Sid Meier's Civilization II

aka: Civ2, Civilization 2000, Civilization II de Sid Meier, Cywilizacja II Sida Meiera, Wenming II
Moby ID: 15
Windows 3.x Specs
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Description official descriptions

Starting out with just a single unit and knowledge of a small local area, your challenge is to guide your civilization into becoming the dominant force, either by conquering every other civilization or by sending a spaceship to Alpha Centauri.

As you'd imagine, a lot of challenges come into such a task. You must locate cities so as to make use of food, construction and trade resources, which can be later improved by constructing irrigation, roads, mines, railroads, and farmland. Each city can construct one item at a time - civilian and military units, buildings or Wonders of the World (there are 28 of these across the different eras of the game, and each can be possessed by only one city). The buildings and wonders have different effects - most buildings and some wonders improve defenses, scientific research, trade or food output, but most wonders offer unique advantages that can be used to great strategic effect.

There are over 100 scientific advancements in the game, and most require prerequisites before they can be researched. How quickly this happens depends on your scientific output, which must be traded off against financial and military concerns.

Combat can occur in cities or in the open terrain - things like forests and mountains give the defense an advantage. Unlike in the original Civilization, fights aren't always won outright - most times the winning unit will be damaged, reducing its movement speed and attacking prowess until it's repaired, but the losing unit always disappears from game. If multiple units are in a square that come sunder attack, the strongest unit fights - unless it is a city or Fortress, all units will be lost if the fight is lost. Once a city has no defensive units left, it can be captured. Certain units have the ability to cover all squares as fast as if they were roads, only a few can see submarines, and air units require re-fueling in a friendly city.

There are up to 6 other Civilizations in the game, and keeping good diplomatic relations with these is crucial. At times you may want to trade knowledge or pool military resources with a neighbor - at others they may want to destroy you. If you make deals and go back on them your reputation is affected.

Spellings

  • II ציביליזציה - Hebrew spelling
  • 文明II - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 文明帝國 II - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows 3.x version)

70 People (65 developers, 5 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 88% (based on 45 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 259 ratings with 14 reviews)

Addictive is not always good.

The Good
Civilization II is probably the most addictive PC game of all time. The gameplay is perfect -- complex and brilliantly designed so that there are always several things you're looking forward to that are coming up in just another turn if you just keep playing 30 seconds longer. Hours later...

The interface is easy, and between the in-game civilopedia and the poster (tragically missing in Civ III), every unit, improvement, and technology is thoroughly explained. Also this game is extremely friendly to being tweaked by the player.

The Bad
Civilization II is probably the most addictive PC game of all time. You'll keep playing long after you've stopped enjoying it on any level beyond cheap compulsiveness, wasting hours that could have been spent lying in the sun or playing a greater variety of games.

The graphics are unexceptional and I hate the music (but you can turn it off).

The Bottom Line
Super-addictive civilization-building strategy game.

Windows 3.x · by Ran Prieur (17) · 2004

The best Pc Game ever made. Hands down

The Good
First of all I had played and loved Civ I. I thought no game would ever replace it as my favorite game of all time. So when I bought the second installment I doubted that Civ II had what it took. At first I was right. It was hard for me to give up the old Civ for the new graphics and design. I looked for any excuse to put this game down (3d isn't the same, its hard to learn ect) But this game had so much to offer. After a month I would never play the orginal again. If I had to put my finger on the one thing that made this game better it had to be the unit editor. To be able to create my own units and built Airbourne and B-52's WOW WOW WOW.

The Bad
In some ways Civ II added so much, but in others it didn't. Really the game is not that much different from Civ I in the way the game progresses. You could say that Civ II is just an update with some more units and better graphics. However I think that would be a little unfair. Overall the game has few flaws other than a bug with music. Me and my friend both had trouble getting music to play at times. (Sometimes If I uninstalled Civ II and then reinstalled it later the music would not work.)

The Bottom Line
I have been playing PC games for a very long time. I have also played more games than the average hard core gamer. Right now I have over 200 game cd's (not burned) and there is not many that I have not beat. After 15 years of gaming on Pc's, Nintendo's, Sega's, Atari's, and others THIS IS THE BEST OF ALL OF THEM. Take it from me it doesn't get any better than this.
WSM

Windows 3.x · by William Shawn McDonie (1131) · 2000

No reason to play this if you own the PC version.

The Good

This game is great for someone without access to a PC, who has a deep longing to try out the Civilization series. It captures the basic gameplay elements of the PC version well, and may provide entertainment to die-hard strategy fans.

The Bad

Unfortunately, the Sony Playstation is not a PC, and this game does not translate well to a console system. The interface is clunky and awkward, with all interactions performed through the control pad. The graphics leave a lot to be desired. The Playstation is certainly capable of making things look nicer than this. The real killer of this game however, is the unbearably long amount of wait time between turns. Late in the game, on a large map with 5 opponents, you can find yourself sitting idle for literally minutes on end, while the opponent AI manages its empires.

The Bottom Line

'Civilization II' for the Playstation is not going to make very many people happy. Only fans of the Civ series who don't have access to a computer should try this one. And really, what fans of the Civ series don't have access to a computer?

PlayStation · by Entorphane (337) · 2002

[ View all 14 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The PC version of Sid Meier's Civilization II appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Development

Brian Reynolds and his co-workers were initially reluctant to make many changes to the original game's design, as they didn't want to be known as "the guys who screwed up Civilization."

German version

The translation for the German version of Civilization II is almost legendary -- it's a total disaster. It was done by an US-American employee of Microprose, whose sole qualification had been that he "spent a couple of years in Germany". The outcome were ridiculous messages as "Russen einfangen Große Mauer" ("Russians catching Great Wall").

Sales

In 1998, Civilization II (Windows) won the Gold-Award from the German VUD (Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland - Entertainment Software Association Germany) for selling more then 100,000 (but less then 200,000) units in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • May 1997 (Issue #154) – Strategy Game of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – #22 Top Game of All Time
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2000 - #5 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
    • October 2001 - #2 in the "Top 50 Best Games of All Time" list
    • April2005 - #3 in the" 50 Best Games of All Time" list
  • PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/1997 - Best Game in 1996
  • Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland
    • 1998 - Gold Award (more information in "Sales" section)

Information also contributed by Entorphane, PCGamer77 and Xoleras

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Related Sites +

  • Apolyton
    Apolyton is the premiere fan site for all Civilization games, covering Civilization I and II, as well as Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Daily news, a huge archive of files and strategies, highly populated forums, and quite possibly everything else a civer could wish for!
  • Brock Wood's Civilization 2 Site
    Includes mods and more
  • Civilization II Fan Wiki (German)
    Fan Wiki containing lots of information about Civilization II. Has an overview of Civ2 versions (Civ2 main + addons, Multiplayer Gold, Ultimate Classic, and Test Of Time) and gives leads how to play them on modern PC systems.
  • Civilization II Historic Scenarios
    Has mod packs (scenarios with city flags, custom units and new rules), maps, and tips for Civilization II. Scenarios include alt_ww1 and alt_ww79 plus alt_rules.txt and europe_s.mp .
  • MatFis deutsche Civ2 Seite (German)
    Fan site that contains game info, help, downloads etc.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 15
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Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Brian Hirt.

Windows 3.x added by Martin Smith. PlayStation added by Adam Baratz. Macintosh added by Scaryfun.

Additional contributors: PCGamer77, -Chris, Rebound Boy, William Shawn McDonie, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Martin Smith, David Ledgard, Crawly, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, Plok, FatherJack.

Game added March 1, 1999. Last modified March 6, 2024.