Filling the Gap - Civilization II: The Test of TimeWell, that was a bit anti-climactic. After wrestling with the Greeks for eons, wiping out two empires, expanding my global reach tenfold, commanding the world’s greatest military and even popping into space for a bit to look around, my game ended with something of a whimper, rather than a bang.Apparently Japanese shoguns have an expiry date of a few thousand year, because once 2020 rolled around the game was suddenly and inexplicably over. Nothing more than a junky CGI video and a confusing chart to signify the game’s climax.I’m not even sure if I won. I had a ‘14% civilisation’ rating, apparently. Sounds pretty dire - did I mention I went to space? I also owned the Great Wall. What happened to China? I wiped them off the bloody planet! 14%! The cheek of it.Anyway - this is Filling the Gap. My dedication to play creaky old games in an attempt to diversify my limited gaming knowledge. So while all the cool kids have been tucking in to Civilization V, with its beautiful hexagon tiles and 3D rendered George Washingtons, I’ve been duking it out with the blocky, pixelly Civilization II. The one where the game coughs and splutters every time the music changes, and the one with a file called “Do Not Open Me.sav” and the one with the typo on the CD case. They’ve come a long way.I’d best describe this game as the most epically grand board game you’ve ever played. It’d take a football stadium to fit the world map, an entire Games Workshop warehouse to find the miniatures and a bible sized rulebook to keep everything in order. This game is incredibly big. It took me roughly 12 hours to play through. And as far as its giant world reaches, its equally as deep. A daunting combination for this strategy greenhorn.Luckily, the game offers ample tips to get started, and a wealth of automation in a lot of areas. It’s also quite clear how the game works when looked at from a more manageable macro layer. You build cities, which in turn produce units. You tie them together with roads and fill their bellies with irrigated farmlands. You ally with the stronger, and wipe out the weaker. If anyone steals your intelligence, you get your mates together and wipe them off the face of the planet. Take that you Aztec and Chinese scum.Like Age of Empires, my biggest challenge was trying to juggle so many different areas of play. It’s frankly overwhelming to be waging war several islands over, while your biggest towns suffer from pollution or turn to anarchy. Fiddling with tax rates, switching government types, sorting out trade routes and covering the land in railways, while also flying out planes and filling transport boats full of tanks and riflemen: I have to say it probably requires far greater intelligence and patience than I possess.But hey, I wouldn’t have played a campaign for 12 hours if I wasn’t enjoying it. I found that it was very easy to feel proud of my creation. Maybe not for any individual unit, or even any particular city, but seeing your vast empire - from intricately railway interlinked cities to galleons of warships - it’s tough not to feel a pang of pride for this completely personal civilisation.And it’s addictive. Like Bejewelled and crack cocaine, it’s one of those things that people profess to being absolutely obsessed with, but its hard to see why until you shoot up. I think it’s mostly down to the power trip it puts you on. After the Sioux ignored my plead for aid with dismantling the Greeks, you should have heard my maniacal laugh when they needed help with the French. Mwa ha ha.I’ve heard from folks that Civilization V is a little easier on the old brain box, and Civilization Revolution is simpler still. Both refine the core gameplay and polish off a few of the more confusing elements. Pals have been up in arms about the cookie-cutter politics and religions - I had to look up Despotism in the dictionary, and I only built temples to shut up whinging citizens. A little light relief from the game’s more micro-managed spread-sheet nature could do me good.I’m really glad I played it though. It was a tricky start and I could have had a more satisfying ending, but it felt incredible to delve into such a foreign experience and scurry around for a good day and a half. Really immerse myself in the rule book, and figure out what made it tick.To think, I started with a little red box called Tokyo and ended with about 40 cities and a military with the same population as FarmVille. I didn’t dig as deep as I could have - ignored some features, automated others, got confused by most, but I loved what I played. I’m not in any rush to waste another weekend killing the Aztecs - but one day. I’ll go to Alpha Centauri, too. Just you watch.

Filling the Gap - Civilization II: The Test of Time

Well, that was a bit anti-climactic. After wrestling with the Greeks for eons, wiping out two empires, expanding my global reach tenfold, commanding the world’s greatest military and even popping into space for a bit to look around, my game ended with something of a whimper, rather than a bang.

Apparently Japanese shoguns have an expiry date of a few thousand year, because once 2020 rolled around the game was suddenly and inexplicably over. Nothing more than a junky CGI video and a confusing chart to signify the game’s climax.

I’m not even sure if I won. I had a ‘14% civilisation’ rating, apparently. Sounds pretty dire - did I mention I went to space? I also owned the Great Wall. What happened to China? I wiped them off the bloody planet! 14%! The cheek of it.

Anyway - this is Filling the Gap. My dedication to play creaky old games in an attempt to diversify my limited gaming knowledge. So while all the cool kids have been tucking in to Civilization V, with its beautiful hexagon tiles and 3D rendered George Washingtons, I’ve been duking it out with the blocky, pixelly Civilization II. The one where the game coughs and splutters every time the music changes, and the one with a file called “Do Not Open Me.sav” and the one with the typo on the CD case. They’ve come a long way.

I’d best describe this game as the most epically grand board game you’ve ever played. It’d take a football stadium to fit the world map, an entire Games Workshop warehouse to find the miniatures and a bible sized rulebook to keep everything in order. This game is incredibly big. It took me roughly 12 hours to play through. And as far as its giant world reaches, its equally as deep. A daunting combination for this strategy greenhorn.

Luckily, the game offers ample tips to get started, and a wealth of automation in a lot of areas. It’s also quite clear how the game works when looked at from a more manageable macro layer. You build cities, which in turn produce units. You tie them together with roads and fill their bellies with irrigated farmlands. You ally with the stronger, and wipe out the weaker. If anyone steals your intelligence, you get your mates together and wipe them off the face of the planet. Take that you Aztec and Chinese scum.

Like Age of Empires, my biggest challenge was trying to juggle so many different areas of play. It’s frankly overwhelming to be waging war several islands over, while your biggest towns suffer from pollution or turn to anarchy. Fiddling with tax rates, switching government types, sorting out trade routes and covering the land in railways, while also flying out planes and filling transport boats full of tanks and riflemen: I have to say it probably requires far greater intelligence and patience than I possess.

But hey, I wouldn’t have played a campaign for 12 hours if I wasn’t enjoying it. I found that it was very easy to feel proud of my creation. Maybe not for any individual unit, or even any particular city, but seeing your vast empire - from intricately railway interlinked cities to galleons of warships - it’s tough not to feel a pang of pride for this completely personal civilisation.

And it’s addictive. Like Bejewelled and crack cocaine, it’s one of those things that people profess to being absolutely obsessed with, but its hard to see why until you shoot up. I think it’s mostly down to the power trip it puts you on. After the Sioux ignored my plead for aid with dismantling the Greeks, you should have heard my maniacal laugh when they needed help with the French. Mwa ha ha.

I’ve heard from folks that Civilization V is a little easier on the old brain box, and Civilization Revolution is simpler still. Both refine the core gameplay and polish off a few of the more confusing elements. Pals have been up in arms about the cookie-cutter politics and religions - I had to look up Despotism in the dictionary, and I only built temples to shut up whinging citizens. A little light relief from the game’s more micro-managed spread-sheet nature could do me good.

I’m really glad I played it though. It was a tricky start and I could have had a more satisfying ending, but it felt incredible to delve into such a foreign experience and scurry around for a good day and a half. Really immerse myself in the rule book, and figure out what made it tick.

To think, I started with a little red box called Tokyo and ended with about 40 cities and a military with the same population as FarmVille. I didn’t dig as deep as I could have - ignored some features, automated others, got confused by most, but I loved what I played. I’m not in any rush to waste another weekend killing the Aztecs - but one day. I’ll go to Alpha Centauri, too. Just you watch.

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