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Civilization III: Conquests

Score: 90%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Firaxis
Media: CD/1
Players: 1 - 8
Genre: Strategy

Graphics & Sound:

Civilization III: Conquests doesn't do much in the way of graphics apart from adding a few new units to look at. It does revamp some of the terrain graphics and tweaks some of the interface, but apart from that, everything else is exactly the same.

Gameplay:

Civilization III: Conquests is the largest enhancement Civ III has seen to date. Seeing as how the only other expansion is the Multiplayer pack called Play the World, which comes with Conquests, there isn't really a water mark to measure against. However, what it delivers is good and sets a pretty high standard for any future expansions.

The biggest additions are stated in the title; Conquests. Pre-set scenarios were lacking in Civ III, and Conquests more than makes up for it. Nine scenarios in all are available, each focusing on a different aspect of new game rules. The setting for these scenarios range from ancient Rome to WWII, and include just about every major period of the civilized world in between. History buffs, it is time to rejoice.

The rest of the goods come in the form of micromanagement stuff. Seven new units, some civilization specific, along with a whole slew of new tribes can be found traversing the maps now. There are also two new government types, Fascism and Feudalism, along with a reworking of the preexisting ones.

A few new wonders, one being the Internet (now you can take the claim from Al Gore), and some city improvements are also thrown in for good measure. These, along with a whole slew of new victory conditions, make it possible to play shorter, more timeline specific games that regular people will be able to finish in a sane amount of time.


Difficulty:

Not content with having his name just on the cover of the box, Sid Meier is now the aptly named title of the hardest difficulty level you can set the AI at. Most people will only want to check this difficulty out for a couple of turns, or until the armies of Sid come marching up to your capital's gates, but if you've been exhausted on the other AI settings, this will definitely breath some new life into your single player games.

Game Mechanics:

Civilization III: Conquests is something that every Civ player should own. It will rejuvenate the game in more ways than one. The Multiplayer part has been fixed drastically, and the ability to play the new Conquests, as well as create your own, is almost worth the price for the expansion itself. Hopefully Conquests will spark new interest in the game and merit even more expansions in the future.

-Snow Chainz, GameVortex Communications
AKA Andrew Horwitz

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, 400 MHz Processor, 128 MB RAM, 650 MB Hard Disk Space, 4X CD-ROM, LAN or Internet Connection for Multiplayer
 

Test System:



Windows XP, 1.4GHz AMD Athlon, GeForce FX 128 MB video card, 40 gig hard drive, 56x CD-ROM, 256MB DDR Ram, Sound Blaster Live! sound card, Cable Modem Internet connection

Windows Chariots of War Windows Civilization III: Gold Edition

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated