Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar begins after the original. The Dread Lords have been defeated and relative peace has descended upon the galaxy. However, the Drengin aren’t content with this peace and begin to turn on their once allies, conquering the universe in the process. A dispute soon breaks out between the Drengin Empire and one of their clans, the Korath. The Empire wishes to simply use their conquered foes as slaves, while the Korath feel their enemies are better off dead. This brings in one of
Dark Avatar’s first major improvements, a worthwhile Campaign mode. The original Campaign mode was enjoyable, but it was simply window dressing. Here, the story will set up situations that require you to change your play style and tactics, such as having to sneak around the galaxy, deploying spies or forging alliances.
Still, even with improvements to the main campaign, the real fun is with the Sandbox mode. Just as with the original, it is easy to lose hours of time playing managing your galactic empire. And, as with the Campaign mode, the Sandbox mode has also seen a few tweaks that make it even better. For one, the colonization process has been changed, alleviating the galactic gold rush found in the original. Only a handful of planets can be colonized from the start; others require specialized technology to colonize. And, since certain planets require specialized technology, you’ll have to be careful about what you choose.
Asteroid mining now gives that added boost to resource production, plus it gives you backup production later in the game. If you have mining facilities set up on an asteroid, you can divert its production to nearby planets, upping their resource output.
Espionage now plays a bigger role and isn’t a massive money sink. When used properly, espionage can completely alter an enemy’s production efforts. The uses are nearly limitless, from log jamming economies to getting the drop on enemy tactics to even causing civil strife on planets. Spies can also be deployed to hunt out your opponent’s spies who might be sneaking around your facilities.
Mega-events are another major addition, and one that may or may not be as universally accepted as the other additions. At times during the game, galaxy-changing events will happen, completely changing the direction of gameplay. Plagues and galaxy-wide riots can break out, sometimes working to your advantage while at others presenting a major disadvantage. Personally, I found mega-events fun. Even when I was on the losing end of an event, it provided just enough of a change to keep me on my toes and caused me to really think about what I was doing.
There’s still no multiplayer aspect, though the depth of the Campaign and Sandbox modes offer more than enough game.
