What's Hot: It's bigger, better, and the races more fleshed out with individual techs and buildings

What's Not: A few random lock ups

The sad truth in today’s videogame industry is that a lot of developers don’t love their own products. It’s true. Many go through the motions, programming away on games that they’d just as soon not play themselves. It’s a job. This is in part what makes the Galactic Civilizations II line of games something special. When the people making the game are devoted, inspired, and truly care about the project, nine times out of ten that is going to show up in the final product. Such is the case with Twilight of the Arnor, an expansion pack by name but a labor of love for the developer and a tasty reward for its fan base.

The new features are numerous but a few stand out and deserve special mention. First off, all 12 races now feel distinct from one another more than ever before, which was a slight criticism of previous installments. It now goes a bit beyond getting racial bonuses and such: now each race gets its own extensions in the technology research tree as well as unique buildings to place on planetary surfaces. Combine this with the unique racial AI patterns from the first add on, Dark Avatar, and you are one step closer to creating your own little gaming universe. The Drengin now “feel” more evil than ever simply because of the buildings they have access to (Slave Pits, for example) and the techs that are on the radar. This is a magnificent addition to the game and helps personalize the races in a clear and concise way.

The new end game feature, “Ascension”, scatters five crystals throughout the game map. You obtain points by constructing starbases on these crystals (which may not be fortified), which also rings the alarm bell for every other race in the game. The AI handles this beautifully as it knows when you are a threat and never rolls over and allows you to Ascend your way to victory without a great fight. The AI from top to bottom remains a bright spot, which is key since this is a single player only game—your rivals in the galaxy behave in a manner that is fitting to their race.

The game is still at its best in sandbox mode—simply creating a random galaxy and going at it. You can even boost the size of the galaxy to “Immense” which is reserved for the truly addicted because it will take a long, long, time to complete a game in this colossal map.

Still, if random games aren’t your thing the campaign is in place to continue the story from the earlier games. Your mileage will vary here of course (I much prefer the sandbox games to the scenarios). Some players who feel that the sandbox games start off a bit too slow (a fair complaint) might enjoy the campaign so it’s really a matter of taste here. Plus, the campaign missions do a good job of preparing you for the huge random games because each tends to focus on a particular game feature (combat, diplomacy, etc.)