Civilization II

5 stars out of 5

I had a comment on here that I had not reviewed any video games despite the header of this blog. This is a fair point. When I created this blog, I lived down the street from my friend who is a big video game fan. We played different games here and there and I thought I would critique the games we played along with movies, books and TV shows. However, we were both lawyers in Houston. And we were both busy at church and with multiple children. So we didn't play as much as we thought we would. Now I live around the world from him and so we don't play at all.

So here is my first computer/video game review. This is a game that has been a big part of my life. Probably too big. Civ II. Civ II is a game in which you start your own civilization. You decide where to build cities, what to build in the city, what kind of army to raise, whether to be friends with or attack your neighbors, what to research, how much resources to devote to research, to money, to happiness of people. It is a tremendous strategy game.

The major downside of this game is that it is terribly addicting and the games can take a very long time. You can play for 20+ hours if you get a really complex game. There are also versions in which you can play your friends, but because each person takes a turn, the games take way too long. Overall, a great game, but not recommended unless you are independently wealthy and/or you have a spouse and children who doesn't require interaction.