Call to Power 2 Preview

Preview by Pineo

In Call to Power II you have control of a civilization from 4000 BC to 2300 AD, a time period that is much longer then previous Civilization games. Most of the control and menus are the same as before, but lots of effort has gone into minimizing the interface. Although there are similar windows and navigation, they are chopped into definite sections to guide precise information. Space levels will not be included in CTP2 , making land and sea warfare much more interesting. The addition of undersea units create intense strategy for masterminds such as myself. Finally, it appears that realistic balanced battles will come into with CTP2. The attackers will also have the option of retreating from a battle if things start to go wrong.

CTP2 also allows you to ignore zones of influence, your enemies may also ignore your borders depending on their personality. If you feel that your attack in ineffective or failing, you can turn to the diplomacy options, improved in CTP2. There's a new proposal interface that allows you to form compound proposals and counter offers. The trade system works similar to past games, if the city you're trading with has a limited supply of the goods in question, then the goods are worth more money. The relationship of the distances between the cities also comes into play. The farther away you trade, the more profitable it can be.

CTP2 comes with many historical and fictional scenarios, it's not enough there is a scenarios editor included. Very small in the multiplayer department, from past experience myself, Civilization is a fair multiplayer game. Although I cannot lie to you, it is not that exhilarating. The graphics are very sharp in comparison to the last Call to Power, very similar to Civilization: Test of Time. Terrain is satiate, like other Civilization titles. The flat and dull pictures the float beneath the unit though are not rational. Add a very motionless and unbalanced environment, and this leaves me dissatisfied.

The new game offers a revamped empire management screen. Rather than placing your citizens on particular plots, you'll just assign various priorities and the game will take care of making it happen. As your cities grow, they need a big land mass to support their size. Eventually, you'll come into friction with other people who want to use the same terrain. That's what the game is base on. Call To Power 2 is set to ship in the fall of 2000, though developers are still doing their very best to tweak gameplay and balance units. This game will certainly bring the gameplay you were looking for in the last CTP title.


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