One of the best games I've played in my life. I'll probably play it forever.
For me, the game isn't really playable. By default, the game opens with a tiny view and the colors are missing (they look like film negatives). Turning on hardware accelleration results in a black screen regardless of view size selected. This is one of my all-time favorite games. Unfortunately, for me, its unplayable.
Its a pale, pale shadow of Caesar 3. The graphics are nice I guess. That's about all I can think of in praise of this flawed title. I shut it off after an hour and never went back. I would purchase Caesar 3 regardless of how much fun you have with this game as its the peak of the series and a truly enjoyable game.
Wonderful story with prototype-level gameplay. The story is good enough to play the game all the way through. But, the gameplay is a glorified add-on that allows you to advance the story. I was shocked when I played it after all the accolades. I literally couldn't believe that anyone had rated this the best game ever made. It barely had gameplay. But, again, the story is wonderful. But, I look at this game as the beginning of the downward spiral of Bioware from making games like BG2 into making game shells that existed only to tell a story.
I remember buying this back in the day after all the raving about this series. I even tried pop 2 and thought it was great. But, I don't understand the fuss about this game. Its very limited and there's just no real relation to the previous games. I guess maybe I'm just not the intended audience.
There has never... EVER... been a game that did stealth this well. There are levels in this game that should be studied by every budding game designer. Its also VERY challenging on occasion. I will always own this game.
This game not only changes the conversation about what was possible in gaming, but STILL remains THE example of how to give a player freedom without letting them become directionless. I always have this on my hard drive. If you don't like this - you probably need to buy a console and stay there.
