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Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar
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This is what every expansion pack should be. Nothing seems arbitrary, and you feel like the folks at Stardock really get what 4X gamers want.

Fans of the 4X games, like Master of Orion and such, tend to be a bit of a fickle group. I can’t say that publishers release a bevy of titles to meet their demand, but most of the games in this genre don’t exactly meet the desires of fans.

Galactic Civilizations did a pretty good job when it was released. It’s sequel, Dread Lords achieved incredible acclaim by both the press and players. In my opinion, the game offered anything a fan of the genre could want, and even more. The game was deep, difficult, pretty, and, in the end, fun to play. Not many titles can accomplish that.

Now we have the expansion pack, Dark Avatar, which promises to add new dimensions to an already great game. I hesitate when it comes to expansion packs, only because very few do more than take a little extra cash out of my pocket. This one does more than that.

I want to start off with some gameplay changes. Now, this is a dangerous task, to change the play of a game that was so heralded. Well, improvements abound here. First, you used to be able to colonize every planet, no matter what civilization you chose. The only limitation was how many Colony Ships you could produce.

Now, each civ has its speciality, so to speak, and you have to do research to colonize planets outside that. It takes some time too, about 3 different levels of research spanning several turns in order to get the technology necessary. Considering that many star systems won’t have a planet with a nature that falls into your speciality, this means you will have to plan wisely and get the most out of the few planets you can colonize early in the game.

Your scout ships come into play here, and they become incredibly valuable. Where you search and how could be the deciding factor in your ability to expand your civilization. Though this seemed a bit frustrating at first, I really got into it and appreciated the depth it offered. It adds more challenge, as if the original needed that.

Couple this with species-related superabilities and the new need for agents to carry out espionage and counterespianoge, this expansion pack really does build on the strengths of the original in ways most publishers are afraid to risk. It takes guts to change the gameplay mechanic of a success, but it takes such change to ensure continued success.

GC was always a tweakers dream, and like the original, the expansion pack allows for plenty of it. Anything can be tweaked. On top of that, you can play any species. Also, there are two new species. On top of that, you can create your own species. This is yet another nice addition to the original game that provides more depth.

In many ways, this expansion pack plays like the developers gave you the game code and let you do whatever you want. There is a real sense of freedom here, like you are in complete control, even more so than with the original game. I mean, the original was amazing, but the expansion pack makes you feel like you were given some sort of secret. Really.

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