Galactic Civilizations II Gold
Take 2 - Take 2
Windows XP
Release date: 2007-02-05
Video Game
average reviews
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Galactic Civilizations II Gold
Date undefinedok, not as good as I had hoped, nothing really new, missing things I had enjoyed in older games, however, good AI.
Galactic Civilizations II Gold
Date undefinedThis is a really cool turn-based space strategy game. Like many others, I've been loving this type of game for a long time (Reach for the Stars, Master of Orion, Master of Orion 2), and really have not found an adequate improvement upon MOO2, released way back in 1996. Pretty amazing hole in an otherwise saturated industry. I guess those of us who like turn based games are in the minority these days, but then again Civ seems to do very well so that says there are plenty of us. There have been numerous horrible attempts at succeeding MOO2 but they have all failed.
Anyway, I've not played this game enough yet to be sure its better than MOO2 but it had a good chance at it. I'll defer to the many reviews by more experienced players saying how great this game is.
What I can say is that after playing the demo of this gold pack for awhile, and deciding it is good enough to buy, the situation becomes annoying. Even though the last expansion, Twilight of the Arnor, was released ~6 months ago, there is no package that contains the full set of GalCiv2. In fact, Amazon doesn't even sell Twilight of the Arnor. Apparently Stargate only distributes it electronically or directly from them? Weird.
I want to buy a boxed combo pack containing the complete game. Especially in a case like this where the expansions are less about adding plot and more about expanding/fixing the rules. I want a nice professionally printed manual that I won't get if I buy the electronic download directly from Stargate (for the same price as if it was a printed, boxed version). Maybe this is too old school and I need to get with the times?
Anyway, cool game, 4 star instead of 5 for not having a good, easy to buy single package product.
Galactic Civilizations II Gold
Date undefinedJust like many, MANY other video games, it has a solid concept and poor execution. It's fun building your own intergalactic civilization- if you know how. It really is fun to command fleets and trade technologies, but there are problems.
If you're new to the game, like I was, you'll soon discover the tutorials cover perhaps 15% of what you need to know to play the game effectively. The campaign mode doesn't teach you anything either, in fact, the first thing it does is shove a couple windows in your face with no explanation. The formula for your planetary population's happiness isn't explained, so you won't find out why building a three multimedia centers, which should raise your population's morale by 60%, has raised morale by less than 30%.
The plot of the campaign mode is boring and transparent, with 95% of it revealed in the opening cinematic. The ending is also completely anticlimactic, with no CG scene or anything, just TEXT.
The best part of the game is multiplayer or skirmish mode. You can design your own race, determine the conditions of victory, so on and so forth. In every mode you can design your own ships, which is cool. Bribing people for friendship, only to attack them later is hilarious. It really is worth getting this game if you don't mind a worthless campaign mode and a steep learning curve.
