Civilization 3 Gold Edition is a Strategy game.

In this game of strategy and world conquest, journey to new worlds and establish civilizations.

Conquer vast territories with powerful armies and a variety of fighting methods. Challenge opponents from around the world in a variety of multiplayer games. Experience the ultimate in world conquest.

In Civilization III, you match wits against the greatest leaders of all time in a quest to build the ultimate empire. Strategy game fans can now enjoy this highly addictive journey of discovery with its much-improved follow-up expansion pack, Civilization III: Play the World. Together, the Gold Edition provides more ways to win, more pathways to explore, and more strategies to employ, as well as exciting online play modes. With Civilization III, Gold Edition, you can enjoy unmatched strategic game play alone or against players from around the world.

Before starting a game, players must make a lot of decisions that will affect how the entire game is played. These options vary from choosing different types of world conditions to deciding which Civilization they will play as.

The first choice players make is the world they will play in and this is a decision that will affect how the entire game is played. The reason for this is that there are many world sizes, climate conditions, and other things that can stretch out the games length and make it more difficult to play. Of course the bigger the map, the more civilizations will be able to fit on it, and the longer it will take to win a game.

Then it is broken down by how much water you want covering the lands. Do you want the entire map to be ocean with tiny islands or one big chuck of land with an ocean all around? Next is the type of climate: from arid to rainforest. Then the age of the world, the younger it is the more rugged mountains players will find and the older it is the smoother the landscape will be. The next choice is the temperature of the world; will you choose to locate on a freezing tundra or a nice warm tropical setting? The final choice for this “first” process is to see if you want wandering barbarians around in the world.

After making all of the selections for the world, players must then face the daunting task of choosing what civilization they want to control from the Romans, Japanese, Spanish, or the myriads of other that can be chosen. Players must choose carefully which race they want to be because each of them gives players certain advantages, from having different special units to different beginning technology. It is wise for players to look through the book and find out which of the civilizations that they feel meets their needs the best.

After selecting those options players must select the games difficulty, and it ranges from very easy to almost impossible. The final set of customization is the game rules. On this screen, players can select many different “ending scenarios”. They range from eliminating all rival nations to being the first nation to get into outer space. The nice thing is since this game offers all of these different choices, there will never be two of the exact games, even if you played for months on end. This is the thing that made Civilization II so great and the fact that there are so many more options in this sequel makes it even better!

As players progress though the game they will go through many different “ages” and different units. Each of the ages, from Ancient to Future, has its own set of different technologies to research, and what you choose to research will make your civilization unique. If players didn't get a chance to research something they might be able to barter for it from neighboring civilizations. This whole concept makes the game feel more real and helps the replay factor ten fold.

Building a Wonder takes a lot of time and resources but it is definitely worth it! Players will only be able to build them if they have researched the specific technology that they require. Some wonders will help cut back on pollution while others give players more happiness points. Needless to say, once players have the opportunity to build one they should!

There are so many things to do in Civilization III: Gold Edition Multiplayer it is amazing. Players can customize everything in this game from the various races, land area, custom ending rules, and many other things. What the entire game boils down to is seeing if players have what it takes to take a group of people and make them into the supreme nation of the world, by whatever means possible. The entire game is extremely easy to get into and start playing; the developers even included a little tutorial mode that lets players get the basics down so they can start their own plans to dominate the world.

Civilization III Gold Edition features:

• Scenario Editor allows user-created games
• For one or more players using LAN or Internet connection
• Bundle of classic strategy game with huge expansion pack
• Practically endless gameplay
• Includes new civilizations, techs, powers and more

Note: The Download Now link will download a small installer file to your desktop. Remain online and double-click the installer to proceed with the actual download.

In Civilization III Gold Edition, you match wits against the greatest leaders of all time in a quest to build the ultimate empire. Strategy game fans can now enjoy this highly addictive journey of discovery with its much-improved follow-up expansion pack, Civilization III: Play the World. Together, the Gold Edition provides more ways to win, more pathways to explore, and more strategies to employ, as well as exciting online play modes. With Civilization III Gold Edition, you can enjoy unmatched strategic game play alone or against players from around the world.

Gamezone Editor's Choice (9/10)

Windows 98/2000/Me/XP. Processor: PII 400 MHz. DirectX 8. 64 MB RAM. Free hard drive space: 1 GB. SVGA Video Card DirectX 8. 16-bits Sound Card