I like this game very much, as I did with Civ II. Most of my game time I spent with both of those games. Well, the gameplay is basically the same as in it s predecessor, graphic is great for this purpose. The great challenge of this game is, that you need to start very precisely and to be very succesfull from the very beginning. If you stay backwards in the the first period, you almost have no chance to catch up later. On the other hand, if you start well, you become global superpower very soon. So, from the end of Antique times you struggle for survive, usually unsuccesfully, or you have no competitors. From this point of view the game is not balanced.