Customer Reviews

History Channel's Civil War: The Game - Great Battles

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I am an avid Civil War buff and I watch the History Channel regularly. I located this game at a retail outlet store and was persuaded by the fact that it was advertised as Windows XP compatible and bore the prominently displayed and obvious endorsing labels of the History Channel and HAP (Don Troiani, well known art historian). The game is produced and marketed by Activision Value Publishing.

The game would not load beyond the install screen. The Activision web page had only 3 somewhat related FAQ for online technical assistance, which were not helpful. Further, Activision has not replied to my email requests for technical assistance or even generated an automatic electronic reply.

If you can't get the game loaded and the company won't respond at all to inquiries, how does that bode for the quality, authenticity and entertainment value of the product if you ever succeed at installation.

With a little research I have discovered there are other Civil War computer games available that gamers recommend frequently. It doesn't appear that this is one of them.

Run don't walk from this game. After reading Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels" I was in the mood for a Civil War computer game and came across this one by chance. It installed easily enough, but everything took forever to load and a few times the game locked up my computer. I can't figure out why the game would lock so often. The graphics and game engine are very remedial. The game plays like a North vs. South game of checkers. Moving your "symbols" from State to State instead of square to square. When you land on an occupied State, a battle screen is loaded (very slowly I might add). Without describing these battles in detail, they play like a late 80's Nintendo game. You try to move your troop symbols into place on the battle map. You can simply win a "victory" by outnumbering or outpositioning the competition (and again, things move very slowly).
So to try to fix some of the bugs in the game, I logged onto the Activision website to see if there was a patch/update for the game. There was so I tried to install it, it never would install correctly. Tech support was non-existent. After 3 lock ups and extremely, extremely slow game play, "The Civil War Game" will be up for sale on eBay soon. Shame on the History Channel for putting there name on this.

I am an avid Civil War buff and saw this at Comp USA one day. I decided to buy it, and I went home and installed it. The game worked fine, but it is incredibly bad! The graphics are terrible, you command like 5 people, you barely ever win, and it's turn-based! If you are looking for a GOOD Civil War game from The History Channel, I suggest Take Command 1861: The Battle of Bull Run

I got this game preplayed for a low price. I think it would be fun but I can not play it past 14 turns before it freezes. I was able to install the patch, but the problem persists. As stated in the other reviews, tech support is lacking. It seems that Activision was out to make a quick buck with the History channels logo.

This game lives up to the standards of the Hysterical Channel. Like most of their productions, it's a simplistic piece trash designed for the moronic masses who don't know any better. I paid $9.99 for it in Comp USA. They should have paid me to take it off their hands.

I did everything I was instructed to and the game would not even come up. I went to the web site to get troubleshooting info and did what they told me to there and could not get the game to come up. This was a real waste of money

This thing is not XP compatible. I will not install on any XP machine in my house. However it will install on my Legacy game play only 98se machine. After installing it nothing but problems. Run from this game!
Activision acts like this game was never produced of course with the problems myself as well as others are experiencing I don't blame them. Just shows you NOBODY really supports anything any more.

To sum up DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!

I wholeheartedly concur with the other reviews. I didn't have any problems loading the game but words cannot convey the huge sense of disappointment deliverd by this puerile, simplistic load of tosh. I too was seduced by the History Channel endorsement, they should be ashamed of themselves to be associated with such tripe.
Awful, awful, awful.

Prepare for battle with one of the best Civil War games ever created. The History Channel's "Civil War: The Game," carries the player back to that moment in American history where heroism changed the face of our nation forever. After playing the game just once, I was hooked. Despite poor graphics, this game will challenge anyone's ability at military strategy, and gives the player a wealth of knowledge about the period through documents and photographs of the time.
So, it is once again the 1860's. Prepare to decide the fate of America! Good luck, and Godspeed!
Grade: A