My review, and a little more!

Plus short, ongoing bug findings

After having played 4 or 5 games on Small and Medium maps, I feel I can give some input on my experiences and help potential buyers and those of us who already own the game.

First, a kind of review covering my time with the game. I'll try to be objective.

Let me start by saying I prefer GalCivII over Civilization 3 or Civilization 4. I was not a big fan of the Civ games much at all, as much as I tried to enjoy them. It could have been I didn't understand the game fully, or turn-based strategy was not my schtick. I noticed GalCivII received generally good reviews across the board and it caught my eye. I begin doing research on the game and eventually ordered it from Amazon. Two things about this: I tried to purchase it in EBGames a week after release, they were sold out and told me they might not be getting any more in. Also, why should it be $45 to order online (PLUS SH) when I can buy it in the store for $40 - while it lasted?

Now, onto the game.

Many reviewers say it is hard to pick up and learn the game. I found it quite a bit easier than Civilization, myself. It's intuitive and lets you customize the game the way you see fit. After going through the tutorials and manual, I learned quickly. My point here is, don't let the complexity turn you off: while there is a lot of number-crunching, Stardock did their best to let you know where the numbers come from. Learning curve: 6 or 7 (10 being hardest to learn)

Graphics - they do their job. Ships look good; planets are not bad, either. However, once I saw a combat animation and saw the weak explosion which looked very ... sprite-like (?) ... I was a bit turned off. Graphics I'd also give a 6 or 7.

The sound is nothing amazing, either. While I enjoy the main theme song on the main menu, it's silent a lot of the time other than that. The combat noises (i.e. the lasers) are sometimes obnoxious. Music: 7, Sound: 5

The game itself is quite good. Like I said, I prefer it easily over Civ4, for several reasons.

First, the game is very customizable. From the ship designer, which you've probably heard about, to creating your own race, to setting up the galaxy to play in, you can usually suit yourself.

Combat is not as overwhelming and cumbersome as Civ and diplomacy is quite effective. Planetary invasions, while very fast, are pretty neat - one thing to keep in mind, though, is until you research planetary invasion, you can't take planets by force. You can still go around destroying the starbases of your enemy and damage their economy, though. And if you take enough of their planets and feel you are beginning to dominate them, they will surrender at a proper time. They will surrender to OTHER civs, if they so desire - though you can influence who they surrender to. For example, after having built up a relationship with the Thalan who were being pummeled by the Yor, I proposed an alliance, and a turn later, they surrendered their planets - to me. Now, with my new planets neighboring the powerful Yor, tensions are growing. But with the huge boost in economy and population, I'm also advancing faster.

If I don't want to be in a war with the Yor, I can give them technology gifts and try to lessen these tensions, for a time. Then, if I ally with the rest of the races, they'll feel more pressure and I'll be able to overcome them. Or I could enter war with them, fight them back (or into submission), and then befriend everyone else.

The numerous ways to win the game are a plus - be it warmongering, the peaceful, ally-with-all route, or cultural domination (which I have not yet won by).

There is a lot of personality in the game, from some clever tech descriptions to how the other races communicate with you.

Having played the game on Beginner and then several games on Normal, the AI does pose a challenge. Quite good, really. I haven't looked for ways to "exploit" them, but having played the game in a rather straightforward manner, they find my weak points and play well. Actually, on Normal, when the monthly reports come out, I'm usually on the bottom, only above the Minor races, until the end of the game. I've not perfected my skills yet, but I'm pointing out that the AI builds up effectively. AI Difficulty: 7.5

Another major point is the fact that Stardock is continually updating the game. The Metaverse is also pretty neat. And that's a good thing that the game isn't finished, because I honestly don't feel it is. Things like espionage, the United Nations (which is pretty cool), and even diplomatic relations can ALL use some more depth.

There's also multiple bugs and misspellings I've come across. To name a few that I remembered:

1. Right in the tutorial description list, there's minor misspellings - this makes the game look unprofessional, and even if Stardock's payroll is not as great as Firaxis', I feel it takes away from the "polish" of the game.

2. "String not found" and other coding objects sometimes come up. I've encountered this in the deletion of a custom race and also in conversation with the Drengin.

3. The game has crashed a couple times on the loading of a Quick Save, but after booting up the game again, it fixes itself.

4. There's some graphical errors every now and then. Sometimes, for example, the timeline graphs will get "choppy." I was also presented with a completely green screen at one point, other than the text, so I was able to quit the game, but it's just another error to name. I don't know if it has anything to do with my video card (9800 Pro, latest drivers) or my drivers, I'm just naming things.

Suggestions (probably been heard before):

The "Lucky" Rangers - is this the ONLY thing that is produced if your civilization is lucky? I'm not saying that the ship is not powerful, I'm saying there should be MORE randomly generated events from the "Luck" attribute. I see these "Lucky" rangers several times a game!

Can I randomize the races that show up instead of having to pick them and their intelligence? If I'm feeling inclined toward good, I could choose the Altarians in the galaxy instead of the Drengin, but that provides me with an advantage. Why should I have this choice?

More text in conversation. I see the same greeting, the same threats, the same acceptances time and time again. If I can't have multiplayer, give me more variety - make me feel like I'm NOT playing with a computer.

Overall, I'd give the game a 7.5 or an 8. I'd recommend buying it, though not from Stardock directly, since $45 and S&H blows the "value" right out the door. I will continue playing it and see how the future patches improve the game. I'm enjoying the game so far, and look forward to discovering new ways to conquer the galaxy. Once I'm up to it, I'll play a Gigantic map and a higher difficulty for an especially "large" challenge

*IF* Stardock was not openly updating the game, however, and this was the final version, I'd give it a 6. There's just small errors, bugs, and a feeling of "incompletion" on a few things that really takes away from my game experience. If these things were fully-fledged, this game would be simply amazing. And this, ultimately, is my hope for the future.

I hope this helped any potential buyers. Those of you who have the game, comment on my bugs and tell me if you've seen them as well. Stardock, take my suggestions to heart - even though they're not game-crushing problems, I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way.

Thanks.

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

What version were you playing?

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The latest. I have SD Central.

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Ha, I asked why they sold GC1 for $39.99 online when it retailed for $9.99 or $14.99 after a few months of release and I got flamed something fierce by the devs. Retail availability (or unavailability as it seems) is common to Galactic Civ games, don't give me any BS, I bought GC1 and it's exp from retail and had to go through many stores to find a copy (in LA, that a big enough market for ya?)

Good review, I'd say it's more on point than the major review sites. Although I dunno how you can't rave about the ship designer, that alone should give the game an extra .5 points.

Sounds like he is playing retail or 1.0X, frogboy. Random enemies ARE in the beta, Striken, so that's good. I hope turning off random events will be an option. I hate it when I get the +economy event. Weee, I go from 20 BC a turn to 600 BC a turn, game = over. I usually have to waste all that extra cash on espionage to keep it fair.

You are a bit harsh on the graphics though, it's a TBS so the main screen graphics are nothing to write home about, but the ship battles are pretty cool. Graphics in SW:EAW are better, but you spend the whole time zoomed out so X-wings are just dots, while you can zoom into the battles in GC2. I haven't seen any problems with the graphics on my machine, 9800 pro is getting old.....

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Having played the game on Beginner and then several games on Normal, the AI does pose a challenge. Quite good, really. I haven't looked for ways to "exploit" them, but having played the game in a rather straightforward manner, they find my weak points and play well. Actually, on Normal, when the monthly reports come out, I'm usually on the bottom, only above the Minor races, until the end of the game. I've not perfected my skills yet, but I'm pointing out that the AI builds up effectively. AI Difficulty: 7.5

Just to point out... at normal your still (at least) a notch below unlocking the 'full' AI, even then your still one or two more before the AI does not have a penalty to it's economy

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Yeah, I know, Normal isn't really "equal" yet. If the AI outproduces me this badly already, I'd be afraid to move on. Thing is, though, they're not really a threat to me since I tend to stay Good and build up my diplomacy skills. If my standing goes down to Wary I'll give them a technology or two and build up my military some, and they'll fight eachother. If I'm friendly with any of the other races I'll probably receive their planets. Then, if I conquer the one "trouble-maker" and ally with the rest, I win.

I've repeated this a few times. I guess it's kind of a diplomatic victory with a little conquest involved. I'd say it's easy to perform.

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