Posted on: February 10, 2023

Hydek12

Games: 382 Reviews: 1

It's Civilization

Good, I have nothing negative to say. Just ultimately wanted to add the resolution fixes to the reviews so everyone can find them https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Civilization_III#Widescreen_resolution

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Posted on: December 16, 2016

jimplunder

Games: 345 Reviews: 12

Not my favorite

Civ III has a few things that I loved and many things that I hated. For starters, the game always had resource balance issues and map seeding issues. If I played on a Pangea map, I would always get stuck on a small island by myself. If I played continents, I got stuck in a place that had no resources. I had no iron, no saltpeter, and no rubber, so I was always attacking with spearmen when they had swordsmen and musketmen, and had to wait to get riflemen before I could become competitive militarily, if only for a short while when the AI could build infantry. This just created an ultimate sense of frustration that any game I played was unbalanced in the AI's favor. The things I absolutely loved (that I wish they still did in modern Civ games) were palace building and leader portraits. Building your palace was amazing. Creating a single style or mix-and-matching was awesome. It was an improvement over the Throne Room of Civ II. I also loved that the leader portraits during diplomacy evolved with the tech age they were in. For example, if you were in the ancient era, all the leaders were wearing animal skins. In the classical age, they wore togas. In medieval era, they wore armor, and so on and so forth. It created a unique and immersive experience that Firaxis has not matched since, even with the "realistic" avatars in Civ V and the cartoony realism in Civ VI. I wish that Firaxis would take the time to put in little improvements like these into their newer Civ games. All in all, I don't give Civ III a high score, although I can see why many people liked it. On that very rare occasion when I did get a good starting spot with balanced resources, the game was a lot of fun, almost as much fun as my penultimate Civ game, Civ II.

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Posted on: May 11, 2021

JakobFel

Verified owner

Games: 835 Reviews: 49

The definitive 4X

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!

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Posted on: December 22, 2016

ballparkfrank

Verified owner

Games: 621 Reviews: 1

Just One More Turn...

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.

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Posted on: February 17, 2019

Gazebo88

Verified owner

Games: 581 Reviews: 10

Good But Least Likely

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.

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