Activision have also changed some of the primary building blocks of the game, the most notable of which is the battle system. Whereas you were positively penalised for stacking units in a single square in Civ, Call to Power encourages such behaviour. And rightly so, since now you can attack with a combination of hand-to-hand and long-range units.

Invading is much harder now, with various bonuses offered to the defending armies. It means that plotting the capture of an enemy town requires plenty of planning, rather than just a tentative little skirmish by the city walls.

Assuming you live 'til the present day, you will probably remember that, in Civ, you didn’t really have any decent places left to build cities. Call to Power changes that too, giving you the opportunity to exploit the ocean floor for its resources with a number of underwater cities.

It even plonks advanced settlements into orbit, with the advantage that you can bombard your enemy from above. Naturally, you need to develop the suitable sciences first.

Nodding to the fact that in this day and age governments are veering away from conventional warfare where possible, Call to Power includes intriguing non-military units, such as the Televangelist that can strip a city of a tithe each turn, or the Corporate Franchise that sucks production. Best of all, these moves aren’t considered acts of war.

Call to Power overhauls the game, but is, ironically, less easy to pick up for the Civ fan than Alpha Centauri. It’s incredibly detailed and complex, but has all the more depth for it. If you’ve got the patience you can’t stop yourself from playing.

Min specs: P200, 32Mb RAM