Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords

1001 Video Games

Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

References

In the campaign mode of the game, the mission titled "Siege" starts the player with three planets named: Sabin, Celes and Locke. The names are references to three of the main characters of Final Fantasy VI.

StarForce

When the game was released and topped the American charts, without relying on copy protection, a StarForce administrator, working for the StarForce company providing copy protection for media, posted a torrent link to an illegal version of the game on the company's forum, with the message:

Right now several thousands are downloading the pirated version from that web-site. Is it good for the sales? Unlikely. Good game [sic] surely would have the high sales rate even if it doesn't have any copy protection, but not because of that. Good protection is the tool, which increases the rate.

The offending post was soon removed, but this move raged gamers worldwide, accusing StarForce of relying on mafia-style blackmail activities to run its business.

Awards

• Computer Games Magazine
  • March 2007 - #6 Game of the Year 2006
• Games for Windows Magazine
  • March 2007 - #3 Game of the Year 2006
• GameSpy
  • 2006 – #6 Game of the Year
  • 2006 – PC Turn-Based Strategy Game of the Year

Information also contributed by PCGamer77 and WildKard