Galactic Civilizations III

 PC
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 257 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 140 out of 257
  2. Mixed: 69 out of 257
  3. Negative: 48 out of 257

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  1. marc5477
    May 18, 2015
    5
    Its a good game, but a little boring and I believe that this is due to "easy mode" economics. One of the biggest challenges in galciv2 was to balance production, economy, research and approval. Well in galciv3 economy is stupid easy to maintain. Its trivial to maintain positive income even with no economic improvements on planets. Further, production seems to the king of all resources inIts a good game, but a little boring and I believe that this is due to "easy mode" economics. One of the biggest challenges in galciv2 was to balance production, economy, research and approval. Well in galciv3 economy is stupid easy to maintain. Its trivial to maintain positive income even with no economic improvements on planets. Further, production seems to the king of all resources in this game as you can convert production to other types resources (like money or research as you could in Galciv2) but you can increase production much more easily than the other two and you can set up production based planets almost 3-4 times as fast. Since there are so many ways to amplify production, you can easily have a planet with 2x-3x as much production than any other possible resource with their bonus buildings. As a result, my main production center almost always acts as my best research planets (same for money but I never need money in this game)... very disappointing when you consider how much longer it takes to build research planets, one would think there should be a reward for it but nope, you are better off making all production and converting to research.

    My only other gripe is the AI. It seems to me that the AI cheats in higher difficulties rather than playing by the rules. I am not sure if Galciv2 was that way but I dont like that because it cheapens a win and a loss does not really feel like a loss since I know the AI is cheating.

    Overall a good game despite the above gripes. Much of the old game is in Galciv3 but I really did not think that any of the new additions made the game any better. I think Galciv2 is a better game.    … Expand
  2. DocMoriarty
    Jul 8, 2015
    4
    At a first glance GalCiv3 sounds better than it's predecessor but only on the "paper". Compared to GalCiv2 it's missing a lot of features and tools that make micro management of the systems easier and which are very helpful. It's often really simple things that are missing, such as the list of uninhabited planets or sorted ships by name in the shipyard. Another backdraw is the list ofAt a first glance GalCiv3 sounds better than it's predecessor but only on the "paper". Compared to GalCiv2 it's missing a lot of features and tools that make micro management of the systems easier and which are very helpful. It's often really simple things that are missing, such as the list of uninhabited planets or sorted ships by name in the shipyard. Another backdraw is the list of planets which is a joke compared to GalCiv2. But these shortcomings make it very unpleasant to play longer or with bigger maps, which contradicts the games claim that now even bigger maps are (at least technically) available, because they are practically not playable with the game mechanics at hand.
    If you haven't played GalCiv games at all so far, then i urgently recommend to get GalCiv2 Ultimate and forget about GalCiv3. Probably they are improving GalCiv3 over time, but so far i haven't seen any signs of that happening.
    I played mine for just 2 sessions and never again. Too tedious. Waste of money. When i go back to playing GalCiv i'm certain i'll do a GalCiv2.    … Expand
  3. theirrelephants
    Nov 11, 2015
    6
    Rather than building on GC2, it seems to be rather bereft of features by comparison. The campaign was pitifully short and very disappointing.

    The large maps and resource systems have great POTENTIAL, but that's all it is at the moment. With the AI the way it is, I can't really recommend this game at the moment. Just play Galciv2.
  4. Axehilt
    Nov 8, 2015
    5
    Great strategy games are a series of interesting decisions.

    GC3 lacks that flow of interesting decisions to be a great strategy game. Everything else is there. You have all the typical types of decisions (exploration, colonization, research, production) and even some unusual ones (ship design) and it's all executed at a high quality level. But strategy games are about the    Great strategy games are a series of interesting decisions.

    GC3 lacks that flow of interesting decisions to be a great strategy game.

    Everything else is there. You have all the typical types of decisions (exploration, colonization, research, production) and even some unusual ones (ship design) and it's all executed at a high quality level.

    But strategy games are about the strategy, and GC3 just falls flat in that regard.    … Expand
  5. spambox
    Dec 21, 2015
    4
    -AI seems to cheat badly. I had no 1 military spending economy and research production and AI had always **** load of more ships and technologies even with disabled tech trading. I could not even pay upkeep for 1/4 of his fleet size and I had twice as strong economy.

    -star base defence modules seems to be unbalanced quite lot and its not worth to produce -still quite buggy and game    -AI seems to cheat badly. I had no 1 military spending economy and research production and AI had always **** load of more ships and technologies even with disabled tech trading. I could not even pay upkeep for 1/4 of his fleet size and I had twice as strong economy.

    -star base defence modules seems to be unbalanced quite lot and its not worth to produce

    -still quite buggy and game gets lagy in mid phase since AI produces ships lige crazy idiot seemingly does not need to pay upkeep even for ships.

    -3d reall time battles and ship look designing stuff is pointless fancy waste. It servers no purpose.
    they should at least try to make it like gracious space battles    … Expand
  6. Fikthenig
    Aug 27, 2017
    6
    The game delivers everything it promised. The only objection I have with this game is that it can get a little boring as time progresses. Although I am not much of a civilization strategic type of gamer, I have played other games like Civilization Revolution, Tropico, and Age Of Empires and I found those to be more interesting then Gciv3. I did appreciate the high end graphics and I taughtThe game delivers everything it promised. The only objection I have with this game is that it can get a little boring as time progresses. Although I am not much of a civilization strategic type of gamer, I have played other games like Civilization Revolution, Tropico, and Age Of Empires and I found those to be more interesting then Gciv3. I did appreciate the high end graphics and I taught the mechanics were just fine. I also felt that the enemies were either too easy to defeat or to hard to oppose.
    Good Luck and Merry Ruling!!!!    … Expand
  7. JonoR
    May 31, 2017
    6
    GC3 is pretty run of the mill. It only has one real stand out feature: the cosmetic ship designer. You can spend hours in it making ships to fill out your fleet. However, that means nothing in terms of gameplay as what a ship looks like doesn't matter. The fanciest battleship at the base level is just as good as a cube. On the gameplay, well it is...adequate. Nothing really special orGC3 is pretty run of the mill. It only has one real stand out feature: the cosmetic ship designer. You can spend hours in it making ships to fill out your fleet. However, that means nothing in terms of gameplay as what a ship looks like doesn't matter. The fanciest battleship at the base level is just as good as a cube. On the gameplay, well it is...adequate. Nothing really special or amazing about it, particularly when you compare it to the other 4Xs that have come out. It is also a shame that where it is different (the ship designer) the devs have put zero effort into improving it.… Expand
  8. xtom
    Jun 1, 2017
    9
    Great turn based 4x strategy game. Some newer 4x games go for a colder realistic and immersive look with their graphics but the galaxy maps, planets and UI in GalCiv are colourful, interesting and a joy to look at as you play. The ship designer and steam workshop add a ton of user made ships and civilizations so there's always plenty of new content to explore. Devs are actively working onGreat turn based 4x strategy game. Some newer 4x games go for a colder realistic and immersive look with their graphics but the galaxy maps, planets and UI in GalCiv are colourful, interesting and a joy to look at as you play. The ship designer and steam workshop add a ton of user made ships and civilizations so there's always plenty of new content to explore. Devs are actively working on and improving the game at time of writing. Recommend playing with the Crusade DLC as it adds a lot of great gameplay features and -1 from score if played vanilla.… Expand
  9. rockon
    Jan 20, 2018
    8
    This beautifully constructed game may actually be receiving lower average user ratings than what it should simply because, whether stated or not, the extremely high difficulty level, deep complexity, frighteningly steep learning curve, and slow-as-molasses game development wear entirely on their nerves. This is a game so exceedingly difficult to beat that users have practically beenThis beautifully constructed game may actually be receiving lower average user ratings than what it should simply because, whether stated or not, the extremely high difficulty level, deep complexity, frighteningly steep learning curve, and slow-as-molasses game development wear entirely on their nerves. This is a game so exceedingly difficult to beat that users have practically been weeping online about their being unable to win with any strategy they employ. The secret is that you must study the game like you're taking a college course. It takes many hours of study and play experience to even have a chance to win. Because if you don't play the first 20 turns exactly perfectly, you will lose. You won't find out it's hopeless and that you've blown the game until later and you've wasted your time by making those early mistakes. There is zero margin for error or one single bad decision in those first 20. The game really is that hard. First I played the game with cheats to see what it had. I never finished a game with cheats, just took a look. Then I played the game with out cheats and got crushed. Then I got crushed again. And again. Now I've watched about 6 hours of online tutorials and I'm typing notes that now have escalated into four typed pages. I have a few more hours of tutorials to watch before I attempt once again to play. Even after all this studying, the game is so hard that I still don't have the confidence that I can stay out ahead of the AI. The AI opponents are incredibly aggressive even on Normal setting. If you don't watch your diplomacy, you'll have all of them attacking you at once. They won't attack each other. Just you. And then there's little to no hope. As far as trying an Insane map Ascension Victory? You might need to invest 300 hours to finish that single campaign. And regrettably you'll know you've won long before you see the victory screen. Ditto with the Conquest Victory. People are saying leave all Victory conditions enabled. Research victories can also take a long time, but if you're trying a Conquest Victory on one of the bigger maps, you'd better have about two weeks on your hands with nothing else to do but play GCIII. Not a bad vacation, in my book. Get in some food, get some of the green stuff, and kick back in your recliner in front of your PC.… Expand
  10. dk3d
    Jul 23, 2015
    3
    Disappointed. Graphics are totally out of date and building up your civ and moving ships becomes a tedious process within a few hours. The sense of being in "Space" is terrible due in part to the choice of colors used in the map/galaxy view and not being able to see the names of your planets or solar system when zoomed even out just a little is really annoying.

    The game interface as far    Disappointed. Graphics are totally out of date and building up your civ and moving ships becomes a tedious process within a few hours. The sense of being in "Space" is terrible due in part to the choice of colors used in the map/galaxy view and not being able to see the names of your planets or solar system when zoomed even out just a little is really annoying.

    The game interface as far as managing planets and whatnot is fine, it all makes sense, easy to deal with, but again, the sense of overseeing a huge chunk of the galaxy is totally not there at all. Battles are tedious, building up fleets is a snoozefest (not to mention moving them painful inch by painful inch).

    Just didn't fill that warm spot in my heart like I remember MOO and others did. If you had told me this was created 10 years ago, I wouldn't have doubted it.

    I've played basically one game, (over approx 12 hours of actual play) and as every goes by, the "one more turn" feeling turns into "What other game should I play." much quicker each time.

    I'll give it one more session perhaps but it's def on my "uninstall" short list as is another game from same company    … Expand
  11. ScienceAdvisor
    Oct 2, 2015
    4
    Just another game that was stripped of elements to package and sell separately as DLC, while trying to convince you that it is an upgrade of the previous installment. The scary thing is they still have a lot to do, and by the time they are done the total cost could be triple at their current prices. I strongly suggest waiting for a complete version in a few years, and do not get scammedJust another game that was stripped of elements to package and sell separately as DLC, while trying to convince you that it is an upgrade of the previous installment. The scary thing is they still have a lot to do, and by the time they are done the total cost could be triple at their current prices. I strongly suggest waiting for a complete version in a few years, and do not get scammed with another DLC-shuffle.

    There is also the issue with the AI cheating to keep up with the player. Stardock claims there is no atrifical bonuses being handed out as many poorly designed 4X games rely on (usually a categorical production bonus as the player gets more powerful). Instead Stardock allows the AI to trade tech for free between themselves, as they did back in Gal Civ 2. Which is why when tech brokering was turned off in #2 the AI was such a cakewalk. Any player would jump at the chance to get free tech, especially since some of those give gloabal bonuses (e.g. +1 Speed to all ships). So not only do they get bonuses, but they are far more excessive than mere production (they get those too). This is to cover-up the continuing lack of actual intelligence in their system.    … Expand
  12. ronaldlee0917
    May 23, 2015
    6
    Huge disappointment!

    The game at its current state makes me think that the game is rushed and under a poor budget. A campaign with only 3 scenarios? Are you kidding me? It is the shortest campaign in any game I have ever played. On top of that, the campaign is dull and boring, adding little to the original story. The game is very unstable, many if not most players encountered    Huge disappointment!

    The game at its current state makes me think that the game is rushed and under a poor budget.

    A campaign with only 3 scenarios? Are you kidding me? It is the shortest campaign in any game I have ever played. On top of that, the campaign is dull and boring, adding little to the original story.

    The game is very unstable, many if not most players encountered blue-screen-of-death or crash-to-desktop issues from time to time.

    The game is very imbalanced. I can own everyone with a single carrier fleet on the hardest difficulty or keep producing the most overpowered ship 100 times the strength of my enemie's flagship every turn with my ridiculous manufacturing power; I could make a radar ship that reveals the whole map for me. I could make some "teleport" transport ship that is capable of bring 3 billions of my soldiers from one side of the universe to another, taking my rival's colony all in a single turn!

    Serisouly, I feel the game developers had spent little time on balancing the game because they don't even have enough time to fix the stability issue.

    In conclusion, the game is rushed and not polished at all. I suggest anyone who haven't already bought the game to wait until they fix the game or wait for a -75% price cut on Steam before buying it or just buy GalCiv 2 now because it is 100 times better than its successor.

    I would leave the game at a rating of 6 until they fix the game.    … Expand
  13. Stewart97
    Jun 4, 2015
    4
    The Good:
    >Bigger Map more Stars.
    >Larger Galaxies which actually look like they could be a whole galaxy. >Great ship designer. >Multiplayer is finally a thing now. (Simultaneous turns as well) >Hexes instead of squares. >Maps have more features >Shipyards build ships instead of planets The Neutral >Fewer things to do make the game less of a micromanagement hassle. But also    The Good:
    >Bigger Map more Stars.
    >Larger Galaxies which actually look like they could be a whole galaxy.
    >Great ship designer.
    >Multiplayer is finally a thing now. (Simultaneous turns as well)
    >Hexes instead of squares.
    >Maps have more features
    >Shipyards build ships instead of planets

    The Neutral
    >Fewer things to do make the game less of a micromanagement hassle. But also takes away some of the fun.
    >Graphics are improved but largely due to resolution. Only the ship editor will WOW you
    >Economy sliders have been replaced by an Economy wheel, which provides more control however the overall effect of finances or money on an empire is substantially diluted.

    The Bad
    >Fleet AI is dumber than a box of rocks. They make piecemeal attacks, they don't have to scout to find planets or other races, they just know they are there.
    >Empire AI is downright bad, they build but they build in non-nonsensical ways which limit the threat they will post to players even on the highest difficulty.
    >Lots of cool stuff from Gal Civ 2 Expansions, GONE.
    >Diplomatic design is really bad, limiting you to things the AI can do but you cant, once you trade with them you have a lockout which prevents you from doing anything with the other AIs except declare war, even with allies for up to 20 turns. Oh yeah and they pester the hell out of you for money and send you short messages which are annoying and repetitive. In short the AI = Half baked.
    >Largest Maps even on recommended systems lag between turns, stutter, and don't run the game well. How many gigs of ram do you need to run those? Even systems with 8GB,16GB, of RAM are being reported as struggling.
    >No Manual. Tutorial crashes sometimes.
    >Lacking polish.
    >Space combat while looking better, if you can get the camera to follow the ships, is completely hands off, so it is boring.
    >Franchise has seen better days unfortunately.
    >Gal Civ 3 vs Gal Civ 2, Feels much less polished, with much less to do, the stuff there is to do is repetitive and boring, not as satisfying. or complex as Gal Civ 2.
    >Some penalties are way out of balance which ruin the game.
    >AI plays essentially the same irregardless of which race.
    >While the game ships with a custom race creator, and supports up toe 128 opponents which was trumpeted as a major features, creating a custom race is an involved process that takes a significant amount of time. (No random auto-custom race creator, exists only 8 are supplied with the game)

    Overall it feels like the game was simply rushed to ship and will get extensive patching. Where have we heard that before? If Gal Civ 3 follows the same development as Gal Civ 2 gamers will probably see loads of additional development leading up to another rushed out expansion which will be patched liberally as well.    … Expand
  14. linax3
    Jun 19, 2015
    3
    what's most important in a game. the gameplay. what gameplay does galciv3 have. next turn next turn next turn next turn next turn....eventually it might end. I cant bother to check it myself. there is nothing that gives any reason to play this game. everything is predetermined, linear and every choice you make does not matter.
    you can build star bases for various purposes. the only reason    what's most important in a game. the gameplay. what gameplay does galciv3 have. next turn next turn next turn next turn next turn....eventually it might end. I cant bother to check it myself. there is nothing that gives any reason to play this game. everything is predetermined, linear and every choice you make does not matter.
    you can build star bases for various purposes. the only reason to build them will be gain of "strategic" resources (which are so useless) and influence space.
    you can build and design various ships which do not really differ one from the other. make fleets of this ships to gain strength. and you can use various 3D parts to assemble custom designed models for the ships. also design custom functional parts for the ships.
    you can colonize planets which extends you empire power. if you don't do it you will lose the game one way or another.
    you can manage distribution of empire resources over 3 axis (wealth, production, research) and production is further divided on 2 axis for ship and planet infrastructure.
    research tree is linear with 4 categories. some stages of the tree allow for a choice, 1 of 3, other 2 are lost.
    there is a 3 way ideology system that gives various bonuses. progresses really slow. you can progress in all 3 ideologies. a choice is made at every planet colonization.
    like I said above everything is pretty linear. you can have a bit different gameplay if you choose a different(or custom) race. but not much different really.
    well there are a few more gameplay elements but I say this again every one of this element is not making you think about it, take a hard decision or turn a different path.

    graphics. there are a few nice things about graphics, but they are not really in the game. you have to take a looking glass to see them(metaphor). but when you see them they are nice. through most of the game I was looking at symbolized 2D space map standing still in space. then there are more 2D images with more 2D images. some parts of the game are in 3D but like I said you really need to look for them to see them.

    sound. similar to the graphics sound is virtually non existent apart form the bad music which I turned off right away. sound effects in game are really basic and non appealing where they are present.

    artificial intelligence, if it can be called like that, seem to be ok. it seem capable to follow a simple linear game as galciv3.

    now to the technical part... game as of version 1.3 is full of bugs. my PC (Q9400, GTX480, 4GB RAM, Win8.1x64, HDD). game have only a few basic options to tweak it. on the default (which is custom?!) game stutters constantly, uses 10+GB page file, all my video RAM(1500MB), RAM is used almost all. CPU/GPU are not maxed out but high. Task switching takes about a minute(not entirely game fault, OS contributes). loading the game takes a lot of time. all that resource to look at a few 2D pixels. loading savegame takes even more time. although saving takes about a second, one thing done right!. primary problem is memory utilization. there is an enabled by default option in game that collects data. feels like the game is still in an early development phase.

    this is a third installment of the game which does not bring anything new. even dumbs down some parts.
    and the price is too high for this whole lot of nothing. my opinion... do not waste you time with this game. reading all of my review is more than enough. if you still think to give it a chance try before you buy. and if you like the game for some odd reason, have fun.    … Expand
  15. StrategyAddict
    Jul 1, 2015
    3
    Honestly, this game fails in every domain:
    1. space battles are fully automatic and also suffering from incredible bad camera control, like you wouldn't believe.
    2. AI is yet to be found. Very passive to say the least. 3. Economics are very simple and easly to maintain, which is a good thing, since the lacking statistical informations you get are making it hard rather the fun to make    Honestly, this game fails in every domain:
    1. space battles are fully automatic and also suffering from incredible bad camera control, like you wouldn't believe.
    2. AI is yet to be found. Very passive to say the least.
    3. Economics are very simple and easly to maintain, which is a good thing, since the lacking statistical informations you get are making it hard rather the fun to make informed decitions.
    4. Research is rather dull. New technologies mostly offer numeric improvements and add nothing to the way you play the game. Detailed descriptions of things you research are mostly abscent and images of new things to build as well.
    5. What might be seen as an upside is the ship editor where you can design your own ships. However it was buggy in my game, discarding the beautiful design I made. And also most of the design is purely cosmetical and even though the ships look nice in close view, they really move very ungracefull during automated space combat.
    6. Planets, even though generated, all seem to look the same and require zero consideration in terms of indiviual build strategies. Also, they are filled up with buildings rather quickly, so that you can not place things you newly research, what further nullifies the effects of research.

    Because it at least has a campain, which is seldom for this kind of game and because it is an overall nice try, I'm giving out generous 3 points.However, I do not get how this game ever ended up over 70 on metacritic.

    Better alternatives include: StarDrive 2, Endless Space and still sins of a solar empire. I'd even recommend Distant Worlds and Planetary Annihilation over this. Or, if you haven't played it back in the days: Star Wars Empire at War.    … Expand
  16. Koblihozrout
    May 19, 2015
    7
    Another 4x game, with a decent budget. And it has all the usual flaws.

    - Retarded AI, that has to "cheat" like crazy in higher difficulties - Bugs Bugs Bugs everywhere - Unfinished, for example: after 30 minutes of searching every menu, I concluded that "logistics" value (limit/used) is not in the game currently. etc. The colony management, which is combination of tiles and    Another 4x game, with a decent budget. And it has all the usual flaws.

    - Retarded AI, that has to "cheat" like crazy in higher difficulties
    - Bugs Bugs Bugs everywhere
    - Unfinished, for example: after 30 minutes of searching every menu, I concluded that "logistics" value (limit/used) is not in the game currently. etc.

    The colony management, which is combination of tiles and adjacency bonuses, with population and happiness values is very well done. Also tech tree is exceptionally well made, of all the 4x games i ever played this one does it best. There is no tactical combat.

    7/10 after release. I predict 10/10 after two years and 100$ worth of DLC and expansions.    … Expand
  17. Mastodon
    Jun 8, 2015
    6
    Thankfully the difficulties I was having getting the game to run properly have been patched.... so I can now give the game a true review. Sadly I don't find myself raising the score from its original 5 very much. There seems to be a great platform here to make an amazing game.... but that's all it is at the moment, a platform. Don't get me wrong there is plenty of attractive details....Thankfully the difficulties I was having getting the game to run properly have been patched.... so I can now give the game a true review. Sadly I don't find myself raising the score from its original 5 very much. There seems to be a great platform here to make an amazing game.... but that's all it is at the moment, a platform. Don't get me wrong there is plenty of attractive details.... but compared to Gal Civ II with expansions it feels like a downgrade other than graphically.... even graphically the only real obvious improvement is improved resolution on everything. AI, while improved quite a bit from Gal Civ II is still pretty dumb. Ship builder is great but with an occasional bug or two. Research is pretty cool, actually.... however on default research speed you'll get to the end of the tech tree before the end of a game on larger maps. Speaking of larger maps... the 3 largest map sizes are disabled unless you have enough ram... so if you only have 4GB of ram you won't be able to play those galaxy sizes. Diplomacy is okay.... however the AI begs and asks for money or threatens you on a constant basis. It gets quite annoying and makes diplomacy feel cheap and without diversity. Customization is pretty awesome in this game on almost every level.... however the celebrated race creator is actually a little too short and simple for my taste.... especially considering you are supposed to be able to customize the race's AI behavior but you don't really get that many choices to mix and match with. Honestly I find the fact that some of the reviewers found this feature "too confusing and complicated" quite laughable. The graphics are okay. Sound quality is decent. Auto-Explore/Survey AI is terrible.

    Ok ok so overall I feel that this game gets less and less fun after about turn 200 (default game speed). Too many things occur too frequently which ruin the immersion and it's almost like every feature in the game starts off with "wow this is great" and ends with "oh, that's it?"

    I give this game a 6 out of 10. Great potential, but it has a long way to go. But as a fan of the series and genre I am really rooting for this one to get to where it needs to be! I hope some day I can redo this review and raise the score :)    … Expand
  18. Octomort
    Mar 17, 2016
    5
    A year on,any major updates/improvements? no. Still badly balanced. The interface is an improvement over Galciv 2, especially the research/tech tree. But still just more of the same. Either you overwhelm the AI or it overwhelms you. I've played civ games at immortal level, usually emperor, and total war on highest settings, so have a reasonable idea as a 'normal' player. Just glad aA year on,any major updates/improvements? no. Still badly balanced. The interface is an improvement over Galciv 2, especially the research/tech tree. But still just more of the same. Either you overwhelm the AI or it overwhelms you. I've played civ games at immortal level, usually emperor, and total war on highest settings, so have a reasonable idea as a 'normal' player. Just glad a friend swapped me a copy.
    Give it a try but find a friend who has it and try and borrow their copy before spending money.    … Expand
  19. Tknowsbest1
    May 26, 2015
    7
    Doesn't bring anything new to the old Gal Civs except for better AI and graphics. However the ideological tree is quite awesome. The malevolence choice gives you the ability to acquire free warships which proves useful the more you expand. Overall, still great fun. Words of advice: be merciless with pirates.
  20. THRASHMASTER87
    Oct 1, 2015
    1
    The only positive thing in the game is the ship editor...too bad that you are forced to see your beautiful creation spinning with no sense or logic during the space battles...
  21. sundeki
    May 20, 2015
    7
    Long story short: It's GalCiv 2 with better graphics (and less content due to the fact that GalCiv 2 had 2-3 expansions). That being said, GalCIv 2 is a great game and so is GalCiv 3.

    It has some major lag issues sometimes and is a hardware hog in longer games, but with some polish and optimization from Stardock, I can see this game becoming the 4X gem that was it's predecessor. My    Long story short: It's GalCiv 2 with better graphics (and less content due to the fact that GalCiv 2 had 2-3 expansions). That being said, GalCIv 2 is a great game and so is GalCiv 3.

    It has some major lag issues sometimes and is a hardware hog in longer games, but with some polish and optimization from Stardock, I can see this game becoming the 4X gem that was it's predecessor.

    My only major problem with the game is the Campaign. Seriously though, what campaign? I clicked campaign and saw three parts. I thought those three parts were the three sections of the story hyped in the trailer and such. Nope. 3 Small, easy scenarios that I've already beaten on the second hardest difficulty with no problem.

    But GalCiv 3 one-ups it's predecessor in one key department: It has Multiplayer. And with the massive customizability of the games you play, you can really choose and pick how you want to play with your friends, more than virtually any other RTS, let alone games in general.

    Overall: this game could be a real gem, but it's not there yet. I can see it in the future getting a 9/10 rating from me, but it just doesn't quite cut it yet. If you don't have anyone else to play the multiplayer with, I would have to recommend Galactic Civilizations 2 for the time being, it's just a more polished, fleshed out game, even if it doesn't look as flashy.

    7.5/10    … Expand
  22. weishui
    May 28, 2015
    4
    Sadly my first review here is for such a lousy game. Honestly, very disappointing that I have to register an account and write this review. I am a dedicated fan of strategy/space games (civilization, sins of a solar empire, Europa IV, etc.) , and I feel this game plain awful. This is the developer of beautiful , I just cannot believe it.

    --I can barely zoom in/out cos it takes    Sadly my first review here is for such a lousy game. Honestly, very disappointing that I have to register an account and write this review. I am a dedicated fan of strategy/space games (civilization, sins of a solar empire, Europa IV, etc.) , and I feel this game plain awful. This is the developer of beautiful , I just cannot believe it.

    --I can barely zoom in/out cos it takes 5~25(honestly) seconds when it switches between icons/real 3D models. It really can drive a man crazy. My computer runs well with all other similar games (homeland, SoaSE, civilization).
    --Have anyone notice the map scroll speed feels awkward? it moves much faster when zoomed in, and slow like hell when zoomed out. I never saw any other game use such design. Very inconvenient and it makes the game amateur.
    -The battle scenes not so good, ships rotate and turn slowly and strangely, audio and video out of sync many times(beams without sound and sound without missiles). It's like a awful children TV play of the 60s.
    --A custom faction is fun. But to be honest, not much for a gamer to design.
    --Customize your our ships? Man that's unique and awesome! But hey, don't forget you can barely zoom in to see your beautiful customized battleship. And hey, the battle scenes look dumb. Such a great feature wasted. Could be the only great part of the game.
    --AI, easy AI is rich but almost never build ships. Hard AI cheats but still dumb.
    --No strategies needed. no balance of economy, diplomacy, technology and military. It's like a ugly copycat of civilization. but still, they are there and you have to click on them.    … Expand
  23. Paradox1950
    May 14, 2015
    9
    I’ve been Beta testing this game through steam early access for some time and find that it doesn’t disappoint. If you like epic 4x turn based strategy and galactic conquest this is the game for you.

    When I say epic scale the largest map size labelled “insane” has 500,000 map hexes and you can play against up to 100 AI opponents. They have taken Galactic Civilization 2 and enhanced    I’ve been Beta testing this game through steam early access for some time and find that it doesn’t disappoint. If you like epic 4x turn based strategy and galactic conquest this is the game for you.

    When I say epic scale the largest map size labelled “insane” has 500,000 map hexes and you can play against up to 100 AI opponents.

    They have taken Galactic Civilization 2 and enhanced all aspects of it, the ship designer that allows you to design your own ships by scaling, rotating and clipping together premade parts is awesome fun. You also add practical things like weapons, defences, drives, and special equipment.

    The game has 7 premade factions all of which have some of their own unique abilities, technologies and planetary improvements out of the box and allows you to create further custom ones.

    It also includes a campaign that follows on from the GC1 & GC2 story lines though I have to confess I prefer to play in sandbox mode.

    The game still has a few bugs and rough edges here and there but StarDock have a well-deserved reputation for patching their games with not only fixes but features and improvements for years after release aside from already planned DLC and expansions so you can’t really loose with this game.

    Unlike its predecessor this game also supports multiplayer.    … Expand
  24. Imod85
    Sep 5, 2015
    1
    It's just GalCiv 2 with better graphics (but still bad compared to other 4x-games), but less features than the original. Also there are no improvements to AI, UI, Menue, etc. It feels still outdated, the menues could've made a bit more clear and shiny. of course, hardcore-fans would say it is nostalgic, I say it's just old and dusty. Overall there is nothing new, it feels like no effortIt's just GalCiv 2 with better graphics (but still bad compared to other 4x-games), but less features than the original. Also there are no improvements to AI, UI, Menue, etc. It feels still outdated, the menues could've made a bit more clear and shiny. of course, hardcore-fans would say it is nostalgic, I say it's just old and dusty. Overall there is nothing new, it feels like no effort was put in the game, just copying an already existing game. Then there are still many bugs and the camera in battles is a joke. If you have GalCiv 2, you don't need this game. And if you don't have GalCiv2, then buy GalCiv2. It's way cheaper and has more content than this "new" game.… Expand
  25. cassius769
    Aug 9, 2015
    3
    No different from GalCiv 2. Slightly better graphics. So much heavier on the system. When you play on a massive scale it takes sometimes minutes for the computer to finish its turn. No innovation whatsoever. I mean GalCiv2 is already very good - what they could do is to add depth to it. I dont know perhaps ability to have something to say during battles. Minor options like stance or whatNo different from GalCiv 2. Slightly better graphics. So much heavier on the system. When you play on a massive scale it takes sometimes minutes for the computer to finish its turn. No innovation whatsoever. I mean GalCiv2 is already very good - what they could do is to add depth to it. I dont know perhaps ability to have something to say during battles. Minor options like stance or what kind of formation.… Expand
  26. seanb1979
    Jun 10, 2015
    5
    I'm giving this a 5 because it's close to a carbon copy of the old game, which was great. I'm deducting 5 because it feels pretty much like the old game with slightly shinier graphics and a few added features. When something is a decade or so in the making, you expect something a bit more fresh and new than this. Avid gal civ fans will have logged a lot of hours on the old game and willI'm giving this a 5 because it's close to a carbon copy of the old game, which was great. I'm deducting 5 because it feels pretty much like the old game with slightly shinier graphics and a few added features. When something is a decade or so in the making, you expect something a bit more fresh and new than this. Avid gal civ fans will have logged a lot of hours on the old game and will find their excitement quickly dwindling when they see how little has changed.… Expand
  27. Mikimax
    May 19, 2015
    4
    It's the same old game with nearly no innovation. New engine, new emmmm, i really can't find anything.
    Game feels like GC2, plays like it, music and sounds are the same, same factions, etc.
    Not to mention that the engine is not optimized, it slows down on zoom in zoom out on the main map and the game uses nearly 5+GB Ram and all 4 CPU cores. And even then the game looks like crap. Oh    It's the same old game with nearly no innovation. New engine, new emmmm, i really can't find anything.
    Game feels like GC2, plays like it, music and sounds are the same, same factions, etc.
    Not to mention that the engine is not optimized, it slows down on zoom in zoom out on the main map and the game uses nearly 5+GB Ram and all 4 CPU cores. And even then the game looks like crap.
    Oh and space battles, simply - same old crap.
    I feel sorry for people who bought this game. I certainly will not.    … Expand
  28. Tick
    May 17, 2015
    9
    Full Disclosure: I was a Fan of the previous games in this franchise. I also was an Alpha backer. I didn't participate much past the first two builds, and checked back in with the game with the last Beta.

    That being said... This is a really good game. It isn't light-years different visually or structurally than the previous game, but why fix what wasn't broken? The graphics got more    Full Disclosure: I was a Fan of the previous games in this franchise. I also was an Alpha backer. I didn't participate much past the first two builds, and checked back in with the game with the last Beta.

    That being said... This is a really good game. It isn't light-years different visually or structurally than the previous game, but why fix what wasn't broken? The graphics got more polishing, the game-play expanded upon, the ship designer was drastically improved, and the AI was made a LOT better.

    The game can also handle a lot more. It's programmed in 64Bit. This means they won't have limitations like they had with the previous 32 bit game. The music is better, you can zoom all the way in and see your ships the way you designed them on the map, in their own fleets. The sounds are better.

    Galactic Civilizations 2 was amazing in my books, and this game is a worthy successor. I am not giving it a 10 because I don't yet know what kind of expansions they will have and what content it will bring.    … Expand
  29. Sjalka
    May 24, 2015
    6
    This review and rating is based on version 1.0 of the game. I do somehow expect things to improve.

    First thing to notice is how hardware hungry that game is ... and continously becomes more hungry over time as the game session draws longer. Visually it is a step upwards with much greater visual detail and diversity (at the aforementioned price of draining the hardware and occasionally    This review and rating is based on version 1.0 of the game. I do somehow expect things to improve.

    First thing to notice is how hardware hungry that game is ... and continously becomes more hungry over time as the game session draws longer. Visually it is a step upwards with much greater visual detail and diversity (at the aforementioned price of draining the hardware and occasionally freezing for short to medium periods of time)

    Is it better than Gal Civ II? - yes... but it is not a quantum leap forward.

    - Planetary management is still not really a great challenge
    - Diplomacy and AI is a significant improvement (but i reckon that this is very subjective and also depends on the game session and situation that the AI can act in)
    - Ship design ... well... i don t like it. Shape and add ons again have no meaning but being purely cosmetical - all in all... i prefer Sword of the Stars in terms of customization
    - grand strategy is good - but has been well done in Gal Civ II already

    I was not able to conduct more testing because the game simply failed after some time - failed meaning.... zooming out and in caused seconds long freezes, turns took loooooong - and the game simply became a HUGE resource hog up to a point where playing it was no fun anymore.

    better optimized and expanded - this game has huge potential - its just no real fun in its current state ( on a mid end computer that is )    … Expand
  30. Jaehaerys61
    Dec 31, 2016
    8
    Malgrès son graphismes qui bof, je reconnais que ce 4X est prenant à la long. Mais j'espère que les développeurs vont amélioraient la partie graphismes et l'histoire.
  31. Bamdorf
    May 14, 2015
    9
    I have been a beta tester since last November, over six months. And just received the release update 1.0. This game is not only excellent as it stands, but has an extremely attractive upgrade path mapped out, not just for the next few weeks or months, but for years, partly as a consequence of the decision to code it as a 64-bit exclusive. Its predecessor, Galciv 2, was a very successfulI have been a beta tester since last November, over six months. And just received the release update 1.0. This game is not only excellent as it stands, but has an extremely attractive upgrade path mapped out, not just for the next few weeks or months, but for years, partly as a consequence of the decision to code it as a 64-bit exclusive. Its predecessor, Galciv 2, was a very successful game, but GC3 is a big improvement in almost every way, in appearance, in game play, in customize ability, and in numerous new features that add to the strategy mix. For a couple example, the separation of shipyards into a separate unit and the use of adjacency bonus to make colony building more interesting. I am a 4x gamer who started out, and very happily so, with Civilization 1 and have been active in the genre since. As such, I find GC3 to be not only a great addition to 4x gaming out of the gate, but a game that promises to increase enormously in quality and quantity over the next many months

    I must also add that as a relatively tiny company compared to the big software houses out there, Stardock has a stellar record of being responsive to the community without compromising their vision.
    .    … Expand
  32. Meteuremu
    May 15, 2015
    9
    I would give this game a 10/10 but there is some minor polishing that need to be addressed. Amazing game though, and it WILL be a 10/10 when it is patched. Will be playing this game easily for over 1,000+ hours just like I did for Gal Civ 2. On the large maps games can easily last you over 24 hours an then some to beat. If you wanna build an empire with ships that look like what you wantI would give this game a 10/10 but there is some minor polishing that need to be addressed. Amazing game though, and it WILL be a 10/10 when it is patched. Will be playing this game easily for over 1,000+ hours just like I did for Gal Civ 2. On the large maps games can easily last you over 24 hours an then some to beat. If you wanna build an empire with ships that look like what you want them to, then buy this game and enslave all...errhhmm I mean enjoy. :)… Expand
  33. pguyton
    May 14, 2015
    9
    I've been playing early access for a we weeks now on steam and I must say as a massive fan of 4X games this is the best one out there right now. extremely fun and well polished I like how responsive Stardock is.
  34. helloworlds
    Jun 1, 2015
    10
    This review might not help anyone but here it goes. I am really enjoying this game the ways to mod especially when they release all the tools will be insane. Races, Ships etc endless possibilities I've already played around with the files myself to create some little mods.

    As a 4x game in space hands down this is the best. Stardock is the master of this genre no one else even comes    This review might not help anyone but here it goes. I am really enjoying this game the ways to mod especially when they release all the tools will be insane. Races, Ships etc endless possibilities I've already played around with the files myself to create some little mods.

    As a 4x game in space hands down this is the best. Stardock is the master of this genre no one else even comes close. I also watch their streams and they have "road map" of what they want to do and update with this game for years to come. My only criticism is I wish it was delayed to get more content and some bug fixes finished before launch. But if you want the only and the best 4x game in space out there this is it.    … Expand
  35. blazer666_uk
    May 30, 2015
    4
    Game is ok but that's all , AI is predictable and seems repetitive, I have played 2 games now and they both end up the same way me vs 1 CPU at the end. YAWN Cant see how this gets such good reviews. Ive been playing strategy games since Ultima IV (way back in the 80's) .
  36. blackbird1
    Jun 16, 2015
    1
    stardock needs to start make fully scaleable ui in all resolution or im done with stardock games

    but anyway this game is not bad but also not great its just another mediocre x4 game

    but i would give 6 or 7 points instead of one if i could read everyhting....
  37. rg35
    Jun 5, 2015
    5
    Was expecting more as a follow up to GC2. GC2 was one of my favorite 4x games. I really expected Stardock to build on that game with gameplay improvements and new options as a player. Unfortunately, little to nothing was done to expand gameplay, and same rock/paper/scissors approach to combat was carried over to GC3.
    Yes, the ship editor has been expanded, but snap points are a little    Was expecting more as a follow up to GC2. GC2 was one of my favorite 4x games. I really expected Stardock to build on that game with gameplay improvements and new options as a player. Unfortunately, little to nothing was done to expand gameplay, and same rock/paper/scissors approach to combat was carried over to GC3.
    Yes, the ship editor has been expanded, but snap points are a little flaky and it can be frustrating to use.

    Given the amount of time in between games, it's a bit disappointing.    … Expand
  38. CavieZ
    May 14, 2015
    10
    Galactic Civilizations III its very great game! Is the best game in the last decade.. When i played this game I have syndrom "One More Turn". Good is multiplayer too!
  39. ClinkinCups
    May 15, 2015
    10
    Now I've been following this game since alpha as a supporter. I've watched it flow and ebb and finally morph into a BEAUTIFUL final product. Here's why:

    The Dev's have been nothing but accommodating for us. Listening and taking our idea's from the forums to the project lists. This made us supporters feel like part of a family and i personally know i assisted in the making of this game.    Now I've been following this game since alpha as a supporter. I've watched it flow and ebb and finally morph into a BEAUTIFUL final product. Here's why:

    The Dev's have been nothing but accommodating for us. Listening and taking our idea's from the forums to the project lists. This made us supporters feel like part of a family and i personally know i assisted in the making of this game.

    The cinematic of battle mode make me have a "Nerd-gasm" every.single.time. Its fabulous and it has come a long way from its initial stages.

    The strategy itself is direct and time consuming. Something more 4x games need today. To wake up in the morning with your coffee and slug away on your immense universe. Struggling to keep your economy going in the midst of a global depression.

    The AI are SMART and **** Ive died multiple times from there cunning attacks and alliances against little old me. For anyone saying the AI is not well done. Take a step back and please, Please go look at other AI dependent games. You will see the beauty of Gal Civ 3.

    All in all? I love this game. I would recommend it to ANY of my friends. 4x fans or not.

    This is the strategy game of the year.    … Expand
  40. joggy
    May 16, 2015
    9
    Don't fix what is not broken. Guys from stardock kept that in mind and gave us remake of old hit, upgraded in a good way. If you played previous galactic civilization (and if you didn't, you should have cause it's legendary game) you will be right at home here, but you will see little improvements almost in every aspect of the game. Of course there are some technical issues still,Don't fix what is not broken. Guys from stardock kept that in mind and gave us remake of old hit, upgraded in a good way. If you played previous galactic civilization (and if you didn't, you should have cause it's legendary game) you will be right at home here, but you will see little improvements almost in every aspect of the game. Of course there are some technical issues still, unfortunately I don't expect the games of today to come out as 100% finished product. But these are minor things like loading saved game for 1-2 mins on high end rig. What is important is that this game is still fun to play, the "one more turn" syndrome is back and I like it :)… Expand
  41. TJvance87
    May 14, 2015
    10
    I haven't delved too far into this game, but I have experienced nothing but amazing things in this game. Massive play space and a huge multiplayer atmosphere. The visuals are greater than I ever expected. BUY THIS GAME!
  42. Fate001
    May 15, 2015
    10
    This game is almost everything that you want it to be as Gal Civ 2's successor. It feels just like playing a refined, polished version of GC2 and it's expansions with amazing, almost instantaneous turn times (tested up to large map size late game) - forget your Civ V sit around thinking about your next move for a few seconds in the late game sort of turn times!

    GC3 vanilla is coming    This game is almost everything that you want it to be as Gal Civ 2's successor. It feels just like playing a refined, polished version of GC2 and it's expansions with amazing, almost instantaneous turn times (tested up to large map size late game) - forget your Civ V sit around thinking about your next move for a few seconds in the late game sort of turn times!

    GC3 vanilla is coming with unique race tech tree's, custom races, exotic planets, animated ship components and map sizes that are six times bigger than GC2's biggest - the only notable things left out are Terror stars and espionage. When you think that Stardock has announced intentions to push at least two expansion's - possibly three - as well as various DLC packages just think about where this game might go!

    I've had a great time playing so far, and will continue to into the future!    … Expand
  43. Amigian
    May 25, 2015
    9
    Stardock, you just gotta' love em' eh? You buy one of their desktop tarting suites and the license only lasts a year and then you have to buy it all over again...pretty crap service if you ask me. What can I say about Galactic Civilizations 3? Well, maybe, just a very slim outside chance, you might probably maybe prefer playing Serious Sam 3...head over to Steam and treat yourself!
  44. omi
    May 18, 2015
    8
    It is pretty nice sequel. But far from what I was hoping to be in there. war is certainly the only option in game with any race. The diplomacy is yet again undermined. There is no experience gain for the ships, no governors or ship captains either. There is no rpg element in game. you feel forced to choose only 1 ideology during game due to increasing benefits, so mini RPG choices given toIt is pretty nice sequel. But far from what I was hoping to be in there. war is certainly the only option in game with any race. The diplomacy is yet again undermined. There is no experience gain for the ships, no governors or ship captains either. There is no rpg element in game. you feel forced to choose only 1 ideology during game due to increasing benefits, so mini RPG choices given to you is usually automatic one of 1,2,or 3 choice all the time without looking at what it is. No control in war other than rock-paper-scissor dynamic. AI is very weak.… Expand
  45. metaraf
    May 19, 2015
    10
    Game is awesome in terms gameplay and fun, i've played SM Civilization series from 1to5 and BE too for few thousands hours, and i must say that gameplay in GalCiv3 is much much better designed than SM Civilization V, becouse you have more ways to play this game.
    Another pros:
    + good oprimization game works fine on i5 + intel hd4600 (it crushes sometimes but this is not that big issue    Game is awesome in terms gameplay and fun, i've played SM Civilization series from 1to5 and BE too for few thousands hours, and i must say that gameplay in GalCiv3 is much much better designed than SM Civilization V, becouse you have more ways to play this game.
    Another pros:
    + good oprimization game works fine on i5 + intel hd4600 (it crushes sometimes but this is not that big issue just set autosave every2 turns)
    +great space climate
    Cons:
    -Game still needs polish eg: science officer looks similar in most races
    -Sometimes crushes
    -Only 8 major factions
    -you need at least 8GB ram (especially when you use intel HD grapphics),    … Expand
  46. Larsenex
    Jun 1, 2015
    10
    As a fan of Gal Civ II, I must say this game is all of the previous game and so much more! The game has IMMENSE maps, custom factions, a superb ship designer, large research trees, and excellent diplomacy!

    The game plays best on a rig at least 2 years old or younger and 6+ gigs of ram. I have not had any crashes or stuttering since release and many of my friends report the same. Make    As a fan of Gal Civ II, I must say this game is all of the previous game and so much more! The game has IMMENSE maps, custom factions, a superb ship designer, large research trees, and excellent diplomacy!

    The game plays best on a rig at least 2 years old or younger and 6+ gigs of ram. I have not had any crashes or stuttering since release and many of my friends report the same. Make sure you have a 64 bit OS.
    The ai is great and only continues to get better. Stardock has an excellent reputation for updating their games and they have done so with Gal Civ III. Simply put the Ai in this game is perhaps the best Ai ever released in a 4x game (to date). It will threaten you, it will attack you, it will use diplomacy to get you to fight its wars. Fun stuff!
    The view of the ships and the galaxy are stunning. Graphically at first you recognize Gal Civ II then while playing you realize ..."This is a beautiful game"
    If you like 4x games and you liked Gal Civ II this game is definitely what you are looking for!    … Expand
  47. Ogbek
    Sep 27, 2015
    0
    Doesn't support steamos despite being a recent game. That alone means I won't buy it.

    It's basically just a retread of Galciv II with better graphics -- no bad thing, but certainly not compelling enough to buy a game that won't play on a steam machine.
  48. lsc9x
    Jun 9, 2015
    9
    In my humble opinion, GC3 is a great 4x game and a definite and huge improvement on GC2. I found GC2 to be deep, but the interface was sort of clumsy and the maps weren't as big as I would have liked. This is, after all, outer space! But GC3 scraps the old interface in favor of one that is far more streamlined and easy to figure out. It didn't take me long to jump right into the gameIn my humble opinion, GC3 is a great 4x game and a definite and huge improvement on GC2. I found GC2 to be deep, but the interface was sort of clumsy and the maps weren't as big as I would have liked. This is, after all, outer space! But GC3 scraps the old interface in favor of one that is far more streamlined and easy to figure out. It didn't take me long to jump right into the game and get going with confidence that I knew what I was doing.

    But just because the game is more straight forward doesn't mean that it has lost a lot of depth. Sure, some things may be missing, but I wouldn't know what they were because I gave up playing GC2 because of it's complexity. GC3 doesn't suffer from that problem and it's really a joy to play!

    I can't say I understand the research process completely, that will take some studying, but the trees are deep.

    Also, ship customization and race customization are both there in full force! But you aren't forced to do any of that if you don't want to.

    Overall, I think they did a great job on this game, and after a few hours a playing, I can't put the thing down! That's always a sign of a solid 4x game. Enjoy!    … Expand
  49. TheDancingJesus
    Jun 2, 2015
    9
    Loving this game. It's not perfect, but I already have tens of hours sunk into it during a very busy month. I think it's a pretty good entry point for someone new to the series or genre, and has the level of detail and replayability for long time veterans to really sink their teeth into.

    Highlights: * Customization - ships, races, planets - the level of customization drew me more into    Loving this game. It's not perfect, but I already have tens of hours sunk into it during a very busy month. I think it's a pretty good entry point for someone new to the series or genre, and has the level of detail and replayability for long time veterans to really sink their teeth into.

    Highlights:
    * Customization - ships, races, planets - the level of customization drew me more into the stories I was creating in sandbox mode. Decent mod support will really help this shine once the community gets going. The
    * Good support - There's already been a couple of patches fixing some basic problems.
    * Performance - I know this has varied for a handful of people, but on a moderate rig and quite large maps, I don't get stutter, and the AI turns process incredibly quickly. None of the late-game lag waiting for the computer that you get with Civ/AoW/EL.

    It loses a point for a few (fixable) things:
    * The battle viewer is a bit janky. One patch fixed the camera issues, but the movement of the ships (mostly spinning in a narrow area) is strange.
    * Some missing systems like espionage as compared to GalCiv2, or most other 4x games. I've heard a rumor this will be added in a patch/expansion/DLC, but it remains to be seen what that'll cost, and if there's enough content to justify it.    … Expand
  50. Infarktbear
    May 12, 2018
    10
    Großartiges Spiel - empfehle aber, den Expansion Pack Crusade zu kaufen. Intrigue ist nicht nötig.
  51. Critical_Fun
    Mar 27, 2017
    5
    Long time Civilization fan and huge space nerd. Both of which are easier for me to figure out than this game. Starts out very fun but I eventually always go broke, even on easy. Maybe I'm just dumb. Never had that problem with Gal Civ 2. It's a shame because other than always going broke, it's a nice concept. Ship building a fun and unique for a large scale strategy game. I justLong time Civilization fan and huge space nerd. Both of which are easier for me to figure out than this game. Starts out very fun but I eventually always go broke, even on easy. Maybe I'm just dumb. Never had that problem with Gal Civ 2. It's a shame because other than always going broke, it's a nice concept. Ship building a fun and unique for a large scale strategy game. I just couldn't afford any late game no matter how much I invested in commerce.… Expand
  52. demondred79
    Feb 23, 2017
    5
    It's hard to put 50+ hours into a game and then give it a thumbs down.
    I've had some good times with the game but mostly it's been either a game that was so trivial to beat the AI (early patches), or maddening ones (patch 2.0).....all while playing normal difficulty. I'm glad the devs are constantly improving and evolving the game but I think it has a critical flaw in that it has simply    It's hard to put 50+ hours into a game and then give it a thumbs down.
    I've had some good times with the game but mostly it's been either a game that was so trivial to beat the AI (early patches), or maddening ones (patch 2.0).....all while playing normal difficulty. I'm glad the devs are constantly improving and evolving the game but I think it has a critical flaw in that it has simply too broad of a surface area on ways to play it, which can easily run the casual gamer into the ground...repeatedly. Ultimately it comes down to a "secret sauce" formula, as seen on countless fan sites, where you are going to lose unless you get a certain minimum amount of objectives done in the first 20 to 100 turns or else you're destined to lose. In other words, the whole game is made in the first series of turns....and the rest is simply a process of going through the motions.

    I've played Civ1 through 5, GalCiv2, Elemental, FE, etc.....and damn do I REALLY want to love galciv3 but it's just too screwy of a game that seems to be angling more for hardcore players. I think the game needs to be focused a bit more starting with the overwhelming state of the research tree. Yep, i'm sure that's controversial but it's WAY too broad. As a player I get sick of clicking through 4 trees (sorry but it needs to be 3) and having 12+ different choices that only (for the most part) very incrementally change the game. Research alone forces a player to micromanage, when that's a turn off for a LOT of people.

    I could talk forever and give example after example but it's just not worth my time. GalCiv4 will need to start from scratch if it wants to win me and others back. By and large it was too similar to GC2 to start with....but made worse by minutia and formulaic measures in order to win.    … Expand
  53. vezon
    May 27, 2015
    6
    Disappointing.
    The good part is that it retains most of its predecessor + strategic resources.
    The worst part is the dumb pacifist AI. I was playing me and myself. No wonder the AI gets huge bonuses on higher difficulty. I tried a game on tough. Within 25 turns I managed to colonize 3 planets and 3 colony ship where on route, when through out diplomacy I made a peak in the 1st contacted    Disappointing.
    The good part is that it retains most of its predecessor + strategic resources.
    The worst part is the dumb pacifist AI. I was playing me and myself. No wonder the AI gets huge bonuses on higher difficulty. I tried a game on tough. Within 25 turns I managed to colonize 3 planets and 3 colony ship where on route, when through out diplomacy I made a peak in the 1st contacted AI. He got 5 colonies plus 15+ colonyships and more than 5000 credits (this feat I could not achieve with 10-20% bonuses). Some turns afterwards I contacted the 2nd one, and looking at powers I had 40, 1st AI 90, and the 2nd 190. Ok so I quit and tried another on challenging with Huge galaxy(which is in teh middle) and everybody. I discovered more than half the technologies and no AI has any decent army. I'm fighting more than 70+ turns only constructors. Because oh god they build plenty of that. But even looking how they develop planets its omg. I think a 8year old would manage much better.
    Beside that there is no good macro controls. Ships list is one mess, fleet list doesn't even exist. Planets development are tedious, as I sad the AI does a really poor job.
    I will shelve this one and wait for the expansion.    … Expand
  54. santiagopm88
    Jul 12, 2015
    1
    God awful. Such a disappointment.

    The campaign has 3 (!) scenarios, I was done with them in no time. The story was barely getting started when it ended abruptly. The AI was atrocious, it did not capture a single one of my worlds, mount a coherent offensive (it didn't even try). On top of that the interface is missing really obvious features common to all such games (can't see a list of    God awful. Such a disappointment.

    The campaign has 3 (!) scenarios, I was done with them in no time. The story was barely getting started when it ended abruptly. The AI was atrocious, it did not capture a single one of my worlds, mount a coherent offensive (it didn't even try). On top of that the interface is missing really obvious features common to all such games (can't see a list of fleets, only individual ships? Can't quick save?) and is extremely buggy. Do yourself a favor, hold unto your good memories of this franchise and skip this instalment    … Expand
  55. ihatecoc
    Nov 1, 2015
    5
    Crash happy game, full of missing things like fonts, saved files that vanish in thin air, ship designs never saving, crashing or extreme lag, even fleets without ship icons (looks like your flying black nothingness inside your fleet logistical box) Some things I like but hey its so cool when your fleet flies off the map into nothingness while battling the opponent. What? Wait forCrash happy game, full of missing things like fonts, saved files that vanish in thin air, ship designs never saving, crashing or extreme lag, even fleets without ship icons (looks like your flying black nothingness inside your fleet logistical box) Some things I like but hey its so cool when your fleet flies off the map into nothingness while battling the opponent. What? Wait for bargain bin on this one...… Expand
  56. Pyro59
    Oct 8, 2015
    6
    I can’t recommend this game at its current $50 price. While the game has massive potential, there are too many issues with the game at present:

    There's a lot of micromanagement of planets. You need to adjust the slider for research, social manufacturing and income. Then there's a separate slider for social and military manufacturing, because buildings and military units have separate    I can’t recommend this game at its current $50 price. While the game has massive potential, there are too many issues with the game at present:

    There's a lot of micromanagement of planets. You need to adjust the slider for research, social manufacturing and income. Then there's a separate slider for social and military manufacturing, because buildings and military units have separate production queues. You're going to need to adjust the sliders for each planet constantly to make production and research more efficient for each building, military unit and research technology. Production times are quite low, and you're going to have a lot of planets, so a good portion of each turn is spent on this.

    Galactic Civ 3 has limited documentation in game which doesn't provide much information about how the mechanics work. The tutorial only touches on the most basic concepts. You're going to spend a lot of time alt-tabbing to look up game concepts in your browser. The documentation in game that does exist describes your research technologies and ideology options. However, while the game mechanics have been updated in patches, the text in game often isn't updated to match the changes. Many of the tool tips describing research technology don't fully match the actual gameplay effects.

    Diplomacy is pretty broken at present. Some research technologies give you an option of specialization. You can only pick one choice per technology. Some of the choices are seriously unbalanced. For example, you might have a choice between 10% extra research or a 10% reduction in the maintenance of research labs. Research labs only cost about 1credit per turn to maintain, so the maintenance reduction is a negligible bonus. Since you're stuck with your choice for the rest of the game, it's a clear choice in favor of the research increase. But here's the kicker, if another civilization likes you they will occasionally give you techs. Like what happened to me, when they gave me the 10% maintenance reduction specialization. There is no way to decline the "gift" so I was stuck with this and 10% less research for the rest of the game. There is also an issue with tech trading where civilizations can trade tech when they don’t have the prerequisite for it. Imagine having a game of Civilization where you can give another civilization “flight” when they haven’t discovered “the wheel”. Apart from the obvious lack of realism, it makes tech trading unnecessarily confusing due to the sheer number of techs that show up to trade. You shouldn't be able to give a civilization a tech unless they have the prerequisite first. Because of these flaws with diplomacy, you're better off disabling diplomacy options like tech trading, random events and the “United Planets” when you setup your game.

    There is a lot of use "good and "evil" concepts. For example, your ideology stretches the range from "benevolent" to "malevolent". Basically, you decide whether your civilization is "good" or "evil". Several of the alien races are "evil" while others are "good". Malevolent civilizations don't hide the fact they are "evil" and seem proud of it. It’s not a gameplay issue, but I feel the story deserved a bit more depth than simply painting various alien races as good guys or bad guys. It’s like something off Fox News or CNN.

    Overall, I'd say this is an OK game, but Endless Legend, Civilization 4 & 5 are better. I can only recommend it if you're already bored of these other 4X games. If you've played all the good 4X games and have time on your hands then it’s worth a look. Its lack of polish means it’s not worth its $50 price tag. The developers do update this game so it will improve over time, and the game definitely has huge potential. Give it another 6 months of patching or try to pick it up on sale for $30 or less.    … Expand
  57. Wiebe
    Feb 26, 2020
    5
    Dumber version of the original, that felt less engaging, less interesting and less complex.
  58. MaxWar
    Nov 4, 2015
    8
    One of Stardock's biggest flaw is about releasing half finished games. One of their greatest quality is that they keep working on them until they turn out great in the longer run.

    For this reason when you look at reviews of GalCiv III, always look for recent reviews. Reviews from 6 months ago will not represent the game well. When the game was just released I did not like it very    One of Stardock's biggest flaw is about releasing half finished games. One of their greatest quality is that they keep working on them until they turn out great in the longer run.

    For this reason when you look at reviews of GalCiv III, always look for recent reviews. Reviews from 6 months ago will not represent the game well.

    When the game was just released I did not like it very much. It still felt like a beta. I came back to it periodically to find it substantially improved each time. They have now just released patch 1.4 and I started a new game. For the first time I think I can say I am truly enjoying the game.

    For me the game is stable, never crashes and does not glitch. Some users commented they had problems. On my intel i5 + windows 7 64bit machine it works great.

    At this point the AI has had a major overhaul and puts up a nice challenge. This was the main thing that prevented me from enjoying the game in my previous attempts. The two main areas that still need to be worked on are diplomacy and invasion mechanics. Stardock is scheduled to address these areas in upcoming patches. I give it 8/10 because it is already a good 4X. Should get even better.    … Expand
  59. ComandanteCobra
    Jul 23, 2021
    7
    It was free on Epic, so I've tried it...Thanks EPIC!!.
    Classic turn based sci-fi game that hook you to play "just one more turn" until very late in the night.
    Lots of races (Star control aliens too with DLC), lots of ships customization, good visual for an old game.....but it suffer form a little of repetitivness and slow micromanagment (late game). Games (random map and not campaign)    It was free on Epic, so I've tried it...Thanks EPIC!!.
    Classic turn based sci-fi game that hook you to play "just one more turn" until very late in the night.
    Lots of races (Star control aliens too with DLC), lots of ships customization, good visual for an old game.....but it suffer form a little of repetitivness and slow micromanagment (late game).
    Games (random map and not campaign) tends to be fun at the beginning and less enjoiable when you have played for many turns.
    Late game phases...when you have to defeat last opponents are slow and with lots of grinding.
    You'll have to manage lots of planets - colony - ships -science-money-resources and so on...at a slow pace (combat preparation is a little slow, especially resource gathering late game)    … Expand
  60. andre_rossel
    Sep 3, 2021
    10
    A TRUE MASTERPIECE BUT FALL SHORT TO BE A LEGENDARY.

    This is a great game, not good; great, the tech tree has so much love just as the races and their playstyles and personalities, it has the best diplomacy system i ever seen. The AI in general is super responsive to your movements. And balancing economy, military and research can be a real challenge. Ideologies are also fun and ads to    A TRUE MASTERPIECE BUT FALL SHORT TO BE A LEGENDARY.

    This is a great game, not good; great, the tech tree has so much love just as the races and their playstyles and personalities, it has the best diplomacy system i ever seen. The AI in general is super responsive to your movements. And balancing economy, military and research can be a real challenge. Ideologies are also fun and ads to the game balancing between been consistent and do what its best.

    2 things stops this one from complete greatness. First the campaing its crap. Its crap because its too small scale and short to reflect the needs of a game made for civs developing over time on big maps.
    The second it has a meta. One power Ancient its totally broke OP, beats all other by far also missiles with miniaturization beats absolutely anything, just stack power, speed and other mod on small hull to total supremacy. I beat on gifted by research without barely even making contact with other civs. investigated entire tech lines on one turn.    … Expand
  61. apokalipto
    Aug 19, 2023
    9
    Very good game. I enjoyed playing this game a lot. I strongly recommend this.
  62. Istio
    May 13, 2022
    7
    good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good
  63. Keron_Heruman
    Aug 23, 2023
    7
    Solid game, very fun in the early with interesting options with the ship creator. It becomes little repetitive in the mid game and boring in the late game.

Awards & Rankings

53
#53 Best PC Game of 2015
51
#51 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
80
#80 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. GamesBeat
    Apr 29, 2016
    87
    Galactic Civilizations III is a great 4X space strategy game, one that will keep you pushing for one more turn late into the night. If you’re looking for a terrific multiplayer experience, GalCiv III won’t scratch that itch, and some parts of its core pacing stumble. But the combination of depth, ease of gameplay, and a sometimes-funny, snarky aesthetic, make GalCiv III a delight to play.
    Read full review
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 3, 2016
    80
    Galactic Civilizations 3 is too much work and too little game. [Jan 2016]
  3. Games.cz
    Oct 12, 2015
    80
    The universe of Galactic Civilizations III is so great - gigantic environment, generous editor and ever-improving game balance is hopefully a good apology to fans disappointed that new installment doesn’t change anything.
    Read full review
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