Previewed: February 16, 2003
Previewed by: Mat Houghton

Publisher
Strategy First

Developer
Stardoc

Release Date: March, 2003
Genre: Strategy
Players: 1
ESRB: RP

View Screenshots

Players can use military, technological, economic or political might to become a major power in the galaxy and must also research new technologies, colonize and defend planets, construct Space Stations, initiate social improvements, build a fleet, fight wars, win elections and gain influence in the United Planets Security council. The game is won when all the races become united in a galactic alliance, someone researches technology that takes them beyond mortality or one civilization conquers the opposition with their military might.

Galactic Civilizations features:

• Multiple, balanced paths to victory - Achieve victory using military strength, economic might, or political power.
• Immersive story line - Playing as the leader of humanity, your heritage depends on your ability to lead the human race and become one of the principal species of the universe.
• The Metaverse - Gamers who use Stardock.net to play will be part of the "Metaverse", where victories, defeats and campaigns can be recorded, allowing players to share their gaming experience.
• Replayability - The game is readily playable by casual gamers and includes a powerful and sophisticated AI and game mechanics that make each gaming experience different and highly addictive.
• Video and Sound - The game features state of the art sound subsystems and video resolutions of 1024x768 with over 16 million colors.

You lead the Terrans (gee is that us?) in an attempt to gain hegemony over the galaxy. Facing you are up to five separate alien species, each with their own special brand of sacking your planets and crushing you beneath their barrage of capital ships. Hopefully we’ll see them as playable species in the release of the title, but so far it’s just us humans. In order to gain the control your megalomania so ardently desires you have to research technologies, build a military, colonize planets and keep your empire to heel. The advancement is a little slow and since I’ve only got the beta version I wasn’t able to unlock everything, but enough to know that you will spend a lot of resources to get up to a tangling with the good ol’ Devestator or Executor, but don’t worry I’m sure your opponents will play nice.

The graphics are pretty much all there already, and while they may not be all 3D, the effects in the background and anomalies are fantastic. It’s like playing on images from the Hubble. They also included a lot of effects that would be right at home in a Star Trek episode, and you have to go study them to get some bonuses, or possibly even a free ship. Also be on the look out for events that occur at random, meteor showers that kill 100 million people but supply you with a rare ore that translates into cool millions, or a flesh eating disease that produces a liquid considered a delicacy by some species and harvest it for cash, though that too will cost your population.

You can of course work to prevent these disasters, but then you don’t get the benefits, though you do remain a good empire rather than an evil one so it’s up to you. The text in these is hilarious, I nearly fell out of my chair laughing; and that exudes polish and drips style that most games just don’t live up to. The most impressive thing about the graphics though is that the menu buttons in the interface change depending on your alignment, and while the evil ones look really cool, be prepared to get your ass handed to you because we don’t take kindly to them round these parts. Additionally while there is no story per se to the game there are a lot of events like new species popping up, ancient evils being resurrected, and rebellions, invasions, and the occasional space shark attack (don’t laugh, Jaws looks like a staple remover comparatively).

The sound is just as background as in any other game of this type, but if you stop to listen you may be pleasantly surprised. They go all out to use a full orchestra and have separate theme music for each species, and for different events. Also, while there is a fairly limited selection of tracks they get switched up often enough that you really don’t get tired of them.

All in all I’d say this game looks fantastic. While there are some things that need to be cleaned up, it crashed on me after only a few years and even reloading did nothing to prevent that, and there are some text strings missing. This is overall a fairly complete look at what you’re going to get, and while I’d like to see something a little more fast-paced those of you who prefer the slow inexorable march of doom across the stars will feel right at home.

As I said there really isn’t a story to the game, Rather than having a linear campaign, Galactic Civilizations focuses on replayability via random events that alter each game in subtle ways. The events aren''t arbitrary or balance destroying but rather present new opportunities and challenges for all civilizations. The coolest thing about this game is that the Terrans invented the hyperdrive, so you’re responsible for all these races trying to colonize the stars. It’s a neat concept rather than humanity always playing catch-up. So patience true believers, you’ll soon have a playground for your machinations and then you just better hope that the more you tighten your fist the more systems won’t slip through your fingers.

Galactic Civilizations will be released in March, 2003. Meanwhile, checkout those screenshots and look for our feature review coming soon.