Then everyone can go merrily on his or her way.

Having burned myself with CTP I decided to wait for a moment to see how it panned out. The usual "CTPII rocks!" at the start, some nitpicking "where's xxxx?" at the start and the usual "let's wait for the patch first". Patch got released, some bugs fixed but main problem still remained: gameplay. You see folks, gameplay's one thing you can't easily fix with a patch and the truth is that CTPII doesn't have it. And what you don't have you can't fix. I experienced that for myself in CTP, everything was nicely polished and so on but it didn't have the factor that's important for all strategy games: Just one more turn. CTP didn't have it, and seeing that CTPII looks 'veeeeery similar' I didn't believe that CTPII would have 'it'.

The truth is that CTPII was just what everyone thought right from the start: a souped up data disk that should have been released as such, not as a 'sequel'. Even after they bought it, people just wanted to believe that it was better than CTP, SMAC or Civ2. There's term for this type of behaviour in pyschology: cognitive dissonance.

In short: Glad I waited and saved my money...

Now, if only I could find a way to hide CTP2 on work's network and stop callers from calling the helpdesk, then I could play all day!

quote: Originally posted by MarkG on 01-10-2001 09:56 AM ... i'm going to do what lots of people are doing right now instead posting posts like yours: play ctp2

you mean fix CTP2

I've already given up on reviews, usually they're only played for a couple of days (if that many) before the reviewer makes up his mind. And in most cases all games seem to get positive marks, no matter how poor they turn out to be once you've been playing them for awhile. I did have the opportunity to play CTP2 myself and I have to say that CTP2 should have been called CTP v.1.20 and released as a data disk.
And I'm not saying that CTP2 is bad, it's just an average civ clone. Nothing less but also nothing more.

Enjoy CTP2 while you can, you know it won't last...

<>

A rather cynical view of reviewers, which probably isn't accurate. Many of us have our favorites which remain on the computer long after we've imported new games for review; but of course, reviewers can't keep playing everything they like. There aren't enough hours in the day.

However, I did like CTP II, with reservations, while I pretty much panned CTP I when it first appeared. I'm still playing CTP II, with its patch. And I still prefer Alpha Centauri, with the mods that help balance the game; but now that there are mods out for CTP II, I just may go ahead and install 'em.

I play less and less and I am confident that when I get Space Empires IV from the US, ctp2 will probably be uninstalled.

Poitive reviews:

1. Did they have to buy the game or did they receive 'free' copies from the manufacturer?

2. If they bought the game, were they afraid to admit it being bad for fear of looking 'stupid' for buying it in the fist place?

3. How long have they tried it and what are thier personal interests and preferences. (example: If I had bought the game a would have rated it poorly because I prefer the Hot Seat option and it has no such option).

3a. Have they tried all the game options/modes and played them out (ie multiplayer, LAN, PBEM and Hot Seat {which this game does not have}, various game strategies (science, technology routes) to victory, etc.) This would take a considerable amount of time and items 3 (above) would also play heavily on thier personal bias.

Negative reviews:

1. What are thier personal preferences for the game (as I described in item #3 above)

2. Are they being negative just to be negative?

Personally I read all the reviews to see if the game has options (ie Hot Seat, etc) and things that I may be interested in (reguardless of how the reveiewer rates these). My family and I enjoyed playing CTP1 (in Hot Seat Mode) even with it's many realism flaws. There were many things which could have been done better, but it was entertaining and still is (at times). None of us have any interest in AI based games. AI's are almost always STUPID in games like these! We utilized the AI's in are Hot Seat games solely as added players ('cannon fodder').

I thoughly enjoy this site and thank all those who have posted (positives and negatives) on this site about the game. It has saved me the $50 I would have spent on a game I definately would not have enjoyed!

Everyone has thier opionions and rights to those opinions and those are mine.

Thanks again to all of you who have posted all the valuable opinions and information that has appeared on this site. Acitivison folks gave us little but excuses for thier 'short comings' and now seldom (if ever) respond on this site any more.

I continue to follow the site messages and hope for something good (at least good in my opinion).