The galaxy is held together by a system of stargates that allow travel from one civilization to another.  As we are humans, we’ve found improvements to be made.  The invention of the hyperdrive has begun the unrestricted exploration of the galaxy.  Now other civilizations are rushing for the same solar systems you are.  You’ll need to find the right balance of industry, military, diplomacy, and trade depending on how you want to try to win.

Much like other turn based civilization games, there are many different ways to win.  You start your strategy by selecting your political party.  Federalists, Pacifists, War Party, Progressive, Mercantile, Populists, Technologists, Industrialists, or Universalists are your options.  You’ll find that choices beginning here and throughout the game will give advantages toward your chosen strategy.  It is important to stick with your strategy from beginning to end.

The game gives you a lot of information for decision-making.  You’ll need to watch your graphs for population, military might (especially if you are in a war), economy, technology, and manufacturing.  It will show you how you compare to other civilizations.  This is a good way to make sure you are on course with your strategy.  There’s also a United Planets, where galactic decisions are made for everything from an Olympics to how far Constructors can move every turn.  Here you can gain special advantages depending on your diplomatic influence.

Gaining these advantages is the difference between winning and losing.  Using Survey ships to explore anomalies, Constructors to build star bases to exploit galactic resources, and Transport ships to capture new systems to increase population will give you the extra points you need to become stronger than the enemy.  Use diplomacy and treaties to corner an aggressive civilization that is posing problems to your strategy to win. 

Sometimes war is best, so you can destroy star bases and capture resources, but beware; it takes a lot of time or money to build an armada of ships.  This is where it helps to have more star systems than others because each planet can build one military and one social project at a time.  Depending on past improvements, projects can take from a couple to an excess of 100 turns.  You can speed up the process through financing with various manufacturers, but this can put a drag on your economy to the point that it will be difficult to keep up with other civilization’s progress.  They’ll eventually outpace you.  Galactic Civilization’s power lies in the dynamic strategy and AI of the computer players, and how you deal with that will lead to your triumph or your grave.

Gameplay: 8
We’ve seen this concept explored before.  I think they have some good strategies within the overall setup, but it’s not quite the Sid Meier of the galaxy.  I will say that while conquering the galaxy, you really do have to utilize diplomacy skills and cultural influence, and it is in this way that it rivals the likes of its predecessors.

Graphics: 7.5
While the alien races you come in contact with are interesting to look at, and the military and social projects have some good animations, you never really see them in action.  After all, it is just a civilization game, where the real focus is and should be on the strategy.

Sound: 7
Rather basic sound effects.  I did like some of the eerie music that represented some of the races, but other than that, turn it down and play a CD.

Difficulty: Hard
The AI of the computer players is good, maybe too good.  It takes a long time or a lot of money to complete projects, and this makes planning attacks or defenses long and tedious.

Concept: 8 
A nice little twist about star gates and hyperdrive technology, and they really do a nice job of allowing you to expand your weapons and technology throughout the game which can make for strategic advantages to attack or defend.

Multiplayer: N/A
They allow you to post your best scores online to compare to others.  They call it the Metaverse.

Overall: 7.5
If you are a serious strategy nut, then try and beat this AI.  It seems that they spent most of their energies on that, and it paid off.  I’ve always enjoyed the “building up” aspect of civilization games, and there is plenty to build and enhance your planets, and then there are plenty of ships too.