What is Civilization III?

Sid Meier's Civilization III: Complete, the latest offering in the Sid Meier's Civilization III franchise, provides gaming fans with Sid Meier's Civilization III, the highly-addictive journey of discovery, combined with the updated and enhanced multiplayer expansion pack Sid Meier's Civilization III: Play the World*, as well as all of the great new civilizations, scenarios, and features from Sid Meier's Civilization III: Conquests! Sid Meier's Civilization III: Complete provides more ways to explore, more strategies to employ, more modes of play, and more ways to win, all in one box!

See also: Civilization, Civilization II Gold Edition, Civilization: Call to Power, Civilization III Complete, Civilization IV

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Sid Meier has been entertaining strategy-game lovers with the Civilization franchise for nearly a decade. MacSoft's Civilization III brings this time-tested game to Mac OS X and to a new generation of strategy addicts.

Civilization III tasks you with creating a dominant civilization from a tribe of wandering nomads starting in 4000 B.C. You must found cities, research advances ranging from primitive ceremonial burials to modern-day synthetic fibers, and develop cities and military that can survive into modem times.

Sid Meler's company, Firaxis, made many changes from Civilization II, beefing up weak parts while avoiding unnecessary complexity. For starters, each civilization has two defining (and loosely historical) traits that translate to advantages in the game, as well as a unique military unit. For the first time, it actually makes a difference whether you play as the Romans or the Zulus.

Additionally, your civilization’s cultural development has a significant effect on gameplay: Culturally superior civilizations can induce the cities of inferior neighbors to switch sides spontaneously. Culture also defines your country's borders and affects the way rivals treat you in diplomacy.

Of course, even the most awesome civilization is a lost cause without a strong military to protect it. In Civ III, however, you can't build advanced military units or make terrain improvements unless you have access to strategic resources. You can acquire these resources by trading — or by bullying your opponents.

New conditions for victory round out the experience. Earlier versions let you win by either eliminating all your rivals or landing a spaceship on Alpha Centauri. Now you can win by domination (controlling most of the world), diplomacy (being elected SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations), or creating a culture so freakin’ awesome that the rest of the world envies it and joins your side.

Civilization is still the Mac's leading turn-based strategy game, but despite its many strengths, we must reluctantly give Civ III a mere Spiffy rating. We love this game, but it feels unfinished, with rough edges that shouldn't plague a proud ten-year-old franchise... Even so, you should buy two copies right now — and keep one in a fireproof safe so you can keep playing it on your iBook if your house burns down. It’s that addictive.

Whong, Jason. (May 2002). Sid Meier's Civilization III. MacAddict. (pg. 61).

Download Civilization III for Mac

Architecture

IBM PowerPC

System Requirements

From Mac OS 8.6 up to Mac OS 10.4

Compatibility notes

Architecture: PPC

At least 64MB of RAM

Mac OS 8.6 - Mac OS 9.2.2 - Mac OS X 10.0.4 - 10.4.11

 

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver