Civ II: Fantastic Worlds

2025-09-05
There was strong agreement between me and the other 7 year old in my neighborhood that played Civ 2 in 1998 that the Stealth Bomber was the coolest unit in the game. What could possibly be cooler than the most technologically advanced plane ever built? Fantastic Worlds handily answered that question: fucking dinosaurs.

And if you could possibly ask for anything more as a young child than taking over the world with a civilization of dinosaurs, more there was. Scenarios in the future, on ice worlds, a fantastical Midgard scenario, even a nod to XCOM. I mean just look at that fantastic, old-school cover art, it's got it all. And if somehow your raw imagination lent a desire yet unquenched by the bounty on offer, fear not, included was an entire map and unit editor. Replete with a pixel paint program to make and modify all the little sprites. Step aside, Kid Pix, we got real art to make. Cause I just thought of something cooler than dinosaurs: dinosaurs that are all black with red eyes. Fuck yeah!

???
So fucking cool. Customizable level and unit and tech editor. And then the included campaigns with like Midgard and DINOSUARS were so cool. Man I geeked out on the Dinosaurs campaign and trying to just figure out how the hell everything worked. It was so fascinating even though I had no idea what was going on. I'm sure I tried hacking around my own stuff and failed as well.