Sid Meier's Civilization® III Complete

Civ 3 deals with the issue of controlling city spamming with corruption, which limits new cities abilities to produce things. It is a very annoying mechanic. Civ 4 handles this by requiring you to build up your economy to handle a larger empire and is a very satisfying mechanic. Civ 4 is better in combat, empire improvements and diplomacy, simply an improved Civ 3.

The 4X strategy genre can be a bit overwhelming and difficult to get into (though not as tough as grand strategy) but there are a couple games that have solid tutorials and less of a steep learning curve. Endless Space 2 and Stellaris come to mind at first, but... ... I'd be remiss to not talk about just how fantastic Civilization 3 is. Widely considered to be the greatest in the series, and one of the greatest 4X games of all time, Civ 3 is a brilliant example of why this genre is so fun. The progression design of the Civ series matches perfectly with the gameplay of the genre, allowing the player to begin at the start of a civilization and build their empire up through constant progression. That progression, however, is entirely up to the player. Want to be diplomatic and avoid wars? You can build your empire to do that. Prefer to just stomp on your enemies and conquer the world? Again, you can build your empire to do that. Want to isolate yourself for scientific progression or build a civilization upon trade? Those are also options. In Civ 3, you never feel like you're being overwhelmed by a million gameplay systems but at the same time, you also never feel like you're being limited. In general, 4X is basically a sandbox take on turn-based strategy gaming and if you know me, you know I like my sandbox games. You may have heard that the Civilization games have always had that "one more turn" sort of gameplay and they are not joking. Every time I start up this game, I end up spending WAY more time than I planned to because it becomes addictive: you always want to take one more turn toward building your armies, or wonders of the world or progressing toward the next scientific unlock. You're always progressing to your goals. I wouldn't say it's my absolute favorite 4X strategy game; that would be Stellaris. However, it is a landmark game that any strategy gamer should at least check out at some point. For that price point, really can't go wrong!

First - My overall rating reflects my feelings toward the game itself, which I feel is one of the best I've ever played (along with Diablo II: LOD, and my initial foray into PC gaming with the Gold Box games). However, I really would have to give this particular edition a 4 1/2 star rating. This isn't due to any problems with GOG, but more with the lack of Firaxis Games' support for the game once widescreen monitors started becoming the norm. Okay - putting that aside, this is a great game, with practically limitless replay possibilities (you can select your opponent civilizations, you can load/save at any time, you can even replay a particular map using the map *seed*). The learning curve isn't too difficult, however developing strategies for city-building sequences can really have you pulling your hair out (and looking like Sid Meier). Also, there are some military units which I personally don't use often (I don't care much for air units, and the only sea unit I'll use are the transport types - which can also be used for exploration). Now - the bad news. With the introduction of wide-screen monitors, for some particular reason the fonts/text when negotiating trades, treaties, etc. with leaders are displayed in almost invisible colors. And, to make matters worse (for example, trying to cease a trade agreement), there doesn't appear to be any way to access that particular dialogue. Finally - there are many hacks/fixes out there which supposedly fix that problem. However, I personally haven't had any luck with them. I'm not saying they don't work, just that I can't do much with them to solve the display problem. In conclusion, This is quite possibly the "Holy Grail" of turn-based strategy/city-building games. When I first saw the GOG announcement, I literally squeeeeeeed with joy. Though some may not like it, I feeling this is a game that most people would/could/should enjoy.

I bought the original game off the shelf at our PX on Camp Casey in 1991 and played it through over and over and over again. I did the same with Civilization II which remains tied with Master of Orion 2 as my favorite follow-up sequel ever. Civilization III was certainly an enjoyable game. The mechanics aren't much more complex than its predecessor and the graphical and audio bells and whistles are good and stand up well even to this day. Then Civilization IV came out and once the Beyond the Sword add-on completed that game, I was done with Civ III and never returned. Games 5 and 6 have been enjoyable though the series is beginning to groan under the weight of chrome replacing elegance. As a stand-alone title, Civilization III is a very good game. So while for me its the least likely title in the series that I would go back to play again, if you've never played any of the series titles it's an excellent place to start especially given its low price on GOG.

If you are on Linux (+lutris), just make sure to add the KeepRes=1 line in the conquest.ini file otherwise the game might not start for you. The problem i had in particular was whenever i would try to start the game, the initialisation wouldn't finish (selecting team colour) so this was bypassed by the already mentioned trick. Yes, there are some minor glitches like the cheering sound being on repeat after the people grant you the palace upgrade, but these are all artificial at best. Works like the charm on Windows 10, but dont forget to add the same line here as well. Alas, always have guards posted around your colonies...