Cheap Civilization 2: Multiplayer Gold Edition (Software) (Windows 3.1) Price

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Customer Reviews of Civilization 2: Multiplayer Gold Edition

Best Strategy Game Ever?
Turn-based strategy is a kind of archaic genre. Not in the sense that it can't be great--4 of 5 of Computer Gaming World's nominees for best strategy game in 2003 were turn-based--but that it hearkens back to an earlier era, before Real Time Strategy games like "WarCraft" and "Command and Conquer" ruled the earth. There's less immediacy to a turn-based game. They favor long, drawn-out thought and elaborate moves (and, yes, micromanagement) over immediate visceral thrills. Even though RTSes were born of TBSes, they've outstripped them in terms of popularity the way football outstrips chess.

So, what do you do with a game like Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition, which wasn't even state of the art ten years ago? (This version was released about a year after the original, and is not substantially different, except for some bug fixes and lots of scenarios.)

Well, first, recognize that Civ II (before this add-on) was The Best of its time. And taken in that context, may have been the Best Strategy Game Ever. In fact, if you're still running a 60mhz Pentium with 16MB, you may as well load this up and just pretend it's 1996. It's a five-star game, hands down.

But what about now? Can you fire up Civ II like you might fire up, say, "Heroes of Might and Magic 2"? Is it still fun, once you've conquered Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and experienced the rich detail of Sid Meier's Civlization III?

Kinda. It moves at a lightning clip, relative to Civ 3. It's windowed, so you can play it at work without getting caught. (Hey, I work at home, no chance of me getting caught, but some people like to know these things.) There are some very cool aspects of Civ 2 that are missing from Civ 3, like the Wonder videos. (They don't add much to the gameplay, but they're still fun to watch.)

But mostly, Civ 1 & 2, for all their addictiveness, eventually wore out their welcome with a series of annoyances, many of which have been resolved, or at least ameliorated, in Civ 3. It's hard to go back. Civ 2 actually feels sort of shallow, easier to manipulate, almost dinky, in retrospect.

Of course, there are some people who maintain that Civ 2 is the zenith of Civ-game development. And taken in context, Civ 2 was probably a greater accomplishment =for=the=time=. But it's hard going back.

My recommendation: Unless you haven't played Civ III, or you have a historical interest in Civ games, it's too late to appreciate how good this game was when it was released.

Civ II
This is a great edition to your collection of games. Not the best graphics, and may not be as exciting because it is turn-based, but is very addictive. You can build cities, attack and make piece with other civilizations and it has some educational qualities. The multiplayer is fun but, it you have to wait long waits until it is your turn. If your patient it is great. I would reccomend this to anyone who likes civilization managing games should definitly add this to their collection.