Civilization: Call to Power

Completely redesigned in gorgeous full color, the new artwork bears as much resemblance to its predecessors as primitive man's cave scrawls do to the Mona Lisa. The animated units prove that turn-based strategy can have some flash, and new movies celebrating the completion of civilization-boosting wonders are equally stunning.

The goal of the game hasn't changed much (create a civilization that can stand the test of time), but the playing field has been greatly expanded to include ocean and space colonization, with more technological advances, wonders, diplomatic options, and government types than ever before.

Generally, the new interface successfully simplifies control while keeping you close to the action. The occasional awkwardness (it's easy to carelessly mis-click and send units in the wrong direction) is counterbalanced by welcome game-play enhancements, such as the ability to group units together, tile improvements being funded from a pooled public works budget, and view a pathing line that shows you where (and how far) you can move your units.

Boldly improving on where Civilization II has gone before, Call to Power stays true to its heritage and makes the struggle for civilization come alive as never before. --Jack Gardiner

Pros:

• Beautiful, new animated art
• New units, advances, and government types
• Challenging, turn-based strategy is a worthy addition to the Civilization lineup
• Mac vs. Mac and Mac vs. PC Local Area Network or Internet play

• Interface, though improved, is still occasionally awkward

You start in the year 6000 B.C. as a single settler and found your capital city and then as you start building warriors (At the beginning of the game, your civilization is primitive and tribal), explore the continent and found new cities to expand your civilization's borders.

As the game goes on, settlers, military units will inevidently encounter individuals from other civilizations. Be very careful though because you may have no idea of the other civilizations are friendly, neutral, or hostile so be prepared for anything. After that, there are many options for forging alliances between civilizations and playing the game by dove politics or world domination and conquering the entire planet!! I once in fact did just that, conquer the entire planet on this game!

This game comes with 28 Wonder of The WOrld some of which aren't really all that much to write home about except to raise your city (cities) to the Top 5 list but others however will benifit your civilization for the rest of the game. Three architectural styles also are in this game as well. My favorite style is the old fashioned Medievel castles(Pre-industrialization) styles especially when playing the VIkings, English, Spanish, or the Germans. I do love though the big cities by the end and are amazing to look at.

The graphics even if a bit crude by todays standards are really amazing even by 1996 standards. The music is mostly ho-hum in my opinion but at least you can run the game without the CD-ROM which is a big plus if you want to listen to a music CD while playing! The game runs quite well on my computer even if the computer is of an older model and I've never experienced any bugs while playing.

Watch your civilization evolve from a one-village tribe to a gargantuan military empire over the 'years' and have a swell time! For all we know, it would be useful if there was a magic trick that could transfigure one into a pocketwatch because once you start playing, you just might end up losing track of time and will be playing for hours on end.

Sid Meyers truly created a timeless game for all ages. A pity the third installment came nowhere close to this.


Highly addictive   July 17, 2003
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I found this game a few years ago, and my seminary career almost suffered a mortal attack of neglect due to the addictive nature of this game.

I am on a Mac G3 at home, which is fairly fast, perfectly adequate for this game. The game itself is a fascinating look at and convolution of history. This game has an element of learning in it (which shouldn't discourage you from trying it -- it is pure fun despite the educational element!), in that one must become acquainted with a general stream of history, and in particular, the progress of human history charted through technological acquisition; this takes two peripherally related tracks, that of military technology acquisition, and of civilian or societal technology acquisition. One must keep a careful balance of these two in development to be able to grow as a civilisation and be able to defend oneself against competing civilisations.

The various civilisation types (Egyptian, Babylonian, Russian, Chinese, American, etc.) have particular outlooks (some are militarily aggressive, some are not so; some can be trusted in diplomacy, other cannot be), and particular aims. To grow as a civilisation, one must either take over other civilisations or maintain reasonable relationships with them to avoid conflict. However, like most of history up to this point, sooner or later there will be conflict.

As history develops, too, one gets more options in the way a government can be run. Choices run between anarchy and despotism, monarchy, republic, communist, democracy, or religious fundamentalism. Each of these governmental types have advantages and disadvantages (for instance, who can do dastardly deeds toward other nations, even allies, as a fundamentalist regime, with impunity because it is expected).

The real action consists in the military conflicts, which can be as simple as two chariots clashing in the desert to full air/sea/land invasions complete with nuclear weapons and stealth fighters. Defensive technologies develop at a somewhat slower pace than offensive technology, so it is important from a defensive standpoint to be well-funded in research. Technology becomes critically important here -- one tank could overrun an entire horse-centred city, and a few stealth fighters can wipe out an entire early-technology civilisation.

Civilisation also includes the opportunity to construct Wonders of the World, which include ancient, medieval, industrial, and modern wonders. These wonders add special aspects to the civilisation that holds them (for instance, the builders of the Pyramids can forego building granaries in their cities). The effects of the Wonders lessen over time, and if the cities in which the Wonders are built are captured, their benefits accrue to the conquering army. A Wonder destroyed is lost forever, much like the real Wonders of the World.

Exploration is important in the beginning phases of the game -- the player can opt for a known world (in the form or Europe, or the Pacific, or the entire Earth) or for a unknown world -- these are more fun, for one has to discover the contours of the land and navigate the seas much as early civilisations had to.

The two ways to win the game are to create technology to build a spaceship to take settlers to a planet near Alpha Centauri Prime (which then can yield scenarios in the next Civilisation-based game), or to take over the entire world by being the only remaining civilisation.

With the CD-ROM enhancement, sound effects and video clips that accompany major developments, this is a real treat, and very addictive. Beware, and be brave!


A nice idea but a horrible implementation   May 19, 2003
 0 out of 2 found this review helpful

One of many branches of Civilization, this series is made by the company that bought the board game rights to the original Civilization.

Some added/new features to Civilization are sea and space development, separation of infrastructure and unit builds, expanded trade and trade routes and a much greater variety of items to build.

The addition of sea and space environments are a great idea. The original Civilization series sufferd from a "Y2K" problem in that once you reached present-day technology the game play sputtered to a halt. New environments greatly extend gameplay.

The different trade rules are a nice addition. Showing trade routes (and allowing piracy) make ocean forces more necessary. In the original Civilization you could pretty much ignore naval unit development. Not so in Call to Power. Piracy can shut down an empire.

However, the game has a couple of fatal flaws. First and most damaging is a bad AI implementation. It is ridiculously easy to win this game, even at more difficult settings. Secondly, there is no provision for obsoleting military units. I've had enemy musketmen "shoot down" my stealth bombers. (!) These flaws make the game unplayable.

My advice: don't waste your time with this series unless/until they correct the AI and obsolete military unit problems.