Sid Meier's Civilization III: Conquests Review

Sid Meier's Civilization III: Conquests

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Publisher: Atari

Developer: Firaxis Games

Category: Strategy

Release Dates

Intl - 11/14/2003

N Amer - 11/04/2003

Official Game Website

Sid Meier's Civilization III: Conquests Review

Glink It

I think that the Civilization series is one of the best, if not the best, turn based strategy games available for the PC. The reason why I think that is the amount of customization and the sheer ability to replay this game a million times and have a totally different experience each time. Since the release of Civilization III there was been one expansion pack, Rule the World, which expounded the multiplayer aspects of that game. The developers at Firaxis decided to create another expansion to further improve and add new things in their game. The latest expansion pack is called Civilization III: Conquests and you owe it to yourself to purchase this game if you are a fan of this genre!

When expansion packs are released people always want to know what has been changed and added into the game. There are just a few different new features that this expansion brings into this game. There are fifteen new tribes, rebalancing of civilization traits; there are new governments types, city improvements, new Wonders and much more.

The biggest reason to own this expansion is the nine new historical conquests that further flesh out this game. The reason for this is that while playing each of these conquests the games' rules are altered to fit it. Below is a short description of all of the conquests players can embark upon.

Mesopotamia – It is said that this is the place where all life began, and it is the home to all of the ancient wonders. The way to win this scenario is for players to build all of the Ancient wonders before you reach 160 turns.
Rise of Rome – In this scenario the players must take hold of the young Roman Empire and try to lead them in to conquering the known world.
Fall of Rome – After ruling the lands for hundreds of years, this mighty empire is beginning to deteriorate and it is already divided into two sections. It is the player’s duty to see if they can hold the crumbling empire before it collapses.
Middle Ages – It is player’s job to recover holy relics that need to be returned to Jerusalem. Players choose between several empires and see if they can rule the entire Middle Ages Kingdom before the year 1453.
Mesoamerica – Players are transported to the time when the Inca, Maya, and Aztecs ruled the Americas. It is their duty to fend off the incoming Conquistadors or else they will be destroyed.
Age of Discovery – This is taken place when all of the European nations were discovering foreign lands across the world. Players must find and settle different nations and getting all of the resources before your rivals. Another interesting option is that players can choose to play as the Inca, Maya, and Aztecs and try to fend the European’s off from coming into your lands.
Sengoku – This scenario is taken in one of the bloodiest times in Japanese history. War raged all throughout Japan because they were all fighting for the title of Shogun. The way that battles were fought has suddenly changed with the introduction of gunpowder. It is your job to defeat all of the other warlords and become the Shogun!
Napoleonic Europe – As you can tell by the title, this is where Napoleon and his French Army arrived in power. Many countries are banning together to hold off his forces. Can Napoleon survive and conquer the entire known world; it is up to you to find out!
World War II in the Pacific – It is December 1941 and the Pacific is about to be drawn into the War. Can Japan defeat the unsuspecting US fleet? It is up to the players to see if history is redone.

It is really fun being able to see what history might have been like if you were under control in those particular rulers shoes. Even though it doesn’t seem like much, these nine missions will last a very long time.

Besides the different conquests, this expansion pack offers quite a few new units and a couple new Wonders which make the game even better to play. The last biggest change is the addition of two new government types: Fascism and Feudalism. Fascism appeals to the strong feelings of national identity and the promise of a glorious future. The people feel that they can take whatever they want from the weaker citizens which mean workers build faster. Feudalism is where the people are depending on the kings for support. There is less corruption found in this one, but maintenance costs for units have increased, but the city improvements have no maintenance cost.

Civilization III: Conquests is rated E for everyone.

The system requirements are:
400 MHz or better Processor
128 MB of RAM
650 MB of Hard Drive Space
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
4X CD-Rom
Direct X 9.0b
28.8 Kbps or better Internet Connection to play online
TCP/IP installed to play over a LAN (Local Area Network)
Microphone for voice chat
Keyboard and Mouse
The original Civilization III must be installed in order to run this game.

Reviewer's Scoring Details

Gameplay: 8.8
Civilization III: Conquests follows the same game formula but it adds a few new things and gives it a twist while playing through the various campaigns. These Conquests that players embark upon gives some new life into the game, which is a nice and very welcome surprise.

Graphics: 8.0
Civilization III: Conquests uses the same graphics engine that the original used, so don’t expect to see the game look better than the predecessor. The only new thing in this category is new arts for all of the new things that can be built.

Sound: 7.5
There is nothing else new in this category either. The game uses the same music that the first one did with the addition of a few new songs. It is nothing to get excited about.

Difficulty: Medium
The new Conquest mode can be extremely challenging to beginning players, but it is a lot of fun to play through.

Concept: 8.5
The new additions that this expansion pack has really make the game a lot better!

Multiplayer: 8.5
This expansion pack also includes Civilization III: Play the World which further enhances the multiplayer aspect of the game.

Overall: 8.7
If you own the original Civilization III you must own this latest expansion. This expansion helps make the previous game even better with the addition of new and challenging conquests, new Wonders, and myriads of other things that will rob you of your sleep at night.