Features

• For PC running Windows 95,98,ME,NT,2000,XP
• Has ESRB rating E for Everyone

Amazon.com Product Description

Take on the role of an X-COM squad leader and plot your team member's moves and targets, or take command of an invading alien force trying to eradicate the human species forever. Plan each move with razorlike precision. Player 2 does not need the CD; he or she can download from the Internet. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Old game, but classic
Although XCom lacks the whiz-bang graphics of the latest games, it is one of the classic strategy/war games and in many ways still hasn't been equaled by anything that's come out since.Worth a try if you're intogameplay and strategy and don't need realtime 3-D graphics to satisfy yourgaming urge. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

If you are fascinated by the Civil War, you'll love The BattlegroundCollection 2, which includes four of developer Talonsoft's best Civil Wargames in one boxed set. Start with Battleground 2: Gettysburg, and if youever exhaust all its scenarios you can move on to Battleground 4: Shiloh,Battleground 5: Antietam, and Battleground 7: Bull Run.

Although all the games are turn based, they do a marvelous job of re-creatingthe flavor of Civil War combat. Turns play out in a series of phases, making thegame more realistic, and it's possible to arrange troops in several formations.In addition to re-creations of the historical battles, several "what if?"engagements have been thrown in for the historically curious.

The Battleground series is famous for its graphics, and these gamesshouldn't disappoint. Terrain is rendered with painstaking attention to detailfrom bucolic fields to stands of pine to cities complete with buildings andcrisscrossing streets.

Our only quibble with the package is that no printed manuals are included--onlysome printed reference cards. These are complex simulations, and beginners willhave a hard time understanding the ebb and flow of the game if they have torefer to an electronic manual all the time. On the bright side, one you'velearned the mechanics of one game you've basically learned them all. If theCivil War has any appeal to you at all, it's worth the effort. --T. ByrlBaker

Pros:

• Four fun games in one box
• Mix of historical and hypothetical scenarios
• Talonsoft has been actively supporting these games for years

• Newer games look better than the older titles in the collection
• Where are the printed manuals?

Reviews (3)

Civil War Battles recreated
easy to play and based on historical fact - just plain fun and well conceived

Could have been better
Personally I thought that this game could have been a lot better. The only thing that I thought was cool was the videos. You can't even tell the guys to move. Plus the video that they show at the begining of the game is just a tinny little square, most of the time it just gets messed up. If I were you I would get Sid Meier's Civil War Collection.

Four Battleground Civil War Games in One Package!
These award-winning games began coming out one at a time in theearly 90's, but are still simply the best Civil War games on themarket! Each game deals with a major battle on a regiment/battery level; Gettysburg, Shiloh, Antietam, and Bull Run (both 1st and 2nd). While this may appear daunting in scope, each game contains a number of scenarios, historical and hypothetical, of different size and balance, so you can start small. Shiloh also has scenarios for the smaller battles of Wilson's Creek and Prairie Grove, while Antietam has several scenarios dealing with the South Mountain battles. These are turn-based games with movement, defensive fire, offensive fire and melee phases. Scale is 125 yds/hex, which means rifles fire up to five hexes. Accompanying the game are period songs worth more than the price of the package itself! The graphics are still beautiful, and Talonsoft has patches that bring all games up to the latest level. It also has links to clubs that play these games by email, and to John Tiller's site for further optional upgrade. I paid well over $100 for these games over the years, and would do so again. These games aren't perfect recreations of the battles, but they are as close to it as I've ever seen. In fairness, though, I haven't played real-time games. ... Read more

Features

• This set has the original Tropico, along with Tropico - Paradise Island and a new set of scenarios
• Play the original Tropico, where you must build up the economy of your own little tropical island using any means necessary -- you can be a benevolent leader or a dangerous dictator!
• In Tropico - Paradise Island it's up to you to build up tourism in your beautiful island by building resorts, drawing in tourists and keeping them safe
• This game pack also includes a bonus set of scenarios to challenge your mastery of Tropico strategy

Amazon.com Product Description

Ares Rising is a space-combat simulation game that combines the action of space combat with strategic planning and a gripping plot. A branching story line allows you to chart various courses to success and to replay the game in many different ways. You take responsibility for making alliances, purchasing equipment, and ultimately tipping the balance of power. Ares Rising brings together the best strategy, combat, resource-allocation, and storytelling elements to enable a degree of player freedom rarely achieved in other games. ... Read more

Product Description

Texas Hold'em 3D XP Championship redefines the way "hold'em" should be played on your PC! Play in real 3D, choose from over 75 poker opponents, learn to play better poker, and much more! ... Read more

Product Description

Decide the fate of a nation and the destiny of the world with this historical WWII strategy game. As the world powers battle for supremacy in 1942, spearhead your country's military drive. Plan strategic bombing raids, sneak submarine attacks, hit-and-run ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Great WWII Game
I got to say first off that the graphics are pretty lame. It's mostly just like the board game only on computer. When I first started playing I couln't stop. It's a great strategy game! And if you do like strategy then this is a great game to get, and it won't put a hole in your wallet!

I give the game play(out of 1-5) 5
Graphics-2
fun-5

Great game to pass those rainy days! ... Read more

Product Description

Decide the fate of a nation and the destiny of the world with this historical WWII strategy game. As the world powers battle for supremacy in 1942, spearhead your country's military drive. Plan strategic bombing raids, sneak submarine attacks, hit-and-run ... Read more

Product Description

Go inside the mind of an international master. Includes thousands of interactive challenges featuring exclusive "video chalkboard" technology. It's both a complete teaching tool and a chess program. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Gamer
I learned to play chess with this program. I always wanted to play chess but didn't have anyone to teach it to me. I found the books too hard to understand (if you open any chess book and say "1.B b2-d4 r c8-c7, what is that?" then you know what I mean.) and boring. I happen to pick Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess at a nearby computer games store. It teaches you all the basics, from how each piece moves to important positions on the board, and Maurice Ashley breaks down the masters games from the past and picks their brain.
I saw a special on PBS two days ago on Maurice Ashley. He is the only African American Grand Master in the world. I told my sister, "Hey! That's the guy that taught me to play chess!"
After using this program, I'm at about 1600 on Yahoo Chess-some days higher and some days lower, but always around there. I think that's pretty good. I haven't used any other tutoring devices and never read a chess book.
Maurice Ashley really teaches you the strategies, how to spot opponent's traps, and how to set yourself up for the checkmate. I wish he had more tutorials out. If he had a book, I might pick that up, too.

Glowing endorsement for this product. If you want to learn how to play chess, pick it up. If you already know how to play, this isn't for you. There's only 10 masters games, which Maurice analyzes and I love watching it over and over, but I wish he added more.

... Read more

Product Description

Raise your chess game to a new level! Based on Fritz, the chess engine that defeated World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue. Features a 3-D chessboard that can be customized and much more! ... Read more

Product Description

Seven all time favorite classic strategy games that will be sure to entertain you! Includes: Jetris, Corners, Engineer, Mahjongg 3D, BallsDx, Horse Trap, and Gparket. ... Read more

Features

• Seven all-time favorite classic strategy games to entertain your brain
• Superb graphics in 3D Mahjong allows you to rotate the board in real-time
• ompete head-to-head or test your wits with the computer in Jetris or Corners.
• Twist your pipes to build the right connecting steam engine in The Engineer
• Also includes: BallsDx, Horse Trap, Gparket [Windows 98/Me/2000/XP]

Features

• 80 different buildings including sports arenas, cathedrals, airports, and more
• As the newly installed dictator of a Caribbean island, create a good life for your people
• Various internal and external political facets and activities; follow a socialist or capitalist path
• Build your population from a mere 35 to a bustling 500 unique individuals
• More than 45 different characters with up to 50 separate attributes for each

Reviews (6)

Addictive SIMS-style game with a salsa flavor
I really don't recall my first week owning the game - except that my people seemed to always oust me after about 20 years.Unfortunately, I am just too nice a guy - and it is difficult to build an economy, ensure proper housing, keep job satisfaction high, etc.So I kept trying, honing my strategies, trying different scenarios, and then building my own islands.I've had the game for several months now and I'm still hooked.I often think about strategies in my off time.But why is the game so appealing?

There is the fantasy aspect.As compared to the SIMS (a game I find boring), where things occur in suburbia, or at least a place readily familiar, tropical islands hold appeal for the average poor soul trapped in (my case) the midwestern U.S.Tropical islands are sexy, otherwise we wouldn't spend so much effort and money vacationing on them.The game does a good job setting up a tropical feel (the music, the scenery, the accent of the narrator/assistant.

There is the lure of power.The association of your dictator with Castro is intentional.Here is you chance to either become the dictator that you know him to be, or to make up for his sins and shortcomings.Of course, many of the aspects of game-play are configurable, therefore, one can determine which of these shortcomings you wish your dictator to possess.

The level of involvement.Dictators, whether benevolent or not, are involved in the day-to-day lives of their people.Here you can monitor conversations, political beliefs, happiness, etc.There is a lot of information at your disposal, though you must discern the useful from the useless.

The historical edge.As mentioned previously, the association with Castro seems intentional - after all, he is the most familiar dictator to many Americans.However, the game includes histories of several other dictators in its instructional pamphlet.Thus, you feel that you are learning something as you while away the hours.

Overall, I found the game entertaining, at the top of its genre.If you like SIMS-style games, I recommend that you give this one a whirl.

Addictive, inventive Sim
I prefer this type of game, as it's impossible to get stuck. I get frustrated with games where it becomes impossible to progress, either because of a glitch, or because some obstacle is basically impossible to pass, even with walkthroughs. This doesn't happen with Sims.

Tropico runs fine on my iBook G3 800 MHz with 640 MB, running Panther. I haven't had to adjust performance or anything.

The game sets you up as President of a small Carribean island, and you have to decide what to build, what to pay your workers, how much to embezzle, within a tight budget. There is a lot of complexity - more than in the Sims, for instance, and I am still exploring all the possible options, after a month of playing with the game. I haven't got into building TV stations, or imprisoning my enemies, for example, as I haven't had to fine tune to that extent.

Tropico is easy to learn, and there are three tutorial games included, which allow you to learn how some of the key parts of the game work. After that, you can either just run the sim as you want, or you can follow one of the 30 or so predefined challenges, where you have to build an airport, or embezzle a certain amount of money, or generate a particular level of tourist revenue, within a given time frame. These challenges are quite difficult, and require you to use all of the functions in the game.

I find it easy to get hooked on a game in the evening, and it's very hard to put the computer aside until I've run through a scenario. The good thing about Tropico is that there are varying levels, so relative novices can run through a game with no problems, but that doesn't mean you get bored, as there are plenty of features to explore at more challenging levels. Definitely a keeper!

If you like the Sims ... you will like Tropico :)
I was hesitant when buying this game because the graphics looked great, and I was not sure if my pc could handle them.Although my computer is pretty old, Tropico runs quickly and efficiently.I have never run out of new scenarios, and find something new every time I play this game.I would certainly reccomend this product, particularly at this low cost!

Fun game, horrible port
This game is fun and addictive. However its performance leaves much to be desired. I have a PowerBook G4 667MHz, 768MB of RAM, with a Radeon 7500 32MB VRAM video card, and this game slows to a crawl when the population of the islands goes above 150 individuals.

Its performance is just ridiculous. My computer's specs are way above the system requirements listed on the game's box, yet I can barely play the game most of the time! I have tried everything to boost the software's performance. I've turned off all of the fancy graphics features (I've even turned off display of trees and vegetation, ground textures, etc.). Just to see if the game would run any faster, I've even reinstalled OS 9 (I am running Panther right now) to run the it. Under OS 9, it does perform a little better, but not much. The game would run well for a bit, then it would freeze for a couple of minutes to do calculations before I can get on with the game again.

This is unfortunate, because I really like the game play, but its performance is just not acceptable.

With Tropico, You Rule!
Macsoft's port of PopTop's fabulous "Tropico: Mucho Macho Edition" is more game than you could imagine for such a low price.At under twenty dollars you get the original Tropico, plus the expansion pack Paradise Island.

Tropico puts you in charge of a Caribbean island circa 1950.Your job is to run your fledgling island nation - how you choose to do so is up to.Will you rule with an authoritative hand and build a strong army and policy force to squelch those Tropicans you dare speak against you?Will you fulfill the every need of your people or leave them wishing (or raging) for churches, schools, jobs, homes and entertainment?

The game is abundant with details, from the buildings to the people.In one easy click you can find out individual statistics on any Tropican, including age, family, job, home, likes, dislikes, education, and whether they will be voting for you in the next election.

You can play a free form game or choose one of the many scenarios included with the game.The scenarios, ranging from easy to ridiculously hard (and they mean it), will help to expand your horizons and push your limits, which will in turn enrich your free form game experience as your explore new goals.

My main gripe with this game is that it just plain won't run well enough to be worth the bother if you aren't running a system well past the requirements.It can run under both classic mode and OS X though I would advise booting into classic to run the game unless you have a top of the line machine. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Challenging gamers to create one of the greatest empires in history, the third installment of the Caesar city building series proves once again that sometimes it's more fun to build a better past than a better future.

You can open Caesar III's City Construction Kit and build a Roman city to your specification, or choose the Career Mode and face challenges assigned to you by Caesar himself. With success comes promotion and wealth, but failure will make you a feature on the lions' lunch menu. Increasing the game's lifespan is a particularly nice touch allowing you to choose either "peaceful" or "dangerous" assignments to match your mood or preferred play style.

As you build colonies on the roads that lead to Rome you must encourage immigration and keep citizens happy. More than just bread and circuses, you balance trade, industry, city planning and deity worship, all while keeping in Caesar's good graces and fending off barbarian hordes. A plethora of animated visual cues show your success, as plebians and patricians noisily bustle about in a rich and lively recreation of Roman times. The tutorial levels might be a little simple, but the solid manual and fantastic in-game help should keep aspiring megalomaniacs crying"vene, vidi, vici" for hours on end. --Jack Gardiner ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Caeser 3 is Awesome!
I think this game is the most fun game that I have ever played.
I suggest that you try playing this game, and if you enjoy it, buy it! I am going to buy this game immediatly. Thank you Amazon.com, this game is great!

This is my most favorite computer game ever!
This is a really fun game! I got it because I like Ancient civilizations and I thought that it would be fun to play a game based on Ancient Rome. I was not disappointed! I even learned about some gods I hadn't know of before, and the game was fun toboot. It starts out on something of a tutorial, were you are the governor of a city and to be promoted to a better city, you have to meet certain requirements, such as prosperity and peace ratings. Sometimes you are required to give Caesar an urgent shipment of olive oil or wine, and if you don't, he gets mad at you. The graphics for this game are fun and pretty good quality. The only problem with this game is that level 8 is almost impossible to pass, so I have never made it to the end of this game. But it is fun just to play anyway. All and all, I would recommend this game to anyone.

Do it entirely yourself.
The sim people here are as stupid as sim people everywhere and they'll complain no matter what you do.I find it best to set up a province myself and not play one of the pre-designed settings because they just don't seem to go as well. One of the coolest aspects of the game is the wolves -- I've done so well in cities before that I'll connect the mainland to other areas which has wolves and just watch the wolves attack.Its pretty funny and the little skeletons are cute.But human enemies attacking can be serious so be prepared!

the caesar 3 world
when playing caesar 3 you jump in to the life less gamewhich was areal eror in time. but when playing you forget about the world around youand lose track of what you are doing . i really wold give it * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * *

singned you fellow alian
hugamuga slauloseaterianmoogookoobookooloogoo
p.s do not disterb

All Roads Lead to Rome
This is a wonderful game. It is a ton of fun and you can set the level of difficulty. I only played the demo, so there must be even better stuff in the game. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Maxis' Sim line of games has sold more than 7 million copies over time. Ten years after releasing the original, they've returned to revamp the one that started it all. SimCity 3000, like its predecessors, can't be won or lost. You create and manage the best virtual city you can, using the colorful but simple interface. At worst you'll run out of money, but by listening to your advisers and patiently zoning, developing, and budgeting, you'll see your turn-of-the-century homes become millennial skyscrapers.

You can start with a fictional model, a randomly generated terrain, or a landscape based on a real geographic location. As you balance transit, commercial, and industrial needs (to name a few), place famous landmarks (like the Eiffel Tower), make deals with neighboring cities, and limit pollution, you'll be tempted to lose yourself in the incredibly fine detail. Zooming in shows the population strolling and traffic jamming, and the ambient soundscape completes the immersion. If you feel like you've seen it all, Maxis's Web site offers new maps and buildings as free downloads. Fair warning to prospective tenants: to experience SimCity 3000 in all its uptown splendor, you'll need to take the system requirements seriously. --Jack Gardiner ... Read more

Reviews (24)

Remake of sim city 2000
Although this game has better graphics than the original and sim city 2000 it is just the same old thing.A remake of a fun game with newer and better graphics.

One of the best
First of all let me say that I'm not a "gamer" so pardon me if I'm not up to par with lingo etc.

Now I'm free to say that this is probably one of the best games I've ever played. I'm a SimCity 2000 vet and was eagerly anticipating this one, and it's everything you want it to be. Enhanced features, better details, great interaction, it still has it's humerous edge (if you've played SimCity you know what I mean, it's a funny game), and the great music (honestly, we need a SimCity soundtrack ;), just kidding). Personally I love the enhanced terrain editing tool, the new cheats, building/facility selection, the graphics, the new (and somewhat amusing) characters, and the more up-to-date graphs and charts and advisors that let you know how your city is doing. It is missing some of the things that SimCity 2000 had like disasters (if you liked that stuff, they could be fun) and the arcologies, but they are replaced with a more user friendly interface, interesting scenarios and offers from neighbor cities and businessmen, a very fun gaming atmosphere, and a royal selection of great new features that make this superior to SimCity 2000 in my book, and up there as my personal favorite game.

Disappointing
It takes more than amazing graphics and extra features to make a great game.Case and point, SimCity 3000 and SimCity 2000.SimCity 3000 has far superior graphics than SimCity 2000.However, the gameplay is so slow (just barely acceptable on a 867G4 with 640MB of RAM) that the coolness factor of the graphics gets lost in frustration.SimCity 2000 had amazing performance even on classic Mac Performas.SimCity 3000 requires twice the minimal requirements, i.e, the fastest G4 at the time, if you expect to play the game at some modicum of speed.The extra features of SimCity 3000, though nice, are not extensive enough to warrant a whole new product rather than a simple patch.Nothing was done to the overall depth and gameplay of the game and much could have been done.It really saddens me that Maxis was bought out by Electronic Arts, a Mac-unfriendly software producer.This unfriendliness is evident in the look of many elements in the SimCity 3000 interface.For example, take a look at the Windows-like Open File interface.Electronic Arts is more friendly to Linux users than Mac users.Overall, this is a terrible, unoptimized port of SimCity 3000 for Windows to the Macintosh.Software MacKiev did a poor job.Definitely pales in quality to the Aspyr Media port of The Sims for Macintosh.Also, do not be surprised if this is the last SimCity game you will see for the Macintosh for a long time.

Fine, butSim City 2000 was much better
Sim City 3000, overall, wasn't a horrible game. Compare to some other "Sim" games, and it looks great (SimTower). However, compare it to Sim City 2000, and it stinks. The interface is slower, and less instinctive. The cartooniness also isn't great. The new ideas, such as lobbyists, deals, and garbage are good, but not enough. Changes in the electric system and others parts of 2000, while more realistic, make the game slightly less enjoyable. If given the choice however, choose the better gameplay of 2000 over this glitzy game.

Blah!
SimCity 2000 was far and away one of the most addicting games I had ever played.Well, when I heard that SimCity 3000 was coming out, I could not wait to see what kind of improvements they had made.Well, imagine my surprise when I had found that this great game series had actually taken a step back in terms of gameplay.The visuals in the new SimCity are fantastic though.I love being able to zoom on down to street level and see the people walking down the sidewalk and [stuff] piling up in people’s yards, but this does not make up for the lack of enjoyment I feel when I play this game.It seems like no matter what I do in this game, the industrial areas just continue to get filthy and look [bad].Perhaps this game really is more of a challenge than the original in that respect, but I’ll stick to the ease and fun of the original anyday! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

SouthPeak's Settlers 3 is the latest title in this popular series of simulation games. With Settlers 3, create your own civilization with strategic simulation of prosperity, tactics, combat, and growth. Control the full cycle of your civilization's evolution, from the initial planning and building of its infrastructure to the conflicts of power and domination. Before you start conquering your neighbors, however, you'll first need to create a sustainable economy from the interdependent activities of agriculture, industry, and trading. Settlers 3 also supports a multiplayer mode for more complex challenges. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Seltters 3 mission pack
i hav'nt played on it yet but if its any thing like the others then it will be brilleyent

The best game ever
Settlers3 is a very exciting game. You have to get everything alright. One foul can mean a stop to all the produces. Settlers3 is a replica of the real roman, egyptian en asians kingdoms. If you want some more information visite the website...

Settlers III
Frist played this game from a Demo, like the looks, played good,and lots of fun. Bought it have never been disappointed.Played it for hours on in, then couldn't wait for the next day to get here to play some more. It has been the best game I,ve ever own. They say you can not ware one of these CD's out. Well I'm here to tell I've wore this one out and would like buy another one

Fantastic
This is one of the best games I have ever played.Not only is this simulation at its best, this is a game that you feel complete control over. Your decisions determine every single outcome and determine how your society will live and survive.I played this game none stop for many hours of each day until I completed every possible scenerio.Perfect game for die-hard gamers.

the best stradegy game
this game is the best strategey game I ever played my friend has it and he let me barrow it for a few weeks. now that I know what that game is like Im buying it. I love how you must get food and supplys like real settlers, thegrapics are not the best but the fun factor makes up for it. this game isvery realilestic. buy it and see for your self. then build and conquer withyour own empire ... Read more

Reviews (23)

ULTIMATE BEST GAME!!
THIS GAME IS THE BEST GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED! It is GREAT for relieving stress and is just a reallyfun thing to do.

Halarious!
This game is great. Very funny, loads o' fun. In Worms 2, you command an army of worms in a turn-based, 2-d world. You have an array of odd weapons; exploding sheep, exploding cows, exploding old women, exploding bananas...ect. It is really great. plus, everything is custamizable. you can set each weapon's explosion level, how much ammo you get, how much time you get per turn.

A great party game.
One of the best games of it's type, great for blowing off steam. It offers great control over the game, It's missing a star becuase of the replay value, after a while even gross distruction gives way to wanting something more.

Sociality, Strategy, and Super Sheep
Worms is one of the greatest games ever made.Not only is it an addictive, fun game, but it has an aspect of social fun like no other game.There's so few games, and no fun ones, that let players gather around a computer screen and laugh together when someone flies thousands of pixels high after an explosion from a super-banana bomb only to land with a "Spoosh" in the water.Worms does.Worms 2 has a fully editable weapon set, which is another reason I like it, and the reason why it is better than the next version, armageddon.

Family Rivalry
This game has everything, ranging from Banana Bombs to Concrete Donkeys. As an avid computer game player, I think this game has a very good value and excellent cheats. One of the most fun things to do in this game is create your own team, and I think it was nice of them to let you have examples of team and worm names. I would reccomend buying this over most of the things on the amazon site! ... Read more