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review :: galactic civilizations 2
Galactic Civilizations 2
Reviewed on: PCAvailable on: PC
This game features a learning curve so tough that it would have Einstein reading the manual twice over. The complexity and range of options gives the game a depth that few other games can claim.
Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords is the first game to actually force me into buying another game. Not long after starting 'Gal Civ 2' I went and bought Dr. Whatshisname's Brain Training on DS, just because I felt really really stupid. This game features a learning curve so tough that it would have Einstein reading the manual twice over. The manual is a meaty 60 odd pages long and you need to know it all if you're to survive on a difficulty setting much higher than Beginner. Fortunately, the game does have a few video tutorials to give you the basics, but even then you will find it takes a while to fully come to grips with the game. That said; it isn't such a bad thing. The complexity and range of options gives the game a depth that few other games can claim.
Once you manage to work through the plethora of starting options in this game, you'll want to pay special attention to the difficulty setting. The AI in this game can be surprisingly tough, and can come up with some pretty creative strategies to beat the crap of you and your colony. Before you even start up the game, I recommend heading online and reading one of the beginner's guides that can be found on the games many fan sites. But a good starting point is to just leave all the defaults as they are! A good starter is to work your way through the campaign mode where you will find yourself with plenty of support and a fairly weak enemy.
Gal Civ 2 in a nutshell is pretty much command and conquer meets civilization - in space. There isn't exactly any ground breaking gameplay here, but what it does do it does really well. This game is deep, complex and entertaining. It brings back the classic phrase, 'just one more turn'. Being a turn based game, as opposed to a real-time game, it gives you a greater opportunity to pay attention to the smaller details and really encourages you to control your colonies at a very low level. You can play this game simply as an explore and conquer type game, or you can get really deep into tech strategy, diplomacy and trade. Unlike most games which have pre-defined units, Gal Civ 2 allows you to actually create your own units. Again, you can choose to avoid this and just use the prebuilt units, but designing your own ships is not only more rewarding, but you can get much more fine grain control over your units' strengths and weaknesses. In Age of Empires if you opponent is building catapults, you build cavalry. In Gal Civ 2, if your opponent is researching Laser cannons, you want to make sure you're fitting your ships out with armour that is strong against Laser fire. When creating ships you are provided with dozens of connection points on which to fit armour, engines, weapons, scanners and even troop carrying pods. This flexibility means that all of your units are EXACTLY what you want them to be. If you want a fleet of small shark-like fighters with fricking lasers on their heads, then that's more than possible... in fact, I highly recommend it. Of course, like most things, more control means more room to stuff it up completely, so much sure you're paying attention to what your enemies are researching and fit out your fleet appropriately.
When you first install the game and view the introduction video you may feel a bit of a cringe. The game definitely has a low-budget feel about it in parts. The best thing you can do is just skip the CGI sequences, because unlike games like Final Fantasy, the CG animations in this game are really the low-point of the game. It has that 1990's Wing Commander feel about it; except not in a good way. Once you actually get into the game, however, you can leave the low-fi CG behind you and just settle into the game. The graphics in game are hardly mind blowing either, but when you have so many other things to be managing, graphic quality isn't that big a deal. It's no Age of Empires 3, but then again, I can actually run Gal Civ 2 on my machine ... so whatever.
Probably the only real 'lacking' feature of Gal Civ 2 is the tech tree. The tech tree is huge, but it is actually very difficult to navigate and to make informed decisions about what to research. More often than not you have half a dozen or so techs that you can research that only take 1 or 2 turns to complete. The problem is that the game gives you very little information on the techs, their benefits and what other techs you still require to acquire new ship plans etc. With so many different techs available it is really hard to make clear choices about the direction you want to take. Given that the tech tree is not only wide but very deep, failing to maintain a decent research level across all branches can leave you hopelessly out of shape should the opposition get too far ahead of you.
In addition to the vast number of research options, there is also an equally vast number of methods of making money. Trade routes, taxation, exclusive research options and resource mining are just some of the ways to increase your overall wealth. Not only do you want to make money, but you also want to make sure you?re spending enough on Military, Social development and Research. It is a tricky balancing act ensuring that your citizens are not only safe but are also happy. Whilst invasion is a good way to ensure galactic domination, you can also do it by making the opposition's citizens insanely jealous of your Zero-G arena and they'll join your civilization in no time.
Of course Galactic conquest isn't always as easy as offering every citizen a big screen TV and free cable. No, sometimes you need to get tough. Depending on your opposition you may find yourself regularly invading other planets, or defending yours from invasion. Some civilizations are more aggressive than others, so make sure you know your enemy. Invasion basically requires you to take out any planetary defense and then land an invasion force for a 'Advance Wars' style skirmish. Unfortunately, this part of the process is a One-click affair. Click the Go button and then watch the really really really bad animation of your invasion in progress. But, its easy to skip to the end and find out if your successful, and once you've seen one invasion, you really have seen them all. Invade enough planets and eventually the opposition will crumble before your mighty phallic spacecraft and will, if all goes well surrender to your forces. I say "if all goes well", because sometimes the nasty AI will actually surrender to your main rival just to piss you off. This is where diplomacy is so important. You want to always keep tabs on your rivals and who is friends with whom. Of course if you are bombarding someone, they are more likely to join forces with someone else who hates you as well. This is one of many examples of how the clever AI in Gal Civ 2 really is. More often than not you feel like you are playing chess against a computer who is just far more intelligent that you. The AI never resorts to cheating, it just frequently chooses to outsmart you. And it will do it in ways that make you go, "shit, why didn't I think of that". Just like a good chess game however, it is possible to find weaknesses in your opposition, and that is the trick to winning in Gal Civ 2.
It is actually refreshing to play a game like Gal Civ 2. It truly reminds you that game play is far more important than graphics, and that good AI is worth more than fancy particle effects. Whilst this one won't win any awards for inventive play, it definitely is a shows consistent effort across the board. The game is fully featured, and provides very deep game play with more customizations than you can shake a vary large pointy thing at. The ongoing support and community for this game is also quite amazing. Although there is no multiplayer component as such, the online community is great place to look for additional value.
Once you manage to work through the plethora of starting options in this game, you'll want to pay special attention to the difficulty setting. The AI in this game can be surprisingly tough, and can come up with some pretty creative strategies to beat the crap of you and your colony. Before you even start up the game, I recommend heading online and reading one of the beginner's guides that can be found on the games many fan sites. But a good starting point is to just leave all the defaults as they are! A good starter is to work your way through the campaign mode where you will find yourself with plenty of support and a fairly weak enemy.
Gal Civ 2 in a nutshell is pretty much command and conquer meets civilization - in space. There isn't exactly any ground breaking gameplay here, but what it does do it does really well. This game is deep, complex and entertaining. It brings back the classic phrase, 'just one more turn'. Being a turn based game, as opposed to a real-time game, it gives you a greater opportunity to pay attention to the smaller details and really encourages you to control your colonies at a very low level. You can play this game simply as an explore and conquer type game, or you can get really deep into tech strategy, diplomacy and trade. Unlike most games which have pre-defined units, Gal Civ 2 allows you to actually create your own units. Again, you can choose to avoid this and just use the prebuilt units, but designing your own ships is not only more rewarding, but you can get much more fine grain control over your units' strengths and weaknesses. In Age of Empires if you opponent is building catapults, you build cavalry. In Gal Civ 2, if your opponent is researching Laser cannons, you want to make sure you're fitting your ships out with armour that is strong against Laser fire. When creating ships you are provided with dozens of connection points on which to fit armour, engines, weapons, scanners and even troop carrying pods. This flexibility means that all of your units are EXACTLY what you want them to be. If you want a fleet of small shark-like fighters with fricking lasers on their heads, then that's more than possible... in fact, I highly recommend it. Of course, like most things, more control means more room to stuff it up completely, so much sure you're paying attention to what your enemies are researching and fit out your fleet appropriately.
When you first install the game and view the introduction video you may feel a bit of a cringe. The game definitely has a low-budget feel about it in parts. The best thing you can do is just skip the CGI sequences, because unlike games like Final Fantasy, the CG animations in this game are really the low-point of the game. It has that 1990's Wing Commander feel about it; except not in a good way. Once you actually get into the game, however, you can leave the low-fi CG behind you and just settle into the game. The graphics in game are hardly mind blowing either, but when you have so many other things to be managing, graphic quality isn't that big a deal. It's no Age of Empires 3, but then again, I can actually run Gal Civ 2 on my machine ... so whatever.
Probably the only real 'lacking' feature of Gal Civ 2 is the tech tree. The tech tree is huge, but it is actually very difficult to navigate and to make informed decisions about what to research. More often than not you have half a dozen or so techs that you can research that only take 1 or 2 turns to complete. The problem is that the game gives you very little information on the techs, their benefits and what other techs you still require to acquire new ship plans etc. With so many different techs available it is really hard to make clear choices about the direction you want to take. Given that the tech tree is not only wide but very deep, failing to maintain a decent research level across all branches can leave you hopelessly out of shape should the opposition get too far ahead of you.
In addition to the vast number of research options, there is also an equally vast number of methods of making money. Trade routes, taxation, exclusive research options and resource mining are just some of the ways to increase your overall wealth. Not only do you want to make money, but you also want to make sure you?re spending enough on Military, Social development and Research. It is a tricky balancing act ensuring that your citizens are not only safe but are also happy. Whilst invasion is a good way to ensure galactic domination, you can also do it by making the opposition's citizens insanely jealous of your Zero-G arena and they'll join your civilization in no time.
Of course Galactic conquest isn't always as easy as offering every citizen a big screen TV and free cable. No, sometimes you need to get tough. Depending on your opposition you may find yourself regularly invading other planets, or defending yours from invasion. Some civilizations are more aggressive than others, so make sure you know your enemy. Invasion basically requires you to take out any planetary defense and then land an invasion force for a 'Advance Wars' style skirmish. Unfortunately, this part of the process is a One-click affair. Click the Go button and then watch the really really really bad animation of your invasion in progress. But, its easy to skip to the end and find out if your successful, and once you've seen one invasion, you really have seen them all. Invade enough planets and eventually the opposition will crumble before your mighty phallic spacecraft and will, if all goes well surrender to your forces. I say "if all goes well", because sometimes the nasty AI will actually surrender to your main rival just to piss you off. This is where diplomacy is so important. You want to always keep tabs on your rivals and who is friends with whom. Of course if you are bombarding someone, they are more likely to join forces with someone else who hates you as well. This is one of many examples of how the clever AI in Gal Civ 2 really is. More often than not you feel like you are playing chess against a computer who is just far more intelligent that you. The AI never resorts to cheating, it just frequently chooses to outsmart you. And it will do it in ways that make you go, "shit, why didn't I think of that". Just like a good chess game however, it is possible to find weaknesses in your opposition, and that is the trick to winning in Gal Civ 2.
It is actually refreshing to play a game like Gal Civ 2. It truly reminds you that game play is far more important than graphics, and that good AI is worth more than fancy particle effects. Whilst this one won't win any awards for inventive play, it definitely is a shows consistent effort across the board. The game is fully featured, and provides very deep game play with more customizations than you can shake a vary large pointy thing at. The ongoing support and community for this game is also quite amazing. Although there is no multiplayer component as such, the online community is great place to look for additional value.
Final Verdict
Gal Civ 2 is the proof that there are more important things than HDR lighting and bump mapping! If you're after something to show of your new $800 video card, then this isn't it. If you want something to stretch the grey matter and don't mind missing entire nights of sleep, then this is certainly worth a look. Brings back the days when games would demand 'just one more turn'?.Pros
The AI is a complete bastard, but in a good way - Deep, detailed and complex game play - High levels of customization and community involvement - Refreshing sense of humour
Cons
Not the prettiest of games around - Steep learning curve, not exactly user friendly - Tech tree needs a little work - No multiplayer!
