I have to come clean – I am a sucker for strategy games and for anything involving space. Combine these two things in a single game and I’m there. Do it really well and I will be your game’s devoted love slave for months and months. Galactic Civilizations II: The Dread Lords ($44.95) is a space- exploring, alien- encountering, civilization- managing, combat- simulating, strategy game that combines all these disparate elements effectively – even elegantly – into a single glorious game.

This amazing sequel to the popular Galactic Civilizations is a turn-based strategy game where you guide your civilization – human or alien – to galactic domination through economic, political, technological or military means. This game is incredibly deep, very detailed and offers almost infinite variation thanks to it’s brilliant Artificial Intelligence. And it has a sense of humor, too. Think Sid Meiers Civilization in space, and you’re on the right track. But then add in beautiful graphics, a clever user interface, interesting characters and totally open-ended gaming options, and you’re even closer to the mark.

You start the game by designing the galactic stage your space opera will be performed on. Interested in a quick, savage conflict? Choose a small galaxy with few livable planets and the more pugilistic alien civilizations competing for those minimal resources. Prefer a long and complex epic that leaves open many paths to eventual victory? Go for a large galaxy, lots of resources and usable planets, and select neighbors more likely to talk than shoot.

There are so many variables under your control that Galactic Civilizations can be a decidedly different game each time you play. Even if you favor one type of set-up over another as I do (I like a big galaxy to bend to my will), the randomized elements of the game plus a wickedly clever AI (at the higher settings) makes each game unique. I’ve played the game through, start-to-finish, about a dozen times and never felt like I covered the same ground twice.

About my only complaint: The interface for designing your own ships could use a little tweaking. Although you don’t have to design your own ships to play, it is a critical component of a winning strategy. And while the ship assembly interface works fine for attaching the components that actually effect game play, for those extras that make your ship look really spiffy, the interface can be a bit klunky.

Geek-o-Meter: We give this fantastic game a “10″. Ship-building interface aside, Galactic Civilizations II: The Dread Lords is one compelling experience. If you buy one game for your PC this Spring, make it Galactic Civilizations II.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 17th, 2006 at 5:32 pm and is filed under ENTERTAINMENT, GAMES - PC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.