Civilization III: Complete review

It may be nearly four years since the release of Civilization III on the Mac, but the raft of improvements and additions in Civilization III: Complete make this worthy of a separate release.

But don't be under any illusions about this game breaking much new ground. That job will be reserved for Civilization IV, due for release later this year. This game will, however, serve to whet the appetite of fans and reignite their passions for megalomania in time for its sequel.

Civilization was originally created in 1990 by the now legendary Sid Meier, a gaming visionary who openly admits to being inspired by SimCity. But as the name implies, this is not just about establishing a single neighbourhood or city - you are charged with running an entire empire, from its beginnings in prehistoric times, all the way up to the present and beyond. But unlike SimCity, which is a freeform, 'real time' game, Civilization is turn-based, which means you must decide on what you want your units to do in a step-by-step fashion. This may feel unnatural and unfamiliar to Sim players, but it makes the game more interactive as well as more strategic, and it allows for one of the fundamental changes in this version: multiplayer support.

This is provided in the form of the Play The World expansion pack, which is pre-installed with the game. This makes it simple to play against others, either on your local network or online. Disappointingly, however, you can only take on other Mac gamers, as cross-platform support is not included.

The other expansion pack included with Civilization III: Complete is called Conquests, which was originally provided as an add-on for the PC game. This adds a number of new scenarios, providing a set of new challenges for those who've played before, while broadening the scope for new players. Challenges include The Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome, Napoleonic Europe and World War II in the Pacific. There's also a wide range of new civilisations that you can play, or take on, including the Byzantines, as well as new unit types and other features.

Perhaps the most fundamental improvement is that the game has been updated to take advantage of modern hardware. The original version was developed for Mac OS 9 in the days when games developers hadn't quite worked out how to successfully port games to Mac OS X. The result was a game that was too clunky and slow for users of the more up-to-date operating system. The new version is fully OS X native - indeed it requires version 10.3.9 or later to run. The hardware system requirements are tame by today's standards, as this is neither a graphically demanding nor particularly processor-intensive game. The ability to play the game smoothly on current Macs alone will be reason enough for die-hard Civilization fans to run out and get a copy.

What's a little hard to swallow is the price. Despite all the improvements and new features, this is basically a four-year-old game, with the price of a brand-new release. This may be fair enough if you're new to the series and experiencing the world of Civilization for the first time. But this game's biggest market will be existing fans, who won't be too pleased, given that they already shelled out £40 in 2002.

In this era of first-person shooters and stunning graphics and sound effects, we're not sure the appeal of this game will be as broad as it once was. Nonetheless, Civilization III: Complete is a welcome release, belatedly bringing the game to a level it should have been at a long time ago.