Galactic Civilizations: Altarian Prophecy

Galactic Civilizations was last year��s surprise gift to all the sci-fi strategy fans who got burned on Master of Orion 3. This year, Stardock has released a $20 expansion that adds some nice twists to the original game, although not in the manner of most expansion packs.

Altarian Prophecy has the requisite new units (paladin, wraith, vamp, and sovereign spacecraft), new Galactic Wonders, and new races��but the real bonus here is the campaign editor, which allows for the creation of linked campaigns. The clean, efficient game mechanics of Galactic Civilizations have always worked best in smaller, focused situations that emphasize the game��s clear strategic choices, and the ability to make your own scenarios of this sort means that someone out there will likely make something cool for you to play. Civilization III: Conquests showed the extent to which focus can improve a wide-ranging strategy game, and so does the included campaign in Altarian Prophecy, which takes you through a number of different play styles. And yeah, the new units are cool, too. The game also serves as a compilation of all the improvements to the original game released incrementally by Stardock, so if you just have the original version lying around, this inexpensive add-on should remind you why you loved the first game so much.

PUBLISHER: Strategy First DEVELOPER: Stardock Entertainment GENRE: Strategy ESRB RATING: Not Rated REQUIRED: Pentium III 600MHz, 128MB RAM, 600MB install, Galactic Civilizations original game RECOMMENDED: Pentium III 1GHz, 256MB RAM MULTIPLAYER: None

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Computer Gaming World.