Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor (pc: 2008): Reviews

> Switch to Advanced Search

Games Homepage
Best of 2007 | 2006 |2005
Advanced Search

PS3 | PS2 | PS One | PSP

Xbox 360 | Xbox

Wii | DS | GBA | Cube | N64

PC | N-Gage | Dreamcast

How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Games In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

80 Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
xx Alone in the Dark
xx Art of Murder: FBI Confidential
79 Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition
xx Baseball Mogul 2009
xx Beauty Factory
xx Beijing 2008
60 Belief & Betrayal
xx Blokus World Tour
61 Bus Driver
xx Chaos Theory
xx Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
xx Code of Honor: The French Foreign Legion
xx Combat Mission Shock Force - Marines
77 Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
xx Crazy Machines 2
xx Crimes of War
xx Cross City
xx Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come
xx Cry of the Infected
xx Dancing with the Stars
xx Devil May Cry 4
xx Diamonds in the Rough
74 Dracula: Origin
xx Dreamlords: The Reawakening
xx Europa Universalis III: In Nomine
73 Europa Universalis: Rome
xx Everyday Shooter
45 Fate of Hellas
xx Field Ops
xx Ford Racing Off Road
94 Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor
xx Goin' Downtown
48 Golden Horde, The
53 Great War Nations: The Spartans
89 GRID
xx Gumboy Tournament
xx Happy Tree Friends False Alarm
56 Hard to be a God
xx Highlander
xx Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge
xx Hope Springs Eternal
xx Immortals of Terra: A Perry Rhodan Adventure, The
xx Incredible Hulk, The
xx Insecticide: Episode 1
35 Iron Man
77 Kung Fu Panda
xx Legendary
79 LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
xx Limbo of the Lost
xx Lost Cases Of Sherlock Holmes, The
58 Lost Empire: Immortals
74 Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition
xx Mabinogi - Fantasy Life
xx Magic: The Gathering Online III
90 Mass Effect
xx Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice
69 Napoleon's Campaigns
57 Ninja Reflex: Steamworks Edition
xx Noitu Love 2: Devolution
xx NOMBZ: Night of a Million Billion Zombies
59 Obscure: The Aftermath
69 Overclocked: A History of Violence
xx Panzer Command: Kharkov
77 Penny Arcade Adventures Epsiode One: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
72 Political Machine 2008, The
xx Requiem: Bloodymare
68 Riddle of the Tomb
xx Romance of The Three Kingdoms XI
84 Sam & Max Episode 204: Chariots of the Dogs
85 Sam & Max Episode 205: What's New, Beelzebub?
xx Samurai Warriors 2
xx SBK-08 Superbike World Championship
xx Settlers: Rise of an Empire - The Eastern Realm, The
38 Seven Kingdoms: Conquest
73 Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis
xx Ship Simulator 2008: New Horizons
xx Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific U-Boat Missions
xx SimCity Societies Destinations
58 Simon the Sorcerer 4: Chaos Happens
xx Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff, The
xx Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff, The
xx So Blonde
81 Spore Creature Creator
xx Stateshift
xx Strategic Command 2: Patton Drives East
48 Stronghold Crusader Extreme
63 Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory
xx Supernova 2: Spacewar
74 Supreme Ruler 2020
xx Tank Universal
xx Terrorist Takedown 2: U.S. Navy SEALs
xx Terrorist Takedown: Conflict in Mogadishu
78 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
xx Top Trumps: Doctor Who
xx TrackMania Nations Forever
85 TrackMania United Forever
65 Turok
xx Ubersoldier 2: The End of Hitler
70 UEFA Euro 2008
xx Urban Empires
xx WALL-E
53 Warriors Orochi
xx Windchaser
xx Women's Murder Club
xx XIII Century: Death or Glory

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.

Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor


8.1

based on 13 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this game

GAMES:

Official Website

The galaxy is being consumed by the fires of war as we enter the final act of the Dread Lord saga. Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor is the second expansion pack to the award-winning PC strategy game, Galactic Civilizations II. Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor expands the gameplay of Galactic Civilizations in all new ways. New campaign detailing the final chapter in the Dread Lords wars. The Terror Star arrives, capable of destroying any star. Unique technology trees for all 12 civilizations. Unique planetary improvements for each civilization. New 3D engine powered map editor. New Scenario Editor for creating highly detailed custom games. New Campaign Editor for players who want to create their own custom epic campaigns for themselves or to share with others. New Metaverse Tournaments: Specific maps & scenarios recorded to the Metaverse with prizes for top players. [Stardock]

PUBLISHER:	Stardock
DEVELOPER:	Stardock
GENRE(S):	Turn-Based Strategy
PLAYERS:	1
ESRB RATING:	E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older)
RELEASE DATE:	April 30, 2008

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

G4 TV

It caps the mini-trilogy with a flourish and makes us very, very eager to see what the next proper release in the franchise will have to offer.

100

1UP

For better or worse, Arnor is an add-on that completes its parent game rather than simply expanding its scope.

100

GameSpy

The technology trees alone make it impossible for someone who's sampled Twilight of the Arnor to ever go back to just playing Dark Avatar. Add to that impressive customization tools, new gameplay dynamics, better AI, graphic upgrades, new ship-builder components and completely re-done flavor text and hundreds and hundreds of smaller tweaks, fixes and changes and what you have is an absolute triumph and a new standard for turn-based-strategy games.

100

GameShark

A marvelous addition to an already stellar turn-based strategy series and if you have even the slightest interest in this type of game, you need to own the entire series. This is the type of game, particularly with this final add-on, that will stay on your hard drive for a long, long time. We simply cannot make it any more plain than that.

100

Gaming Nexus

Galactic Civilizations 2: Twilight of the Arnor is one of the best expansions I have ever experienced in my many years of gaming.

Cheat Code Central

If you're looking for something to do with the rest of your life, you might want to check this game out. If this game had a dedicated multiplayer mode, I would want to live forever.

Computer Games Online RO

Aside from the small bugs and the controversial tech-tree redesign, Twilight of the Arnor delights us with lots and lots of new features, and I believe that even months from now I won’t discover all its secrets.

IGN

There are no two ways about it: if you like space strategy games, you have to play Galactic Civilizations II. And if you play Gal Civ II, you have to play Twilight of the Arnor.

PC Gamer

Old school still rules. [Aug 2008, p.67]

GameZone

This game just became elevated to my personal list of all-time PC favorites.

PC Gameworld

After so many iterations it's impressive that Stardock has maintained their standard of quality in this series.

PC Gamer UK

A dramatic and ingenious rethink. [July 2008, p.78]

GameSpot

Adding this much new life to what should be a very familiar game is an amazing achievement.

The average user rating for this game is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ed B. gave it a2:
Guess I too am in the minority on this one - i find it boring. And I love a variety of games - inc. all the civilizations. Perhaps thats it - the fleet graphics are cool, but its a bit too confusing and just too long and just not that fun - plus it takes forever to play - shelfware.

Gator B. gave it a9:
I have yet to play the original game or the 1st expansion, but I'm pretty impressed. I'm a huge Civ4 fan, and this plays along the same guidelines. It will suck hours out of a day. Only problem is that they do not have a manual for ToA (only the first two installments). ToA makes many changes, to the learning curve is a little high. Hopefully the guide will be out soon.

MeestYk gave it a6:
10 for wow graphics, -3 for boring turn-based,-1 overrating this game by smucks (mag reviews). Look for true excitement elsewhere. TB games are for grandpas.

Eric C gave it a5:
yes space and stradgie, you'll find your self 5 hours later wondering why.

Richard S. gave it a3:
I first started playing galactic civilization games in 2003, at the time it was fun and it passed time somewhat enjoyably. Stardock has released their second expansion to the title five years later and it's a poor job. For starters, the game isn't even officially released. They have a system where they say that the game is "Generally available" and mask the fact that anyone who examines its development can see that it is still a beta. The races AI isn't fully finished, the ascension victory is a poor addition in it's current state, and there's a gamebreaking issue where the technology costs keep exponentially increasing and renders a fundamental gameplay element unmanageable. This is an idiotic move by Stardock and is a business move because they admit it's not done yet, but they want the money up front. Next off is the additions to the game in terms of what the AI says, they now have even more insulting responses aimed directly at the player. I imagine the developers thought these lines were funny, but the player has to read these belligerent responses over and over and it just doesn't add anything. The general feel of stardock's attitude towards this game at this moment is apathetic. They said they'd only support it after 2.0 (It's official release), if it'd make them any more money which gives the impression they aren't passionate about making this game the best they can make it. The AI has gotten better, the new techs are nice, and there are general improvements to the interface and graphics in the game. It's overall, much more unstable, and I had it crash about five times in a session, with graphic errors on the side. Stardock doesn't deserve any praise for this game. It's a shame it's scoring so highly. Please avoid this game until it's patched, or better yet, don't buy it at all. You can spend your days on better things.

Jeremy E. gave it a9:
I can't claim this is the best game ever produced, so my vote has to be a nine (I don't think I've ever seen a game I'd actually rate a 10), but the fact is Twilight's additions to the already amazing GalCiv2 franchise are nothing short of revolutionary. Maybe I live under a rock, but I have never seen a 4X with so much differentiation between races/factions/civilizations. Separate tech tree per civ, terror stars, ascension victory, better AI (how is that even possible?), tournaments, insanely large maps, awesome modding tools, incredible new graphics overhaul, nicer UI, and more. For "just an expansion," this blows away anything I've ever seen - it's a whole new game if you ask me, and a great one at that.

Discuss this game in our forums

Return to top of page