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.
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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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