Sid Meier's Civilization II (1996)
Genres:Strategy
Themes:4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate)
Game modes:Single player, Multiplayer
Story:A turn-based strategy video game set around several different historic civilizations.
Vote to bring this game to GOG and help preserve it.20 045
It's the first Civilization that I've played on PC (in 1996), it was a lot of fun to try to "break" it just like the first one (go to Alpha Centauri as soon as possible, reach the viewed population limit of 320 million as soon as possible, etc.). But the most unforgettable thing about Civ II are the wonder movies (especially The Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and Adam Smith's Trading Company) and the Council (Elvis!). I'd play it again for sure if it appeared on GOG.
Civilization 2 was probably the very first game I ever saw. I remember watching my Dad play it so many years ago and it was the game that sparked me gaming. This game, along withthe Scenarios and Fantastic Worlds expansion are lodged deep in my brain and something that I love going back to. I love the old units, and the scenarios were also a bunch and a half of fun added on when you got sick of the base game. I still have the Fantastic Worlds disc at home, along with the original Civ II disc (Sadly, I cannot find the Scenarios disc any more) but for me, this game is where it all began for me. The ability to produce units, make war when necessary, build a spaceship... then there's the Videos for the high council (Oh boy, when you descended into Anarchy, that terrified me as a kid!) and the ability to see a special scene to see the view of the city... memories I would love to bring back again. Then there was the 2 win conditions of space win (they made it so you landed a rocket on a distant planet) or the win via global conquest (This also terrified me as a kid), those have stuck in my brain and still do to this day! I would totally get it again and play it again, especially if all the expansions are added to it, and even more so if released on GOG!
This is probably the longest running game I play. I regularly go through the hoops to spin up an old VM just so that I can install Civ II : Test of Time. It is a pain but it is worth it for me. Sometimes I am really just looking for a game I can just relax with and Civ II : Test of Time really is that for me. I enjoy playing all of the different scenarios from Sci-Fi to Fantasy to just the Extended Original. Why do I want it on GOG? Getting it to run on a modern machine takes some work. There are patch projects like TOTP that help add modern niceties but they are buggy at best without running an entire VM. I have bought this game several times through the years and if it were on GOG so I could just click install to play it I would probably buy it again.
Civ II, via my Dad was, realistically, my introduction to computer games as a whole. Long before I had enough understanding to play it myself, we'd slowly conquer the world together. Still in love with Civ to this day but this game is really a distilled, more concise, experience than what the series has become.
I started modding with Civ 2. One of the best games of the Civ series ever! It is a pity, that the dreamlist is not containing Civ 2 ToT, as with the mod TOTPP this even today is an interesting alternative for playing a Civ game.
I want this game on GOG, as there is no electronical version of this game available.
I played CivI on Amiga and CivII on my first PC. It was a leap at its time. The most prominent upgrade which has not been implemented to the game since then, is the advisor council. It was unlike the governments in the current game. Not cartoon figures assigned to cities but real, talking people giving you advise like ministers of your government. I was awed at the defense minister shouting at me in his chainmail suit to attack those b.....s. I still miss it and think that a proper cabinet of ministers is what the game lacks today.
Played it all the time when i was giving halloween candy out and then just got really really addicted to the game. I did get a little freaked out when you to a revolution in your place and all the members of the council get pissed at each other.
My friend LOVED this game, he was totally addicted to this to the point he kept going on and on about it all the time like some kind of feverish rant. So I decided to give it a go and saw what he meant and how addictive it could be, the classic "one more turn" style game.
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As the player progresses, his troops are equipped with weapons from "crysknives" to atomics, tap into Paul's latent psychic powers, and get acquainted with such characters from the book as Chani and Liet-Kynes.Top Science fiction
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Jurassic Park: Operation GenesisJurassic Park: Operation Genesis is a construction and management simulation video game for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 based on the Jurassic Park series.
The main point of the game is to recreate Jurassic Park - building a five-star theme park with dinosaurs, and turning John Hammond's dream into reality. In the park, the player builds paths, amenities for visitors such as food, restrooms, enclosures, and attractions. One must also keep the park safe and secure.
The park can be populated with up to sixty dinosaurs, with twenty-five different species available from the three Jurassic Park films. The player can also add attractions similar to those seen in the films, such as the safari seen in the Jurassic Park film, and additional attractions such as a balloon tour and several varieties of viewing platform.
While the PlayStation 2 version is fairly common, the PC and Xbox versions of the game are considerably rare, with the Xbox version considered one of the rarest and most expensive titles for the system, with copies of the game often selling on eBay for upwards of $100.
GAMEPLAY:
The player's main objective is to create a theme park/zoo featuring dinosaurs, make it popular, and make it safe with a 5-star rating. Gameplay functions are very similar to the SimCity and Tycoon game models. It is necessary to build feeding stations where herbivores can get bales of plant feed, while carnivores are fed live cows or goats. However, herbivores become unhappy if they don't have enough trees around them or enough nearby dinosaurs to socialize with. Likewise, carnivores have an innate desire to hunt other dinosaurs, so even a constant stream of livestock will not keep them happy.
To create a dinosaur, fifty percent (50%) of the particular dinosaur's DNA is needed. The higher the percentage of DNA, the longer that dinosaur will live, unless it dies by means other than natural causes, such as malnutrition or being attacked by another dinosaur. To obtain a dinosaur's DNA, the player must extract it through fossils or amber. Higher quality specimens will yield more DNA.
To obtain fossils and amber, the player must send a fossil-hunting team to dig in one of nine dig sites around the world. Additional dig teams can be purchased later in the game. Each dig site contains fossils from three particular dinosaurs. Fossils of some dinosaurs, such as Brachiosaurus, can be found in more than one dig site. The chance of finding fossils depends on the quality of the site. There are 6 classifications on the quality of a dig site, ranging from "excellent" to "exhausted." It is still possible to find fossils and amber at sites that have been exhausted, although they are often of low quality with little DNA to provide. Valuable items such as silver, gold, or opal are also discovered infrequently by the dig team(s), and can be sold for profit.
Attractions help make the park popular, and increase its rating power and income when correctly configured. Attractions must be researched before they can be constructed, and include the Balloon Tour, Safari Adventure and Viewing Dome. Viewing Vents and Viewing Platforms do not need to be researched. The Safari Tour and Balloon Tour attractions allow for the player to "take over" the ride for the purpose of park exploration and photography, but only when a visitor in the game is using it. The player may also observe the dinosaurs from the Viewing Dome, Viewing Vent, and Viewing Platform by selecting the "View" option after clicking on the building.
Amenities such as restrooms and restaurants are needed for visitors. Additional buildings such as a gift shop and a resting area must be researched before the player can add them into the park. Vaccines for diseases–such as tick infestation, gastric poisoning, rabies, and the fictional Dino Flu–must be researched before a sick dinosaur can be treated for a particular illness.
DINOSAURS:
There are a total of 25 dinosaurs featured in the game, some of which were featured in the films. They are divided into four main sub-groups. Small Herbivores such as Gallimimus and Pachycephalosaurus are easy to care for and do not take up much space, but are not as popular with guests. Large Herbivores such as Brachiosaurus and Triceratops are very popular with visitors and do not require expensive fences, but need large spacious exhibits.
Small Carnivores such as Dilophosaurus and Velociraptor do not generally need vigorous security as their larger counterparts, but can still harm guests if they escape. Large Carnivores such as Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus are the most popular dinosaurs in the game, but require large exhibits with high security fences and are prone to rampaging when stressed.
MISSIONS:
The game has 10 missions the player can complete. In some websites like IGN and GameSpot, early previews indicated that there were originally to be 12 missions. There are about three or four general types of missions, including taking photographs of dinosaurs to try to rack up a certain amount of points from the photos in a safari mission and dinosaur control missions where the player has to retire the carnivores (preferably large ones) to protect the herbivores.
SITE B:
After all the missions are completed, the "Site B" mode is unlocked, which allows the player to create an island without any fences or buildings for people, similar to Isla Sorna in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III. Visitors are not allowed on the island. The player can place up to eight hatcheries and create up to sixty dinosaurs, which live on the island without diseases or the possibility of becoming stressed. As long as they have food, water and living space, the player can simply watch the dinosaurs interact and live out their lives.
FAN MODIFICATIONS:
Because of the PC version's modular file structure, the game is very easy to modify with nothing more than a regular text editor. It is possible to create almost completely new missions, exercises, dinosaurs, dinosaur designs, new visitor appearances, and play options. The Indominus rex, a genetic hybrid dinosaur from Jurassic World, was made available in June 2015.
Thanks to the open ended design, a small community of fans have come together to improve realism, unlock unreleased features, and design new features to be included. A group of people have formed the Community Expansion Project and the Genesis Expansion Project, which takes previous modifications and designs new ones for release in a patch for the overall community.
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