The History Channel: Civil War - A Nation Divided

 PC
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 41 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 41
  3. Negative: 14 out of 41
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  1. PhilA.
    Nov 21, 2006
    9
    I think this game is great. I was actually expecting it to be worse since I bought it for a bargain ($30) when it just came out. I was pleasantly surprised. The graphics were really good even on my geforce 6600. The game greatly reminded me of Call of Duty 2, which is not a bad thing. The weapons are very nice (and realistic) and the presentation is excellent. I was hoping for a great I think this game is great. I was actually expecting it to be worse since I bought it for a bargain ($30) when it just came out. I was pleasantly surprised. The graphics were really good even on my geforce 6600. The game greatly reminded me of Call of Duty 2, which is not a bad thing. The weapons are very nice (and realistic) and the presentation is excellent. I was hoping for a great civil war game, and this lives up to my expectations. I hope people buy this game instead of looking at the fact that it was made by the History Channel (and activision by the way, hence the Call of duty 2 likeness) and walk away thinking this is a cheap waste of time. It actually is a great game and worth picking up (especially for the price).… Expand
  2. ChrisH.
    Nov 18, 2006
    10
    Great game, can't put down the controller. Very well done. If you don't buy definitely rent it.
  3. 3do
    Jan 22, 2007
    7
    This is realy good game, it's like Call of Duty but in time of American Civil war. Quite good.
  4. KeithK.
    Jan 24, 2007
    6
    Ok game for value software, however I could only play this game in windowed mode. Activision has yet to come up with a patch for some Nvidia cards...unacceptable. Graphics were OK but AI was not up to the standards of Call of Duty or MOH. Very linear game play, with too few missions. It could have been a winner, Cauldron dropped the ball on this one. Get it used or in the bargain bin.
  5. TuckA.
    Mar 25, 2007
    9
    GA is crazy. I loved this game. It's about time someone made a Civil War 1st-person shooter. GA said the people don't change. They do! The only reason I didn't give it a 10 was that I like really authentic games and not many real soldiers had Henry's and Colt rifles (but it is good to have them vs. muskets!). Awesome game!
  6. JohnL.
    Mar 30, 2007
    2
    Civil War on crack! This game is total chaos! Every few feet around you is exploding like mortars and bombs are going off everwhere constantly and it never stops! So unrealistic. This game is also extremely linear. There are invisible walls everywhere that keep you headed down a very narrow path so that the very scripted events can happen. You also have to disable your antialiasing if you Civil War on crack! This game is total chaos! Every few feet around you is exploding like mortars and bombs are going off everwhere constantly and it never stops! So unrealistic. This game is also extremely linear. There are invisible walls everywhere that keep you headed down a very narrow path so that the very scripted events can happen. You also have to disable your antialiasing if you force it on your video card, unless you like huge squares on the screen while playing. I also know how all the soldiers died now in the civil war..... from freakin' reloading!!! At first the very long gun reloading times are ok, but they quickly get tiresome later on. I completed many levels simply by grabbing my knife and hacking the other soldiers away while they fumbled with their rifles to reload. This game is a budget title at a not so budget beginning price. Not a keeper in my opinion.… Expand
  7. JonathanM.
    Apr 21, 2007
    5
    It's Call of Duty: The Civil War in terms of gameplay and style, but it's not quite as exciting. The game has its fair share of bugs and issues. The first of these that comes to mind is that the AI has psychic-level perception (and accuracy on par with that). It does not matter how well you think you have hidden yourself or how much you maneuver; they will "see" you, track you, It's Call of Duty: The Civil War in terms of gameplay and style, but it's not quite as exciting. The game has its fair share of bugs and issues. The first of these that comes to mind is that the AI has psychic-level perception (and accuracy on par with that). It does not matter how well you think you have hidden yourself or how much you maneuver; they will "see" you, track you, and hit you accordingly. It's a little easier to understand why that is if you happen to disable the undergrowth in the video options menu. You will notice that A LOT of clutter is removed: the very same clutter you were using to hide from your enemies. Yeah, while you foolishly used that "thicket" for cover, the AI had achieved a level of Matrix-like enlightenment bringing them to the conclusion that "there is no thicket." *BANG* *BANG* And you get peppered with bullets from enemies who remain unseen until you make that little trip to the options menu. Of course, stealth is much more possible in pre-determined *stealth missions,* where a man could crouch, in something FAR from the black of night, 15 feet from a pair of sentries, stab another sentry (who manages a conspicuous shot in self-defense), and continue on without further incident. Even when you do get "peppered," as mentioned above, every character the player controls possesses a comic-book-hero caliber constitution that positively dwarfs the one-shot-one-kill lifespan of his fellow combatants, allowing him to continue his role as a one-man army without much incident. And claims to historical accuracy are just ridiculous. Every other soldier has a repeating rifle! Of course, that's necessary if you want to maintain the CoD feel of the game: it wouldn't be very exciting if everyone came equipped with one-shot muskets. Then you'd have to throw away the specops/modern warfare style gameplay (sneak behind enemy lines, destroy artillery, sabotage supply depot, find commander, sneak behind enemy lines, destroy artillery... you know). Outside of that, the game lacks the "epic" feel you think a Civil War game should have. You never find yourself as part of some grand infantry column of hundreds or thousands of soldiers or on some open-ended battlefield with bloody mayhem around every farmhouse or copse of trees. Instead, you're stuck in fairly small, wholly linear *levels* (NOT history book battlefields, just ordinary FPS levels that happen to have a Civil War theme) with at most 20 or 30 guys fighting, dieing, and respawning around you until you get tired of watching it and decide to move on to the next disappointingly small and obviously scripted area where the same thing is going to happen again. There's some other stuff I could say about it on the negative side, but I think that's enough. Was it fun *at all*? Yeah, for a CoD clone it was, but only for several hours. If you just HAVE to see what a History Channel FPS looks like right this minute, buy it. I'll admit the Civil War twist was sort of cool, but I say don't buy it for more than about $14.99 (really more like $9.99).… Expand
  8. RoryR.
    May 17, 2007
    8
    About time someone made a civil war first person shooter. I rate it high just because of its uniquenes and attention to detail.
  9. BobS.
    Nov 13, 2006
    10
    This game is extremely well done for being the first Civil War game that is first-person. Buy IT!
  10. HWJ.
    Nov 18, 2006
    10
    Very good game for the first. Could use some slight improvments but over all well done hope for more in the future.
  11. TJ
    Nov 22, 2006
    1
    My system exceeds all requirements, but there is no video at all. Activision value support is no help. How are people able to even play this game, much less rate it?
  12. GA
    Nov 26, 2006
    2
    I'll start with the positives. This game had a nice idea. I repeat, had. The AI sucks, The characters all share two faces, It's either one shot or three to kill all enemies, the game crashes repeatedly and refuses to save games. My computer far exceeds the recommended specifications and it still crashes. Also, for being one of Americas most bloody wars, there is absolutely not a I'll start with the positives. This game had a nice idea. I repeat, had. The AI sucks, The characters all share two faces, It's either one shot or three to kill all enemies, the game crashes repeatedly and refuses to save games. My computer far exceeds the recommended specifications and it still crashes. Also, for being one of Americas most bloody wars, there is absolutely not a drop in this game. As long as you stay in the crouched position, you can easily snipe all you enemies as they stand right beside the downed soldier in which you just shot. I can't state how ripped-off I feel after paying $29.99 for this piece of garbage that even pales to the likes of much older FPS such as WWII Normandy. I should have waited until the game was at the local Big Lots for $5.99, then I wouldn't feel half as taken. I cannot stress enough what a complete rush job this game obviously was for the crew at Activision. In knowing their disrespect to the fans of their games, one of which i have always been, I no longer will purchase any of their software after this fiasco called History Channel Civil War: A Nation Divided. The only reason I gave it a 2 was because of the excellent weapons and maybe one decent level, that is to say if you don't mind the same repetition in every facet of the game...(e.g. oh I shot that guy once, so I know I must shoot this guy 3 times, and the next once and so on etc.) Hopefully Ubisoft gets on the Civil War bandwagon and makes a real playable game. As for me, Activision ripped me off and I want my money back.… Expand
  13. [Anonymous]
    Nov 26, 2006
    10
    This game is amazing and does a superb job of Civil War and a variety of weapons! 10 Stars
  14. MikeS.
    Jan 31, 2007
    7
    Good game, it has it's flaws but overall I enjoy it. Granted it's not as in depth as other first person shooters, but much better than any other civil war game as of yet.
  15. ThomasH.
    Mar 17, 2007
    5
    The game is kind of like call of duty. Instead of WWII it in the civil war. The down side of this game is that its not hard, just sort of to easy. when u shoot at someone its basically one shot one kill. In the game your get shot too many times. It just gets annoying. Also when you try to crouch around boxes you still get shot. I'd also recommend not to get this game for the pc. It The game is kind of like call of duty. Instead of WWII it in the civil war. The down side of this game is that its not hard, just sort of to easy. when u shoot at someone its basically one shot one kill. In the game your get shot too many times. It just gets annoying. Also when you try to crouch around boxes you still get shot. I'd also recommend not to get this game for the pc. It crashes every once and a while. I know its not my cp that caused that, its just problems with that game. I'd recommend to get this game only for the PS2 or Xbox 360.… Expand
  16. CivlWarBuff
    Feb 23, 2008
    9
    This game was great. there could of been more then 12 battles but all and all a great game. The guns are very realistic and fun to use. I also loved the bits of information about the battle in between them. The only reason I won't call it a 10 is because you can't realy explore the battle ground, like if you go the wrong way a cannon ball will fall on you and you die!
    But the    This game was great. there could of been more then 12 battles but all and all a great game. The guns are very realistic and fun to use. I also loved the bits of information about the battle in between them. The only reason I won't call it a 10 is because you can't realy explore the battle ground, like if you go the wrong way a cannon ball will fall on you and you die!
    But the rest makes up for it. The detail I great, each of the soldiers hase their own face. But they die too easily, even your guys. Your basicaly fighting alone, and if they don't die in battle, they just fall down and die. The rest makes up for that too. There is always fighting to do. My favorite is hand to hand fighting, it is realy fun. This game is a sit back and relax game that I beat in a day. If you buy this game you won't be diapointed.    … Expand
  17. Warmonger
    Nov 26, 2006
    9
    Great game... sort of a Call of Duty civil war, this game can be a real challenge, simply because you must not only use your rifle to shoot but in melee combat as well. More so in fact, than in the Call of Duty series, with it's numerous automatic weapons. Many of these old rifles had only one shot but the reloading process itself.... is something to behold! along with the time Great game... sort of a Call of Duty civil war, this game can be a real challenge, simply because you must not only use your rifle to shoot but in melee combat as well. More so in fact, than in the Call of Duty series, with it's numerous automatic weapons. Many of these old rifles had only one shot but the reloading process itself.... is something to behold! along with the time period, making This title, quite unique!... Activision has come a long way since Gods and Generals.… Expand

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Critic score distribution:
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  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. GameSpot
    53
    History Channel: Civil War is good for a few mindless hours of shooting action, but not much else. History buffs need not apply.
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