Good if you like item collection or star wars. Probably a little bit too easy. Probably not worth $20 unless you're gonna play co-op with two people that are really into the game, or you know you already like the game. Controls are a big complaint. For one player it's no problem, just map movement to WASD and the other stuff to the numpad and it's as good as any other PC game. The only time WASD controls are awful is during the top-down flying combat levels because it re-maps forward thrust based on which direction you're moving, but you can manage to fudge through them if you go slow. Using a controller is better but not necessary. The game is really designed for two players. It can be played to completion with one, but your in-game companion is dead weight (and often gets in the way) and all combat is boring. I'm not sure if you can collect all the extras with just one player. Doubt it. if you want two players you need two control devices. Sharing a keyboard would suck. Episode I-III and IV-VI were originally two different games. I-III is faster paced with more combat, IV-VI has longer levels and a lot more puzzles. I think I-III was the better of the two games. The puzzles aren't that rewarding to solve and sometimes you get aggravated with a long level, grinding through the same basic puzzle scenarios over and over again. A better single-player combat system and more variation in enemies would have made this game a lot more fun. It is nice to be able to play through all levels with all characters. They added extra content not in the other two games as well.
Bopping music, very cool ideas for platforming puzzle levels, but there's not enough personality to enjoy replaying. Control is sluggish too.
I had heard high praise for this game when I was young and wanted to play for many years, but had to settle for competitor city builders until finding it on GOG. My experience was OK, but nothing like the hype around sim city led me to believe it was going to be. Mechanics are finnicky, you often have to fight with terrain to do what you want to, and the often praised music isn't nearly as powerful as Martin's work in The Sims. Competitors often fail at being fluid, but SC3k is too fluid for me. The laissez-faire transport systems are good for just getting it up and moving on with the game, but after years of transport sims it really rubs me the wrong way for it to be so effortless (or sloppy). I can see why someone would fall in love this game if they'd come in earlier when sandboxes were generally rougher, but I believe being the first of its kind accounts for its huge popularity more than it standing on its own merits. Game's enjoyable if you want a city builder you can just jump into and play casually, but it doesn't strike me as legendary. I might still try one of the earlier versions and probably enjoy it more. Also know there's an issue with scrolling around the map in SC3000 on modern PCs. It scrolls really fast so you have to baby scroll, and there's no good fix for it.
Really it's a great game with lots of longevity. Many scenarios are already packed into the three versions of the game, but also a lot of well-made historical focus scenarios & mods exist for BTS when you get bored, and they work just fine with the GOG version. You could play this game for years and never get bored. Tactics are as deep as they've ever been (and ever will be) in Civ. Depth is balanced by good intuitive info panels. You will enjoy this game and get your money's worth out of it. That said, play feels much more sluggish compared to Civ 2 or 3, which are just as good of games at their root. The switch to 3D graphics is a tradeoff that sacrifices interface snappiness for perhaps only a cute war-game toy soldier charm. The graphics do not look impressive today. Balancing depth of strategy and ease of play is what Civ 4 shines at, but the changes that make it a technical successor were unnecessary and even harmful in my opinion.
