up as a problem particularly for starbase upgrades.
Bug wise- Not real bad (typos, exclusive events happening twice, menus not auto updating between turns unless you go out and in again) and seems v well supported on the forum (although manual is appalling and I couldn't suss tutorial) but some gameplay 'decsions' eg unused resources in a colony disapear but you've only got fairly global control over allocation, seem rather odd. It does have some really good points such as multiple paths to victory you can actually achieve (tech, political etc), intuitive interspecies trade. After MOO3 crash and burning, Stars Supernova disapearing in to a publishing hellhole I really wanted GC to suceed unfortunatly for me it just doesn't have that hook to keep me playing.
Rating:
Summary: A smaller, duller version of Master of Orion
Review: I love 4X games. I love designing my own starships with the latest technologies, I love sending scouts out to explore and make contact with other civilizations and I like making allies. I like managing cities/planets to specialize output for my empire. I didn't get a feel for any of these preferences with this game.
There is no designing of ships in this game. Certain tech levels let you build a fixed ship design. Other techs might increase the combat values of all of your ships, but you won't have mixed tech fleets.
Exploration of the map is really quick. It took me only 1 hour of game time to explore the map and all of the systems. Although I didn't play the largest map, exploration was way too quick.
There is no real management of individual planets except for what is to be built on that planet, and there isn't much variety in what is to be built.
You can only play a human player and the only difference between different set ups is what government you start with.
The aliens don't seem interested in initiating any diplomacy, they either seem to agree to all of your deals or agree with none of them.
This game feels like a either a console game that is ported over to the PC or a real time game that was made into a turn based game to allow for "Diplomacy". It doesn't have the depth I expected from a 4X game for the PC.
If you want a detailed 4X game, I would recommend either Master of Orion 2 (Yes I said 2, not 3), or Space Empires IV instead.
Rating:
Summary: GalCiv: a classic comes back
Review: I've been participating in the beta program since August of last year, and endorse the previous reviewer's comments. I would also like to point out that there are some things (most especially the concept of starbases, which is now a key part of the game but was never part of the original OS/2 version) that were added through the input of beta testers which have dramatically enhanced the game. GalCiv's Windows version has had one of the most thorough and intense beta periods of any PC game that I know of - indeed, the "delay" in release until March 26th has allowed Stardock and its gamma testers to tweak the playability even more - and I have no hesitation whatever in recommending it to the general gaming public. As for multiplayer? It's overrated, IMHO. The AI is so outstanding in this game that I guarantee you you won't miss multiplayer capability once you've gotten battered a few times at the hands of the Drengin or the Yor on "genius" level.
Rating:
Summary: Cheap Rip-off
Review: Being a Moo fan and seeing this game, I had hopes. boy was I wrong. on the ooutside it loks like an increadible Moo ripoff, which I would not have minded. ounce you start playing however, you come to realize that there is no real hope for this game. No ship customization, no organized way of of doing combat other than "go here and kill", and for Willy's sake, you can't even play as anyone other than the stupid F***ing humans! Diplomacy you have to discover through tech reserch, even then it's so mundane it hurts. unimaginative planet design, and tedious turns. Don't get me wronge, there are a handfull of things that are decent. I dig the major and minor races, and how the minor ones just pop up out of nowhere. If you start doing evil your entire screen changes to dictate how ruthless you are. and the random anomalies that you can explore are a nice touch. All in all, it's an unimpressive game that it more bark than bite.
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