Sid Meier’s Civilization II

Civilization II is mainly concerned with expanding and reworking mechanics that functioned strangely or felt underdeveloped in the first game, particularly diplomacy and trade. While these updates are definitely appreciated, it’s a little disappointing to come from one of the most ground-breaking and influential games ever to a sequel for which a major new feature is that units now have hit points. Of course, with these changes in tow, the gameplay is more immaculately designed and addictive than ever, and the interface isn’t completely hideous anymore; it’s just indistinct and still hasn’t fully figured out mouse control. It’s undoubtedly the better of the two games in a vacuum, but playing it with full audiovisual functionality intact on modern computers may be downright impossible. Even contemporary players would be unable to find an “ideal” version of the game, as the Multiplayer Gold Edition inexplicably omitted half of the wonderful soundtrack and warped the AI into a planet of warmongers.

Note: this score was changed from 6.0 to reflect the author’s changing opinion.