Once upon a time I had all sorts of time for computer games. Back in the 1990s I could easily while away a Sunday afternoon on a good video game as easily as others would on a baseball game or reading a good book.
One of my favorites was Civilization II (Civ II). This turn based strategy game allowed players to build up a civilization from the stone age and take it to the space age. A single player could be pitted against 7 computer opponents or multiple human players could take turns playing against each other.
The game made use of what was then cutting edge CD multimedia technology and had several videos that played during the course of the game to flesh out the game play.
Leonardo’s workshop. One of the world wonders that give players a special advantage
A player would start with a small village and as time passed he could learn new technologies, build city improvements, plant farms, harvest resources, make money, equip armies, and conquer new territory. The end of the game would be set for the year 2000 and the most advanced civilization with the most points would win.
Game scores were kept based on the population size, wealth, size of the area conquered and world wonders that were built.
With variable geography and random events during the game (such as earthquakes or barbarian invasions), the experience was ever-changing and endlessly challenging. For me the real attraction was to compete against myself and try out new strategies and tactics to try to build up my civilization.
Although newer versions of Civilization have come out in the last 20 years I still think of Civ II as the best in the series. The added multimedia material added so much to the game play and the computer Artificial Intelligence (AI) was one of the first that was not as predictable as most computer AI’s had been up to that time.
If you like strategic games and want to find a game that will challenge you intellectually I would highly recommend any of the Civilization games.
Recent Comments