Civ 3

Civilization III Review Civilization III is a triumphant proclamation that strategy gaming is alive and well and still able to keep you rooted in front of your computer for hours at a time. Ultimately, Sid Meier's Civilization III will appeal mostly to the loyal fan base of the series, and rabid armchair presidents will fully enjoy the new features. Civilization II owners who were unable to rule effectively will find more of the same in this newest offering, as quite a few changes make the game even more complex. 'To all those trying to run civ3 on Windows 10, I suggest you try using an emulator like virtual box to install Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or whatever and then use that to play civ 3. I haven't tried this but there shouldn't be a problem with this process.' Hopefully you find a solution in these posts.

Ahh Civilization 3 or as the cool kids call it, Civ 3. This was where I jumped on the bandwagon and as a result, it remains a firm favorite of mine to this day. I would say that it is a safe bet by now that most gamers have at the very least heard of this game. The question is, is this game worth playing over any of the ones that came before it? Well, I recently fired this bad boy back up to see just how well it held up and after a solid weekend of playing, it holds up very well.

I Am Proud Of My Humble Beginnings!

As is the case with all the games in the series, your goal in Civilization 3 is to rise from the stone age all the way up to the modern age. It is a goal that is pretty much standard in all the Civilization games along with many other games of this style. The thing is, it never gets old and that is certainly the case here too.It is up to you where your civilization will start, but the game does give you a fair few choices such as America, England, Germany, and so on. I always like to pick England for some reason, but it is worth changing things up If you play through the game multiple times as there are differences depending on where you start.

Two Decades Of Dominance

I do have to state that as I write this the game is the better part of 20 years old. They have released a newer version on Steam, but even so. Civilization 3 is a game that does show its age in terms of the presentation. The historical figures are cool and I like how you can zoom in and out of the map. However, the whole game is not exactly what you would call easy on the eyes if I am being brutally honest. Thankfully, Civ 3 is a game that is not trying to get by on its looks.

Do It For Your People!

It is fair to say that even those who have a passing interest in this genre know the basics of what games like this are about. It is the gameplay that makes this and the other games in the series so addictive. You always need to be moving your civilization forward and how you do this is pretty grand. You need to build buildings, keep your people happy, deal with neighboring civilizations, go to war, make trades, and improve so much that you progress through the ages.

Entering a new era after you have done the right amount of research is always a very exciting aspect of the game. Going to war is a bit bland if I am being honest, but it is something that has to be done. The way you “win” the game can be by dust dominating the other civilizations or by a points-based system. Winning is tough as the AI in this game is freaking brutal and makes very few mistakes or mistimed moves.

I am always going to be partial to Civilization 3 as it was the game that introduced me to the series. However, as good as this game is and as much as I enjoyed my recent playthrough of it. I will admit that I do feel that the newer games, Civilization 6 for prime example are probably better for people who are new to the series. For those of you who like me did enjoy Civ 3 back in the day, you will be pleased to know that going back and playing this game is still a lot of fun.

Final Score

Pros:

• I liked how many different civilizations there were
• Entering a new age is as exciting as ever
• Lots of ways to go about playing the game
• I liked the historical figures
• It is a very addictive kind of game

Cons:

• The AI is very unforgiving, perhaps to the point of frustration!
• It is not quite as exciting as the latest game in the series

System Requirements | Expansion Packs | Patch & Updates | Frequently Asked Questions

“How do you improve on perfection?”

There was lots of confusion over the sequel to Civilization II. Some players thought Alpha Centauri is the sequel, while others thought Civilization: Call to Power is Civ3. It was not unusual to see people ask “When will Civilization III be release?” in newsgroups and forums and get replies such as “I already have it!”, “It’s already out!”, well before Civilization III was released.

The true sequel was developed by Firaxis Games and published by Infogrames / Atari . Civilization III was officially released on October 30th 2001 after two years of development. There are two editions at first: Collectors Edition and the Standard Edition. The Limited Edition comes in a very nice tin with the game, manual, a “Making of Civ III” CD, and a fold-out tech tree. The Standard Edition comes with just the game and the manual.

According to Jeff Briggs, President and CEO of Firaxis Games,

Our goal with Civilization III is to provide the most compelling and fun civilization experience ever! This game isn’t simply about a face-lift or adding more “stuff” to the existing design. It’s not even just about keeping and refining the good, addictive aspects of Sid Meier’s Civilization I and Civilization II and combining those with what was new and innovative in Alpha Centauri – though this is a major thrust of our efforts. It’s also about amplifying some previously unexplored areas of gameplay and enhancing some others in ways that give players more options and fun choices to build their empires the way they want to.

The Civilization III project was first announced in E3 1999 (May 14th). Firaxis released some impressive unit animations, concept arts, and in-game screenshots starting in January 2001. Many screenshots were also released thru gaming sites and magazines. You can find more than 150 high quality screenshots from the final version of the game in our Screenshots Gallery.

Here are the key features of Civilization III:

• More interactions, alliances and realistic artificial intelligence responses put players in the middle of negotiations, trade systems and diplomatic actions. Advanced trade system to manage resources, trade routes and spread of technology.
• Improved combat options provide finer levels of control for enhanced war-making capabilities.
• Technologies, Wonders Of The World and Great People expand the scope of the game.
• New elements of Culture, Nationality and the Arts help players plan a new peaceful pathway to victory.
• Active world generator creates more realistic maps and organic terrain features.
• Easier-to-use interface for streamlined management and better control.

For more details, please visit our Civilization III Info Center. The Info Center contains more than 30 pages of Civ3 information, all indexed by topics!

Expansion Packs

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Civilization III: Play the World (PTW)

Civilization III: Play the World was released in late 2002 and is the first expansion pack for Civilization III. The key feature of Play the World was the multiplayer mode. In addition to multiplayer, PTW also added eight new civilizations (Arabs, Celts, Carthaginians, Spanish, Ottomans, Vikings, Mongols, and Koreans) and new game modes including elimination, regicide, and capture the flag. There are also new terrain graphics, new wonders of the world, and extra units (WW2, Dino, Medieval Japan).

The Play the World expansion pack is included in later Civ3 releases such as Civilization III Gold and Civilization III: Complete. The second expansion pack Civilization III: Conquests also contains Play the World.

Civilization III: Conquests (C3C)

Civilization III: Conquests is the second and the final expansion pack for Civilization III. It was published in 2003 by Atari. This expansion added seven new civilizations to the game, as well as including the eight civilizations from Play the World, bringing the total number of playable civilizations up to thirty-one. The new civilizations are the Byzantines, the Dutch, the Hittites, the Incans, the Mayans, the Portuguese and the Sumerians.

Two new special civilization traits are added: seafaring and agricultural. New governments (Feudalism and Fascism) have also been added to the game, along with new Wonders of the World such as the Statue of Zeus and the Mausoleum of Mausollos.

The main feature of this expansion however was the inclusion of eight scenarios (aka “conquests”). Unlike the epic game, these scenarios took much less time to play and focused on a specific period in history. Scenarios included in this expansion were Mesopotamia, the Rise and Fall of Rome, the Middle Ages in Europe, Mesoamerica, the Age of Discovery, the Napoleonic Wars, the Sengoku period in Japan, and World War II in the Pacific.

• A detailed list of changes from PTW to C3C is available on our forum.

System Requirements

Windows:

* Indicates device should be compatible with DirectX® version 8.0a or higher.

Macintosh:

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• MacOS 8.6 or higher or MacOS 10.0.4 or higher
• 300MHz iMac G3 or better (500MHz preferred)
• 64M RAM for the classic MacOS (96M preferred), 128M for MacOS X.
• 500MB Hard disk space (650MB preferred)

Patch & Updates

• Please visit this page for patches.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)