The 2nd best turn-based strategy game for the last 12 years (and that's not a typo), GalCiv shoots for the top spot.
Flash forward to 5 years later, when Windows XP demonstrated that a Windows operating system could do the heavy lifting necessary, and just as promised, Stardock (still publishing the Object Desktop that was their flagship OS/2 product, but now publishing it on Windows platforms) made good on their word by finally releasing Galactic Civilizations on Windows -- 10 years after its original debut.
Windows fans probably never heard this story. They may, in fact, have never even heard of the operating system that faced a Betamax-like conundrum: technically superior to every available PC operating system, but marketed so ineptly that it couldn't even get Creative Labs to continue supporting Soundblaster audio cards for it.
The original Galactic Civilizations, released in 1994 shortly after the debut of OS/2 Warp (version 3), and the original Galactic Civilizations II, released in 1996, set the standard for turn-based strategy games that only the game that inspired it, Civilization, could even come close to accomplishing. When OS/2 finally died after the cancellation of version 5 in 1998, so did the Galactic Civilizations franchise.
10 years later, it returned, to the same glowing reviews that marked its OS/2 lifetime. And now, 12 years on, Galactic Civilization II: Dark Avatar, arrives on Windows XP. Can it finally challenge the all-time greatest TBS game, Civilization IV, for the top spot. That's a damn tall order, but GCII:DA comes dangerously close. It looks gorgeous, it presents a challenge to all human players, and it demonstrates exquisite imagination in providing its space races -- in colonization, in technology research, and in warfare. Although the sheer complexity of the modeling and AI could have resulted in an impenetrable game like Master of Orion III, the user interface simplifies your view of this, and while this compromises some space realities, like 3D existence, the compromises make sense to anyone who has played this type of game before, especially the Civilization franchise. Military, diplomatic, and technological options abound for expansion and domination.
This was all well and good even in the 2004 version, but the ante was upped considerably, first with GalCiv II, and then with the Dark Avatar pack. The visuals are improved almost to the point where some companies might try to sell it to you as Version 3. The user interface customizability introduced in GalCiv II persists, which really is what makes the GalCiv franchise so viable in the long term. You can say the same of the available victory conditions, which are as wide as Civ IV's -- military, diplomatic, or anything in between.
The one thing that has always set GalCiv apart -- and the thing that kept it off Windows for so long -- was its AI. Simply put, it doesn't cheat. Baffling, but true. We all are familiar with the lengths to which empires in Civ IV will put improbable coups of accomplishment out of its nether orifices, but whatever other cussing GCII inspires, it won't be "you cheated". Its AI is a work of art, a true accomplishment in AI technology, I would even be so bold to state. It plays by the same rules you have to face, and it still beats your butt.
The Ship Designer is even deeper than in GCII, if that's possible, yet still a manageable feature of the game. As pointed out in the official GameSpot review, the game's planets have changed to be much more realistic. It makes sense that there are planets inhospitable to humans, and now that distinction is pushed home in requiring many more techs to support "alien" world colonization, which really makes you think about, pick and choose, and strategize when it comes to selecting technologies to pursue. Superabilities give specific advantages and disadvantages to playable species, and megaevents can really turn your game on its head. This sort of thing has never been an issue in Civilization, but you might remember something like this from the SimCity franchise, where natural disasters, alien encounters, and Godzilla-like monsters could lay waste to your painstakingly designed utopian metropolis. Again, this lends more realism, and less predictability, to the game, and enhances its replayability.
Once upon a time, I would tell you that no game would ever match the scope, depth, and playability of the Civilization franchise. Stardock, in its second life as a Windows publisher, has accomplished just that. Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, is at least Civilization IV's equal. Sid Meier, meet Brad Wardell.