User Rating: 8.4 | Galactic Civilizations PC
Though different in many ways, this game is reminiscent of Masters of Orion II--which is a good thing! If Master of Orion III teaches us nothing else, it should at least be a cautionary tale as to the need for a game to be FUN, even if it has the newest whizbang neato this or that. The Galactic Civilizations User Interface is far superior to MoOIII. The gameplay is far superior to MoOIII. Diplomacy is far better in GC. Colony and Fleet management? GC all the way. The perceived GC flaws really aren't. The graphics are better than Civ III, and that is a supposed 'modern' game (though I cannot figure what makes it any better than CivII, honestly). The GC graphics and sound are ok, but the ambient music is very, very good. And if GC proves to be mod-able, the sound and ship-graphics complaints will soon be out the window. The only real complaints I have are these: no tactical combat, which would seem to be a natural for a single-player game; and no simple way to track all of your various ships--e.g., how 'bout a button that takes you to all ships that are stopped and are without orders? And most importantly, Galactic Civilizations is just plaint FUN. After 2 weeks of MoOIII, I found myself wanting to watch TV or read rather than play 'one more turn.' That is, until I got GC, and I got that 'one more turn' feeling again!
