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Apolyton CS: Call To Power

CIVILIZATION:CTP PREVIEW ON GAMERSENTRAL
Markos Giannopoulos wrote an article on C:CTP for GamersCentral and we re-post it here.

Why?
When I first heard that Activision was working on a Civilization game, I wondered "What for? We already have Civ2, pretty soon we will have the multiplayer version and hopefully in 1-1,5 year Microprose will make a civ3". After reading previews, looking at screenshots and discussing on forums with the developers of the game, Activision's Civilization: Call to Power will be worth it's money. Especially since things seems to go slow on Microprose, Civ: CTP looks like a gift from heaven for civ2 players.

The next millennium
Civ: CTP brings some new ideas to the old Sid Meier concept. New governments, each with its advantages and disadvantages, will give you more choices in your 7000 years of reign. Yes, the game now ends in 3000 AD instead of Civ2's 2020, allowing not only to "change" the history of the world, but also the future. The next millennium in Civ: CTP includes governments like Multinational Republic or Virtual Democracy, and new government-specific special units for unconventional warfare. For example, the Ecotopian government (where the only concern of your people is the environment) can build a unit called Park Ranger, which can wipe out an enemy's highly polluting city, leaving nothing behind (and no pollution of course!).

Improved micromanagement
Beyond the new strategies, which we probably have to play to see if they are as fun as they seem, Civ: CTP has some new features, which will definitely make the game more fun. One of the main problems of Civ2 was heavy duty of micromanagment in the late stages of the game, where you had to manage every single of city and unit. Building queues, city macros to maximise production, happiness, growth, or science and the ability to give build orders to multiple cities with one command will managing the cities a lot easier. Also, land improvement will take place on a larger scale, without the settlers, requiring less "work" form the player and allowing him to concentrate on the main part of the game. For those who love micromanagment, all these features will be optional.

Less micromanagment means faster multiplaying. Up to 7 players will be able to play through various ways: TCP/IP, hotseat, modem to modem. E-mail games is also a possibility. Activision's plans include an online player matching system, much like the one used in other Activision games.

8 sides to the story
Probably the most outdated part of Civ2 is its graphics. Although many players will say that graphics don't matter, I don't think anyone would not choose to play with Civ: CTP's graphics. Each unit has eight facings, according to its direction, and an animation for each of the five modes: idle, walk, combat, death and victory. Activision though, targets for low system requirements: a P90 with 16MB Ram and a common video card will be fine.

Christmas
Combine all that and what do you have? A worthy opponent for the upcoming Microprose titles (Multiplayer Civilization II Gold Edition and Civilization II: Test of Time) and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. No matter how good these games will be Activision's Civilization: Call to Power will make a pretty good Christmas (since it scheduled for a Christmas release) present for your Civ2-maniac friend!


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