LogFAQs > #919964117

#46: Galactic Civlizations II

If I were judging games purely by gameplay, this one would be at the bottom of the list. Games are such a broad field.

I give this one a little bit of a pass because it's my favorite game in one of my least favorite genres- 4X. And that means something. I've always had high hopes and great disappointments when it comes to 'competitive puttering around and tending gardens simulators', but there are a few reasons I enjoyed this one.

First, some bad notes. The graphics are horrible even for 2006, the interface wildly outdated, and I'm not sure if I would call it playable today. I think the resolution caps at something ridiculously low.

Now, the things that it does well. The diplomacy system does a good job of pretending to be varied. Each alien race has an alignment, personality, goals and of course inherent weaknesses/strengths. Trading is powerful. There are a lot of 'choose your own adventure' events that pop up, and selecting good/evil/neutral options- aside from giving different immediate perks- will help you ally with those with a similar alignment. It feels better than having each faction interact with you identically each run, and isn't as restrictive as raw alignment systems. Stellaris and Endless Space seem to be angry neighbor simulators for the most part.

The humor on descriptions and lore snippets are fun, and the writers get pretty creative with some of them.

When a war begins, if you've scouted properly you can anticipate what sort of weapons and defenses your enemy will be using, and if you've diligently invested in military research you should be able to create the armor/weapon modules that most exploit them, and if you've invested in enough of an industrial infrastructure you should be able to produce a counter army in a quick enough time. Geographic predeterminisim feels low.

Empire management is easy to grok and the building placement minigame is a harmless diversion that links well with the planetary invasion mechanics. Everything just sort of clicks.

You can accelerate your civilization's 'engine' and be in the fun zone for a good period of time before victory becomes inevitable and you're just mopping up, as inevitably happens in this genre.

A military playthrough feels different enough from a science playthrough, and a 'good' playthrough feels different enough from an 'evil playthrough'.

There is a story campaign and it's all right. I dunno. I've burned a lot of time in Alpha Centauri, the Civilization series, and various space 4x games, and it's difficult to describe why I enjoyed Galactic Civilizations II more. Civ doesn't have enough story and flavor. Alpha Centauri's war is not entertaining. Endless Space and Stellaris feel a little more gimmicky and the opposing factions tend to behave identically and the pacing is off, and there doesn't seem to be as much ability to interact with and react to your opponents.

So... different games for different moods. This happens to be the 4x game I own on steam and became most immersed in at the time.
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