[KriFos]

Firaxis has announced what seems to be Colonization II, allthough they are using the Civilization-brand for what it's worth. The new title is: Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization - and will be a stand-alone title for PC (XP / Vista).

The title is marked as "Games for Windows", and will be released fall 2008. I'm guessing a mid-november-release isn't totally out of the question.

Link to press-release

For those who want some screenshots, the game looks pretty similar to Civilization IV (no - really?), and GameShark have some screenshots for the game here.

[CaptainPatch]

Colonization was a decent game. It's Civ features weren't quite as pronounced as was the case in Alpha Centauri. Which makes me wonder how Sid can hang the Civ4 label on it, making it look almost like a Civ4 expansion, like Warlords and Beyond the Sword.

Seems to me that this is simply a Colonization remake, and the only reason Sid hung the Civ4 label on it was in order to boost sales. (Colonization the first time around had had disappointing sales, standing on its own.)

I sincerely hope Sid didn't dumb it down the same way he had corrupted RR Tycoon in order to produce Railroads!

This post has been edited by CaptainPatch: 10 June 2008 - 02:32 PM

[ynard paha]

Awesome! Colonization is one of my favourite Sid games! I hope they make the missing features to this version! :)

[CaptainPatch]

ynard paha, on Jul 22 2008, 03:43 AM, said:

Awesome! Colonization is one of my favourite Sid games! I hope they make the missing features to this version! :)

To what missing features do you refer? :huh:

[Slip de Garcon]

Anyone else played this?

I did, and hated it!

Way, way, way too hard.

[CaptainPatch]

I did, naturally. Likewise, I feel the game is waaaaaayyyyyyy too unbalanced on everything but the easiest Difficulty setting.

Over at HookedGamers.com they have a sub-forum for Hooked on Colonization. Quite a bit of after-game analysis. The general consensus is the same as yours.

BTW, they're coming out with a patch that is _supposed_ to help balance the game. From the list of fixits, I see that you can slow down the REF growth rate -- provided you keep on giving the king whatever he wants when he comes calling. No mention of weakening the REF forces, which is, I think, the biggest flaw in the game. Even at the most optimal preparation for declaring independence, the REF blew through my defenses like they were wet tissue paper. When the exchange rate for Rebels to REF is 3-to-1, AND the REF outnumbers you by at least 5-to-4 (at best), the outcome is pretty inevitable. [And all my games were at the Normal (middle) Difficulty setting!]

[Slip de Garcon]

I genuinely detested it; all the more so because I could see a good game struggling to get out.

But the REF was way too powerful and you needed about twice as many turns to make it enjoyable.

As it is it's like 'Civilization-4-in-a-flat-panic-with-an-unwinnable-war-at-the-end'.