Introduction

The Civilization franchise, created by Sid Meier, has been long recognized as one of the greatest turn-based games. The first Civilization title, Civilization, was released in 1991 and the game has progressed tremendously since the original release. The focus in this essay will be on Civilization III, released in 2001 and Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, released in 2019. The comparisons covered will include graphics, gameplay, story, features, and controls.

Graphics

The first comparison between these two games is the graphics. Graphics are the first thing that players notices while playing the game. As expected, the graphics of Civ. VI have improved greatly since Civ. III. Assuming the computer is able to handle both games at maximum settings, Civ. VI can be run at a resolution of 2736×1824 at 60 Hz while Civ. III can be run at a resolution of 1024×768. Besides the option to choose the resolution, Civ. VI allows the player to alter the display of his/her game by using things like dynamic lighting, improved water and shadow textures, water and shadow textures, terrain quality, and reflection improvements. With the higher capabilities and customization to graphics, Civ. VI is significantly better to look at and allows for a near-cinematic experience.

Civ. III Graphics Options screen:

Civ. VI Graphics Options screen:

Gameplay

Another important part of gaming is the gameplay. Each of these two games utilizes feedback loops very well. The loops are used when determining relationships, which unit wins a battle, and the climate change in Civ. VI. As someone would expect, Civ. VI has implemented a multitude of gameplay changes. Some of these changes are as simple as easier control, but other changes are more significant and alter the game in a more severe way.

A change that Civ. VI added is with the builders. In Civ. III, the builders, or workers, take a set amount of turns to build improvements, wherein Civ. VI the builder have a set number of improvements. The builders in Civ. VI can build one improvement each turn and that improvement is built immediately. The builders may not seem like a significant change, but the difference becomes evident as the player is trying to get his city going and needs to choose which improvements will be most valuable to them.

Another gameplay change that was made is the introduction of how power sources affect the game. As the game progresses and power sources are created, the climate begins to change. The change in climate effects things such as sea level, temperature, and pollution. The effect of these changes may not be seen immediately, but instead, become prevalent through the actions and communications with other civs. Depending on contribution levels of any given civilization, the other civs may place certain restrictions on that civ. For example, if the player’s civilization produces too much pollution and is the largest contributor to climate change, other civs may place restrictions on the player limiting his/her power production and usage.

The end game for both games is very similar. In Civ. VI and Civ. III the end game completely stops that game and the player must either start a new game or reload a previous save.

Story

Throughout Sid Meier’s Civilization series, the story within the game is rather unique. Due to the nature of the gameplay, a new story develops with each game and is completely independent of the last game. Civ. VI and Civ. III both follow this method of story creation. The reason for this uniqueness is that the player selects a civilization to play as and the AI civilizations can be randomly selected or preselected by the player. As the game progresses, both player and AI relationships between all civs are developed based on the actions of the civs.

Actions that may affect the story of the game include declaring war, trading, aggressive expansion, and alliances/friendships. Even though Civilization VI: Gathering Storm follows this model, it also includes other situations that may alter the story. The climate and disaster system, as well as Era Score, are two things that set Civ. VI apart from Civ. III. Climate change and natural disasters that occur during the game impact the story of each game differently. This reinforces the randomness effect within the story of each Civ. game. Due to the implementation of climate change and how it affects the way the civs view other civs, climate change causes interesting twists in the plot of the story.

Another implementation from Gathering Storm is Era Score. Era Score affects the story of the game by comparing the player’s civ to the other civs in the game. The player’s relationship with AI civs changes depending on what Age the player enters at the end of each Era. If the player enters a Dark Age, the other civs may send aid and/or encourage the player to pull his/her civ out of the Dark Age. On the flip side, if the player enters a Golden Age the other civs may try to bring the player of the Golden Age. The way that the AI civs react to the player’s success/failure is a crucial part of story development in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm.

Features and Controls

The features and controls of these two titles were also compared. Both games feature hotkeys that make playing the games simpler once they are learned.  Another feature that is included in both titles is map customization. Map customization allows the payer to choose what type of land mass(es) they desire, along with temperature and amount of rainfall. The controls of Civ. VI are more user-friendly and easy to understand.

An example of this is opening the City Screens. In Civ III the player must double click on the city to open the screen. This may not seem like an issue but when compared to Civ. VI’s single click, the double click seems outdated and unnecessary. The features are relatively similar aside from the story differences and gameplay difference listed above. The biggest feature differences are the Era Score and climate change that Civ. VI: Gathering Storm has implemented.

Civ. VI City Screen:

Conclusion

After extensive hours of gameplay and testing, it became evident that Civilization VI: Gathering Storm has improved exponentially since Civilization III. This conclusion was reached by comparing the graphics, the story, the gameplay, features, and controls. After this analysis, it became evident that both games are fun to play and provide a great experience, but Civ. VI provides a better experience than Civ. III.