Racing, action, and sports fans should stay away from this competitive game of intellectual pursuits and imaginative empires. It's slow and plodding, but it's meant to be. The PSX version of Civ2 delivers the city building skills, the cultural phenomenons, and all-around human behaviors required to create great civilizations. When entering this game you thrust yourself into a realm in which every decision alters the social, economical, and political aspects of life and history.
Starting a game is quite easy on the PlayStation. Activision knew Civilization would need lengthy instructions, and even for beginners, it's got a slow, steady learning curve. A conscious decision was made to enable PlayStation gamers an easier start. But for beginners or experts, your choices are numerous. To start off, the game provides a straight entr¿e, or a beginner's option. From either, the Goddess of Victory will narrate the next 10 options, as you make initial decisions. You can decide on your role as a leader (chieftain, warlord, prince, king, emperor, or deity); the map size (small, medium, or large); your gender; the style of structures to appear in your world (Bronze Age Monolith, Classical, Far East, or Medieval); what race you'd like to lead (there are 21 races), what kind of barbarian activity there is (village, roving bands, restless tribes, or raging hordes), and how many other tribes you'll encounter (three to seven).
Many theories have been discussed on how best to reach critical mass and success with Civilization, but as a leader, you must decide what works best for you. Are you going be aggressive and war-like and pummel the peasants amongst you? Or will you haggle, negotiate, and stay peaceful? Or, will you make peace pacts and then betray them? It's all up to you.
As tribes go the more tribes available the more alliances, war spoils, and opportunities for trade there are, making for a diverse game with more surprises. But with more people comes the chance of crowding, and greater competition for resources. With fewer tribes, you'll likely encounter less "action" (i.e. war), at least for a while. You'll find greater stability and growth before you encounter other civilizations. With fewer tribes, however, you may not learn new fundamentals, such as a trade or a skill, or even certain inventions, until much later in the game.
Although Civilization 1 never was published on PlayStation, the differences from the Civilization 1 and 2 are subtle but significant. Civ2 is a single-player game, and with games against the "computer," AI is important. The AI was given a huge IQ boost. Now other cultures will vary more in their behavior toward you -- and the choices you make -- whether they are war, trade, or negotiations. Similarly, diplomacy is incredibly deep this time around. Gamers likely to lean toward bargaining, negotiations, and haggling are sure to enjoy the armada of choices ahead of them.
Although it should be obvious, Civilization II does not use analog control or dual shock vibration.