"This cold, lifeless, tedious game plays like it was assembled by robots. Or maybe a focus group. It hits a bulleted list of features with all the passion of Dick Cheney reading the phone book. It doesn't do much to improve on the original Call to Power and indeed repeats many of that game's mistakes. If turn-based gaming dies, it will be because this is what people pick off the shelves while games like Shadow Watch, Rising Sun, and Star Empires IV languish unbought and overlooked."

Comments?

I wish I'd read your review before I bought it. Oh well, my mistake.

Having played through a few games, I can say that Civ2 is still a lot more fun. The UI is unbelievably clunky, and on a 1 gHz Athlon pieces lumbered along. It's hard to find a 2d game that can make a new PC feel slow, but this is one of them.

Oh well, back to Civ2 for a while...

Hey Tom, any chance of a 60 second review of Space Empires IV? You seemed to indicate that it was a good turn-based space game. The last one I bought was Imperium Galactica 2, and I found it really, well, tedious and unrewarding.
So far as Call To Power, after the original, I was sure to hold out for the reviews on this one. It's a shame, really, that after all the trouble, development and lawsuits that went into this game series, that it hasn't hit the mark. Any idea how it's doing financially?

>

Kazz, I really couldn't begin to give a fair assessment to the depth of SEIV. I've spent a grand total of maybe three or four hours with it and I've never seen the endgame.

Strategy games really take a long time to fully appreciate. I was able to do a 60 second review of CTP2 because I had played it to write a full review for CGW. But SEIV was just something I dabbled with in my spare time.

RE: CTP2: "Any idea how it's doing financially?"

I haven't seen any figures, but I'd be surprised if it doesn't sell at least 150,000 copies.

-Tom

"I haven't seen any figures, but I'd be surprised if it doesn't sell at least 150,000 copies."

The first ran neck and neck with Alpha Centauri for sales.

Dare I disagree?

CTP2 is definitely no classic, but it stands head and shoulders above the crap that was the original CTP.

I actually enjoyed my first game, up until the game crashed just as I was about to win. I haven't had the heart to fire it back up since then

I haven't had the problems that many have with the orignal CTP. I've really enjoyed it.

ctp2 isn't so bad. .. i actually like the colorful look of the layout. just that the game suffers too much from the 'mots' syndrome so many games these days have. plus it's missing all the bells and whistles that made civ 2 cool. . . like the throne room and the city view. . .yes they were meaningless but they added more life to the game imo.

anyhow, i think ctp2 is a solid game. . . as well its surprisingly paced very well near the end game (compared to civ 2 slowdown after the nuclear age). just that its "more of the same" when we already had SMAC and Civ2.

etc

I have to agree with you Tom, CTP2 is an incredibly boring game. It's just so slow!
Moving units is such a tedious excersise, they should used Civ 2's k'board settings (like Quake settings are almost industry standard)

I only bought this game to tide me over till Civ 3
lets hope its worth the wait.

the city works option, imo, actually speeded up the gameplay for me when compared to Civ2... one of the better parts of CTP2.. otherwise, yeah its a boring game when you consider we played it a million times with civ2.

etc