Call to Power II

Call to Power II is a turn-based strategy game where players lead a civilization from prehistory into a speculative future. Manage cities, resources, and technology as you expand your influence through milestones of history. Train military units, engage in diplomacy, or utilize espionage while navigating different government systems to achieve victory through conquest, diplomacy, or technological dominance.

Call to Power II: The Ambitious Spiritual Successor That Forged Its Own Legacy

Introduction

In the pantheon of turn-based strategy games, few titles carry the weight of expectation quite like a “Civilization” contender. Released in October 2000, Call to Power II (CTP2) emerged as Activision’s audacious answer to Sid Meier’s iconic series. Developed after losing the license to the “Civilization” name, this sequel to the divisive Civilization: Call to Power sought to refine its predecessor’s ambition while charting its own unique course through millennia of human history and into speculative futures. This review delves into how CTP2 balanced familiarity with innovation, examining its design philosophy, mechanical depth, cultural impact, and enduring legacy within the 4X genre. While it never surpassed the acclaim of contemporaries like Alpha Centauri, CTP2 carved a niche as a robust, feature-rich, and community-driven alternative that pushed the boundaries of what a civilization-building game could be.

Development History & Context

The Studio and Vision

Activision’s development of CTP2 was a calculated endeavor to capitalize on the enduring appeal of the 4X genre while distancing itself from its critically problematic predecessor. Under the leadership of Senior Producer Parker A. Davis and Lead Designer David White, the team sought to rectify the original Call to Power‘s most glaring flaws—particularly its cumbersome interface and imbalanced mechanics. The vision was clear: create a definitive, polished “Civ-like” experience that didn’t merely clone Sid Meier’s formula but expanded it, pushing technology and gameplay into uncharted futuristic territories. As outlined in the game’s description, this meant delivering a “speculative future” with technologies ranging from plasma weaponry to orbital infrastructure—a bold departure from the era-centric limitations of mainstream Civilization titles.

Technological Constraints and Gaming Landscape

Developed for Windows in 2000, CTP2 operated within the technological constraints of the era. Its system requirements—Pentium II 233 MHz, 64 MB RAM, and 450 MB HDD—reflected the era’s standard for graphically intensive strategy games. The game utilized an isometric perspective with a free camera, offering players dynamic views of their burgeoning empires. This was a period dominated by the Civilization series, with Civilization II having cemented the genre’s foundation and Civilization III in development. Meanwhile, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri (1999) had redefined the genre with its narrative depth and emergent gameplay, setting an impossibly high bar. CTP2’s challenge was not just to compete but to differentiate itself, a task complicated by Activision’s loss of the “Civilization” license, forcing the rebranding that made CTP2 a spiritual successor rather than a direct sequel.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

The Grand Arc of Civilization

CTP2 eschews character-driven narratives in favor of a sweeping, player-defined epic. The game’s narrative unfolds through the player’s choices, chronicling a civilization’s evolution from primitive settlements to a futuristic global power. This “totality of history” approach, as noted in its genre tags, mirrors the Civilization series but amplifies it with a pronounced focus on speculative futures. Unlike Civ’s historical anchor, CTP2 embraces sci-fi elements, allowing players to explore themes of transhumanism, environmental control, and global governance through technologies like the “Gaia Controller” wonder and orbital satellites.

Thematic Exploration and Symbolism

Underlying the gameplay are potent themes of power, progress, and ethics. The Gaia Controller victory—requiring players to cover 60% of the map with “obelisks” and satellites—symbolizes humanity’s hubristic quest to dominate nature itself. The “Bloodlust” victory condition, demanding total conquest, critiques militarism’s destructive futility. In contrast, the diplomatic victory path celebrates cooperation, reflecting Cold War-era anxieties about nuclear disarmament and global alliances. Technologies unlock narrative layers; researching “Nanotechnology” evokes fears of gray goo scenarios, while “Gaia Controller” references eco-dystopias. These themes are rendered through the game’s unit descriptions and wonder texts, which, though sparse in dialogue, carry weighty implications about humanity’s trajectory.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Core 4X Framework and Innovations

CTP2’s gameplay is a masterclass in 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) design. Players begin with a single settlement, managing resources like food, production, and happiness across cities built on diverse terrain. Improvements—farms, mines, roads—strategically enhance yields, while trade routes generate wealth. Yet CTP2 distinguishes itself through two key innovations:
– Future-Forward Tech Tree: Spanning “thousands of years,” the tree integrates speculative techs (e.g., “Biological Warfare,” “Space-Based Cities”) that unlock unique units like nanite swarms and orbital platforms. This mirrored the game’s ambition to transcend historical constraints.
– Dynamic Government Systems: Players adapt policies to eras, balancing centralized authority against civil unrest. Governments like “Corporate” or “Theocratic” alter corruption, productivity, and citizen freedoms, adding layers of political strategy beyond Civ’s static systems.

Combat, Diplomacy, and Espionage

Combat emphasizes combined arms tactics, with unit stacking encouraging diverse armies. Land, naval, and air units are joined by futuristic options, though critics noted the lack of tactical depth. Stealth units, a legacy of the first game, were reworked to prevent early-game abuse, now appearing exclusively in late-game scenarios. Diplomacy, though improved, remained a weak point. Players could negotiate conditional agreements (e.g., “stop researching nuclear tech”), but AI responses were sterile, with no personalized dialogues like Alpha Centauri‘s verbose leaders. Espionage allowed sabotage and unrest incitement, but its implementation felt rudimentary.

Victory Conditions and Replayability

CTP2’s victory paths epitomize its thematic breadth:
– Gaia Controller: Covering the map with obelisks and satellites, reflecting environmental stewardship turned domination.
– Diplomatic Victory: Forming a “World Alliance” through mutual pacts.
– Bloodlust: Total annihilation of rivals.
– 2300 AD: Highest score by the future cutoff.
This variety, coupled with a massive tech tree and randomly generated worlds, ensured high replayability. The inclusion of a scenario editor and scripting language (SLIC) further amplified longevity, enabling community-driven content creation.

Interface and Quality-of-Life Improvements

The sequel’s most significant overhaul was its interface. Replacing the first game’s “mess” with streamlined menus for construction, trade, and policy, CTP2 reduced micromanagement burdens. Buttons were consolidated, and city management became more intuitive—a vital fix for accessibility. Yet the UI retained complexity, with a “Lexikothek” providing in-game lore and a tutorial aiding newcomers. Critics like PC Gamer Brasil noted the steep learning curve but praised the “logical” design once mastered.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Visual Design and Atmosphere

CTP2’s world-building blends historical authenticity with sci-fi futurism. The isometric perspective renders lush ancient landscapes, industrial-era cities, and gleaming futuristic outposts with functional clarity. Terrain features like jungles and deserts influence gameplay, while wonders like the “Great Library” or “Gaia Controller” are visually distinct. However, the art direction was criticized for its “spartan presentation” and dated animations. As Eurogamer noted, the lack of unit animations and “unremarkable sound effects” detracted from immersion. The visual style prioritized utility over flair, a trade-off for its era’s technical limits.

Sound Design and Audio Cues

The audio landscape, powered by AIL/Miles Sound System, aimed for atmospheric grandeur but often fell short. Music shifted from tribal rhythms to synthetic orchestrals, setting the tone for each era. Sound effects, however, were “merely tacky to pretty damn poor,” according to Eurogamer, with explosions and battle cries feeling generic. Voice acting was absent, replaced by minimalist text-based feedback, which limited emotional resonance. This functional approach to audio underscored the game’s mechanical focus over narrative flair.

Reception & Legacy

Launch-Day Verdicts

Upon release, CTP2 garnered a mixed-to-positive reception. Its Metacritic score of 72/100 reflected moderate acclaim, with critics praising its depth and improvements over the original. Eurogamer lauded it as a “masterpiece,” highlighting its “addictive” gameplay and “massive range of strategies.” PC Action Germany celebrated it as a “Süchtigmacher allererster Güte” (addiction of the first order). However, GameSpot criticized its “lack of innovation,” while IGN lamented the “ugly parts” that emerged after 1700 AD. The consensus? A solid, if derivative, entry that trailed Alpha Centauri in polish and AI sophistication.

Commercial Performance and Community Resilience

Commercially, CTP2 performed adequately but failed to achieve blockbuster status. Bundled in collections like the Classic Activision Bundle (2017) and available on budget platforms, it sustained a cult following. Its true legacy emerged post-launch. When Activision ceased support in 2003, the Apolyton Civilization Site rallied the community to petition for the source code. Activision complied, releasing the code under strict non-commercial terms. This act of digital preservation empowered modders to debug, balance, and enhance CTP2 for years, with the final community patch (January 2025) enabling modern compatibility. On platforms like GOG and Steam, the game remains a niche favorite, its longevity a testament to community-driven stewardship.

Influence on the Genre

CTP2’s influence is subtle but significant. Its emphasis on futuristic techs and alternate victory conditions prefigured elements of Civilization: Beyond Earth. Its robust modding tools, particularly SLIC, inspired later games like Fall from Heaven 2 for Civilization IV. Yet it also serves as a cautionary tale about iterative design—many critics argued it should have been an expansion, not a sequel. As GameSpy noted, it was “a fun game” but not revolutionary. Its niche status underscores a broader truth: in the crowded strategy genre, even ambitious titles need the “Civ” name or Sid Meier’s touch to achieve legendary status.

Conclusion

Call to Power II stands as a flawed but fascinating artifact of the 4X genre’s golden age. It refined its predecessor’s excesses into a cohesive, mechanically rich experience, offering a compelling alternative for players craving sci-fi twists on the civilization-building formula. Its interface improvements, dynamic governments, and speculative tech tree were visionary, even if its AI and diplomacy lagged behind competitors. The game’s legacy is not defined by commercial success or critical consensus but by its community-driven afterlife—a rarity in pre-modern gaming. Activision’s source-code release transformed CTP2 from a commercial product into a living piece of digital heritage, patched and modded into the 2020s. While it may never eclipse Alpha Centauri or Civilization III, CTP2 remains a testament to the passion of its developers and the enduring appeal of grand strategy. For those willing to embrace its complexity, it offers a unique journey through history and beyond—a “call to power” that answered its own challenge.