CCTP

   There are so many things we like about this latest version of what is probably the greatest turn-based strategy game ever made that its almost a sin to nit-pick . . . but maybe, just maybe, it isn't nit-picking after all.
   The graphics are georgeous. See this little guy? Look at how he casts a shadow, mind you, on the ground. While that's just an example, the truth is there's enough eye candy in Civilization: Call to Power to fill a hundred Christmas stockings.
   The interface, in many ways, is cleaner. There is one control area on which you can basically manage the entire game. This beats Civilization II, where you had to go clicking

here and there to do thus and so to individual cities and the like.

THE PATCH

There is now a patch for C:CTP on the Activision web site which addresses a number of the complaints we mention in this review.
Among them: autosave, speed of movement and pausing the game for announcem ents. This makes a world of difference in game play and we think it vastly improves this fine game

Especially to like is the concept of C:CTP. In the previous Civilizations, the whole idea was to build and manage a civilization "for the ages." But to do that, you did not, basically, manage a civilization, but a group of cities. Example: when you created a unit in Civ2, that unit always belonged to the city in which it was created. To carry that further, that individual city also had to support the unit.
   In C:CTP, the entire civilization supports all the units you build. That's as it should be and it merely illustrates the way this new version has improved on its predecessor. There are numerous other examples of this concept and they "feel good" in the playing of the game.
   There are new units, new Wonders of the World, new concepts and a "new" timeline which takes you several thousand additional years into the future. Some of the new concepts are interesting and intriguing; some of the new units – like the "slaver" and the "televangelist," add an interesting dimension to the game.
   But C:CTP feels klunky.
   The game will announce you've achieved an advance and, while you're trying to decide which one to pursue next, the units are moving beneath on the game screen. There is no auto-save (which is promised in a patch soon – or already – available). Many of the options available in Civ2, most notably the one not to restart or replace conquored civilizations, are absent. It does not smoothly center on units as they become active. The manual, most unfortunately, is severely lacking both in detail and in the index.
   Finally, there is just something about C:CTP that just doesn't feel right. It is like Tevya in "Fiddler On the Roof," who asked himself "how did these traditions get started?" He answered himself by saying, "I don't know, but its a tradition!"
   Why aren't we wild about C:CTP? I don't know, but it needs something. Perhaps the patches will fix some of the problems.
   In the meantime, for all these complaints, I am happily playing the game. I just wish it had a better feel.

Link to the Activision web site.