This is my favorite PC game of all time. I'm 31 years old and my father, being a software engineer, always had Sid Meier games in the household. Colonization brings back many great memories. A must have for any collection!

It's just like this old man remembers. If you are looking for a modern game look elsewhere. This is a classic through and through. If you are looking for a game that keeps you occupied this is it.

This game is exactly the same as the original, and no complicated programming needed to play it. Works pefectly on windows 7 and is as good as I remembered it.

Colonization is a game I played back on a Windows 95 laptop. The steam version is 100% correct to the old version based on what I have seen. If you are able to get past the old graphics, this is a Sid Meier's game with a lot of fun to be had. I tried running this game on a Vista and a Windows 8 PC, both ran well.

You play the part of a explorer who has been given free reign by your King/Queen. You build colonies to gather trade goods to ship to the mother land for cash. There are also Three other Computer players competing with you. While building your Colony network, you slowly receive higher and higher taxes. After much work, you can build up the Rebels in your country and try to fight for your Independence!

Based on the game age, this is a Nine out of Ten!!

It is exactly as you remember it. If you weren't fortunate enough to play it back when DOS was a thing, then prepare yourself for the the gaming glory that the mid-90s had to offer, right here in this game.

Sold guns to the Tupi then watched them murder my colonists. 11/10 would arm natives again.

For those who saw this and thought they could re-buy a classic marvel, adjusted to work on modern PCs and even Linux: no. This just wraps DOSBox (which is free anyway) around the 20 year old DOS binary. With the difference that when using a normal DOSbox you can at least properly configure it. This messes up my screen resolutions, and I have to manually reset them afterwards. Also unlike playing the old game in normal DOSbox, there is no option for windowed mode, despite this game only needing 320x240 resolution.

I was hoping for an upgrade from the sometime flaky experience of playing the original game inside DOSbox, but this is worse.

That this isn't mentioned anywhere on the game description is borderline fraud.

One of my favorite games of all time is finally on Steam. Colonization isn't perfect, but it is damn near there. The soundtrack is great, the game mechanics are simple on the surface but have tons of depth, and its impossible not to contract One More Turn Syndrome.

Great game for those wanting to develop a hate for the Spanish

This is the classic game you all remember, unchanged in any way as far as I can tell. For those new to Colonization, you'll find this to be a solid Sid Meier strategy game that deviates from the strict formula of the Civilization series. If retro games aren't your thing, this game was also remade using the Civ 4 engine.

The gameplay focuses on building up an economic empire in the New World, with your primary source of income coming from shipping valuable goods back to Europe to sell. Your eventual goal is to create a self-sufficient nation and declare independence from from your parent country back in Europe. Along the way, you'll have to compete with other European powers settling the New World, as well as increasingly troublesome (but wealthy!) natives.

Starting off, the game is quite forgiving. The other European powers are generally more focused on building their own empires than on wiping you out, but can and will cause you trouble later. Similarly, the Native Americans all start off friendly toward you and even give you free stuff, but their attitude will gradually sour toward you, even if you just leave them alone. This will sound cold and heartless, but in the end, genocide is the best solution, as they will harass you without end otherwise. The huge amounts of treasure you'll get from looting Indian villages is just a bonus.

As I said above, the gameplay deviates quite a bit from the standard Civ fomula. There are a lot more resources, for one thing: 16 material goods, as well as a few immaterial resources, like liberty bells (increases rebel sentiment, which gives bonuses to production, and attracts Founding Fathers) and crosses (attracts immigrants). Of the material goods, most are meant solely for selling, but the rest are vital for running your colonies. I'll explain this a bit more indepth further down.

Another difference between this and Civ is that Population = Units. Aside from ships, wagons, and artillery, all your units are colonists that can be given different equipment to create different units. Each colonist can be trained in one profession, giving them a bonus to performing that job (usually, increasing resource yields). When asigning a colonist to work a tile around your colony, they can only gather one resource at a time, but you won't usually need more than one of any type of gatherer except for farmers. You can also asign colonists to work the buildings inside your colony. For example, the weaver's house converts cotton into cloth.

Colonists are also your units. Give them tools to turn them into a Pioneer so they can build roads, clear forests, and plow fields. Give them horses to turn them into a Scout, which moves faster, sees farther, can interact with native villages, and gets better results from lost cities. Give them muskets to turn them into Soldiers, your most basic and most common military unit, or equip a Soldier with horses to make them a stronger and faster Dragoon. Also of note is that any colonist can found a colony; there's no "settler" type unit like in Civ.

As far as ships go, most of them are used for hauling loot and trading. Of special mention, though, is the Privateer. A Privateer's ownership is invisible except to the player that owns it. This means that Privateers can attack other players even when you are at peace with them, but at the same time your Privateers are also fair game to any Frigates in the area. Hurray for piracy!

Another difference from Civ is that there is no research or tech tree. The closest analogue would be the Founding Fathers, which confer various bonuses, including things like unlocking buildings, and are earned with liberty bells. Since liberty bells also increase the desire for independence among your colonists (which will eventually net you bonuses to resource production), you'll want lots of them anyway.

If you want a strong and self-suficient colony, there are a few things you absolutely need:

OCEAN ACCESS: Since a large part of the game revolves around trade, you absolutely need a way to load a ship up with goods. Landlocked colonies aren't impossible, as you can use wagons to transport goods to a colony with a port, but I'd reccomend beginners stick with seaside colonies at first.

FOOD: Your colonists need to eat. Shipping food to a perpetually starving colony is no fun and better avoided altogether. Fortunately, food is pretty easy to get as long as you're not settling in the arctic. Food can also be converted into horses, which is important for a strong military. You need at least 2 horses in a colony and then they'll breed automatically.

LUMBER: Lumber is converted into hammers by a carpenter. This is how you build buildings in your colonies. You can buy buildings with gold, but that quickly gets expensive. You can also ship lumber in from another colony, but this can be a pain. Just make sure to keep one forest tile next to your colony, as you shouldn't need more than one lumberjack.

ORE: Ore is converted into tools, which are used by Pioneers for terraforming. 20 tools are consumed for every terraforming job. Also, all but the most basic buildings will also require tools to build. As such, you'll need to have a steady supply of tools. And once you're done terraforming and building buildings, tools can be turned into muskets.

Aside from the above, everything else is optional. You don't need sugar, or furs, or cotton, or tobacco. These will help you make some cash, but they're largely interchangeable with one another.

Some last tips: Remember, the natives are not your friends! Or, at least, they won't be for very long. Whatever you do, DO NOT give them horses or muskets. You can make a lot of quick cash by trading with the natives early on, but they'll quickly wise up that you're scamming them. You can prevent tax hikes by reenacting the Boston Tea Party, which will increase rebel sentiment in that colony, but also makes you unable to trade that resource in Europe anymore. Lastly, make sure you're ready for a war of apocalyptic proportions before declaring independence. I'm not kidding.

This game was perhaps my favorite growing up, and while it's aged a bit (really missing edge-scrolling and right-click-to-move), it's still a very solid game, and I'd heartily reccomend it to anyone interested in the genre.

The game itself is great, but all they did here was slap DOSBox onto it, which seems pretty lazy in my book.
They could have at least mentioned it on the store page.

Not the Windows 3.1/95 version I was looking for. The graphics are what you'd expect for a DOS game, pixels the size of sand. The music is all MIDI, not bad. Just what you'd expect for a DOS game. DOS is one word I didn't see at all on the store page. I was sincerely hoping for the later version as the music was perfect for the game, and the graphics were still better than DOS pixelation I haven't seen since playing Krozi on my old x386. Alright, yes I exagerate, but its the same shock factor of getting not the Classic I knew.

Fantastic game, I wouldn't have bought it if I knew it was a DOS version. I'd wait for the Win 3.1/95 version. I'm hoping it will happen. I didn't think they'd ever get around to resurrecting what I thought was abandonware, so I do have hope.

I'm not upset at purchasing $6 of bits I'll probably not open again, but it's cured me of impulse nostalgia buys for a bit. The example pics might have been clue enough that all was not as I'd thought.

One of my favourite games of all time. Bought it straight away. Classic game.

It's a tricky one this, there are both positives and negatives, but the latter isn't related to the game which as always, is a must buy if you don't own it in any other form. If that's all you need to know, don't read on, buy it and i'll focus the rest of the review on what could have been.

A turn based strategy offering, Colonization is a timeless classic that has immense replay value and an excellent soundtrack to boot. If a turn based strategy game is your thing, you cannot be disappointed, it's impossible.

However, if you did already own it in another form, whether DOS, Amiga or other, what reasons are there to buy here, other than to have it in your library? I cannot honestly see any other reason.

The files and structure are identical to those that have been freely available (rightly or wrongly, it's always a point of debate) as 'Abandonware' for many years now. To run those files, you would have needed DOSBox which has handily been included as part of this package. That may in fact be a positive, Colonization in your Steam library, with one click access to DOSBox and no need to mount a path or create a config file. Some mention of DOSBox on the store page would have been helpful though, given other reviews now appearing about the release.

But it could have been so much more, more than what is offered which is essentially old files bundled together by someone that has bought the rights and is selling them at a price, albeit very reasonable. It's just a case of doing very little work and putting it for release on Steam.

What about achievements? Imagine 'Achievement Unlocked: Armed Natives & Subsequently Beheaded'. What about visually improving the look of the game itself? Of course, there is a certain romance about playing an older game and the way it looked all of those years ago but it can work, look at Leisure Suit Larry & Secret Of Monkey Island, there is a place for a visually enhanced version of an older title. Such a missed opportunity in my opinion, Colonization: Special Edition* could have been something to take an even bigger pride of place in the collection.

*And no, 'Civilization IV: Colonization' isn't it......

In the year of our Lord 1492 four countries, England, France, Spain and The Netherlands, set out to colonize the New World. The expeditionary leader of one of these nations is you. Will you play as the conquistadores and vanquish all natives for their land and their riches or will you perhaps trade your way to power as the Dutch?
Whatever path you choose it will in time be clear that your colonies need to fight for their independence. You didn't slaughter the natives? Good for you, now they can help you kick your king's troops off you land.
You helped the French in the colonial wars against England? Well guess what? In your hour of need they are ready to repay the favor.
Give me liberty or give me death, Sid Meier's Colonization is all about building a strong enough group of colonies so that you can win the war of independence. And the road to freedom is an easy to play, hard to master, game that gives you a ton of fun, and has great re-play value.

Sid Meier's Colonization stand out as one of THE all time greats!
I remember spending countless hours as a teenager playing this game over and over.
I am really happy to see it avaliable on Steam, and at this price, this is a no-brainer if you enjoy Sid Meier-type games.
I've also tried the Civ IV version of colonization, and even though it does an ok job of bringing Colonization into the 21st century, the classic still is better.
After playing this all day long, I can sincerly say that Colonization is still great fun!

This game was instantly addicting. The Spansih commited racial genocide instantly. I gave guns and horses to the aztecs, and converted them to my colonys religion then told them the spanish are evil. The result was absolutly fantastic.

I feel like a kid again

5/5

Midi soundtrack of my youth.

Must Buy.

WEll the game is really quite good... if youv never played it before there is small chance that you might not enjoy. But if so, you should probably buy a racing game, etc, as this game turn based strategy game class is inferior in eye candy but superiorer in game content to 9/10 other games out there and thats no exageration. THis baby was put out by MircoProse in 1994 after railroad tycoon 1 and civilization 1. One of the best games iv ever played, really. Although it is dated now I do enjoy some games every couple years. Basically my advice to you is BUY NOW and please write 2k games an email about coming out with colonization 3 as I did! =D

Classic piece of the 90's - back when Laptops ran Pentium 386 with 2MB ram, Windows 3.1, floppy drives with attitude, 80MB HDDs and of course blue DOS screen were a thing (good old SHARP PC-6781). It's a blast from the past for those that played it back then from couple Floppy disks. In this game you simply do what it says in the name - you colonize and do anything else tied to it in attempt to basically take the land from natives and make it your own "America".

A fun classic, I remember playing this for hours as a kid.