As a story, it may have very interesting points, and is certainly the sort of thing to make people feel clever about themselves for "getting" it, but as a game its an abject failure. Illogical puzzles, "search the pixel" gameplay, utterly hilarious (unintentionally so) script almost bring this into the "so bad its good" category, and there is certainly something making you want to see whats going to happen next, but not in a good way. At least you get the short story as part of the package.
Having seen this on sale I thought, what the hell and took the plunge. And I now remember why I sold it way back when it first came out. The game lacks any personality, and fulfils the cliche of strategy games being little more than pretty spreadsheet managers. There is certainly plenty of potential, and a myriad of different playstyles suitable for any sort of leadership style, however whether you can tolerate the sheer boredom and lack of interaction to actually get to that point is the biggest challenge present. The AI is woeful and with little to differentiate the separate players from each other their is no emotional involvement. Hell even Civ 1 realised the importance of being able to distinguish between oponents. A below average strategy game and clearly the worst civilisation game (Yes, OK, its not officially a civilisation game!)
