|
Gen8
|
|
Here it goes:
"Civilization III: Conquests Preview
21 Aug 2003 13:26 GMT
Ian Sharpe
And on the Seventh Day, Sid made... a much better expansion pack.
Last year, the legendary Sid Meier released an expansion pack for his magnum opus, Civilization III, proudly titled Play the World - the idea being that you could get online for a quick bit of regicide with Aztecs, Carthaginians and Babylonians from all over the gaming globe.
Sadly, the unpatched game would have been more appropriately titled Connection Lost, Game Aborted, and the developers have since admitted it was released a little early. Meier and his Atari cohorts look like they mean to make it up to us though with this latest expansion pack, Civilization III: Conquests.
Conquests boasts an embarrassment of riches to bribe even the most jaded Civver back to the game. Everything from PTW is included - a fixed multiplayer game, new game types and new civilizations to play. But whereas mere gods stop for a breather on the seventh day, Meier has mopped his brow and ploughed on with creation (in actual fact, one of the features of the game is a new difficulty level above the extremely challenging Deity setting, called simply Sid).
The game features new units like the boulder-hurling Trebuchets, new citizens in the shape of Civil Engineers and Policemen, new terrain such as Swamp, more bonus resources like Tobacco and Exotic birds, more improvements to the interface, more techs to research, more game options to explore... the list goes on and on.
The main focus of the expansion pack though is on the eponymous Conquests, a series of seven customized scenarios that allow players to recreate historical struggles for supremacy. These games are designed to be shorter, allowing for more meaningful multiplayer gaming - and the focus is definitely on combat.
Each scenario, whether it's the post Pearl Harbor War in the Pacific or the bloody battles between Daimyos in feudal Japan, is carefully crafted with new units, new governments and new features. The Conquests allow a level of detail and realism that is sometimes absent from the 6,000-year sweep of the main game - in the clash of civilizations in the jungles of MesoAmerica, for instance, you can rule the Incan Empire through a Tribal Council, build the glorious Temple of the Sun and sacrifice the Olmec and Toltec warriors to the Winged Serpent.
"It is difficult coping with ordinary life as a Civ addict. You forget to eat, you avoid your friends and you hum "Hamrabi's Code" in your sleep."
Some of the new civilizations are Conquest specific - but most of them make an appearance in the main game. Speculating on what playable civs will make the cut is a favorite pastime for most Civ fans, and a fair amount of revisionist or just plain erroneous history is marshaled in support of playing the Dutch, Portuguese, Hittites, Sumerians or whoever else appeals to their sense of national identity.
Of course, there aren't many direct descendants of the Byzantine Emperors around any more to argue their case for inclusion in the game - the last one had his eyes gouged out around 1453 during the fall of Constantinople. But Meier has seen fit to restore them to their former glory, complete with the Dromon Unique Unit to spew Greek fire at enemy triremes. Theodora, wife of Justinian, takes the reins of power for the Byzantines.
With 31 civilizations now in the game, two new traits have been added to the roster to help make them all unique: Agricultural and Seafaring. All of the old civs will be tweaked appropriately, meaning a much-improved selection of opponents. The English under Elizabeth I, for example, will be Commercial and Seafaring in the new version.
And for those would-be emperors who prefer the olive branch to the sword, the game now boasts scientific Great Leaders. Instead of creating armies, science leaders can help make breakthroughs in technology and usher in a new Age just like a Newton or an Einstein.
New Wonders of the World have been included too, like the Knights Templar - which generates a free knight every few turns - and all Wonders now attract gaping, wide-eyed tourists who help fill your treasury coffers. And simple tweaks like continental rally points, airlifted workers and the ability to turn off the repetitive 'We Love the King' messages will all enhance - and speed up - gameplay.
It's difficult coping with ordinary life as a Civ addict. You forget to eat, you avoid your friends and you hum Hammurabi's Code in your sleep. Conquests looks set to destroy social lives the world over from the Fall."
Screenshots are indeed recycled from previous previews and also resized and of poor quality 
|
25-08-2003 11:58
) Thank you in advance 
|
|