GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete vs The Battle of Polytopia

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete is a simulation strategy game from Firaxis Games (2006) while The Battle of Polytopia is a simulation strategy game from Midjiwan AB (2020).

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete

2006 · Firaxis Games

7.8GamingPickz Score

$4.99

Steam: Very Positive

The Battle of Polytopia

2020 · Midjiwan AB

7.5GamingPickz Score

$14.99

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Steam files Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete under Simulation and Strategy. In contrast, it files The Battle of Polytopia under Simulation and Strategy.

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete

Sid Meier's Civilization III: Complete, the latest offering in the Sid Meier's Civilization III franchise, provides gaming fans with Sid Meier's Civilization III, the highly-addictive journey of discovery.

Description from its Steam store page

The Battle of Polytopia

Welcome to the unique, turn-based strategy game set in the strange, flat world of the Square. Lead one of 16 distinct civilizations to victory by expanding your empire, researching technologies, and ultimately become ruler of the world! Play in single-player or multiplayer mode for up to 16 players.

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

Sid Meier's Civilization III CompleteThe Battle of Polytopia
GamingPickz Score7.8/107.5/10
Steam ratingVery Positive (89%, 7,789)Very Positive (94%, 5,988)
Critic aggregate90/10072/100
Price$4.99$14.99
Install size0.16 GB
Steam Deckunsupportedverified
Released20062020
DeveloperFiraxis GamesMidjiwan AB

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete vs The Battle of Polytopia, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Sid Meier's Civilization III CompleteSimulation strategy game
    The Battle of PolytopiaSimulation strategy game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Sid Meier's Civilization III CompleteStrategy, Turn-Based Strategy, Turn-Based
    The Battle of PolytopiaStrategy, Turn-Based, Turn-Based Strategy

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Sid Meier's Civilization III CompleteScore 7.8 · 89% on Steam · 90 critic
    The Battle of PolytopiaScore 7.5 · 94% on Steam · 72 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete7,789 reviews
    The Battle of Polytopia5,988 reviews · 12 add-ons · 0.16 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete$4.99
    The Battle of Polytopia$14.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Sid Meier's Civilization III CompleteUnsupported
    The Battle of PolytopiaVerified

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete takes 2 of the marked rounds to 1. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete and The Battle of Polytopia on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete (GamingPickz Score 7.8)
  • The cheaper right now: Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete ($4.99)
  • Better on a Steam Deck: The Battle of Polytopia (verified)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

StrategyTurn-Based StrategyTurn-Based4XSingleplayerMultiplayerSimulationWar

Where they differ

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete is also

ClassicHistoricalReplay ValueGrand StrategyMilitaryExploration

The Battle of Polytopia is also

Turn-Based TacticsColorfulMinimalistBuildingPvPCute

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. The Battle of Polytopia is family-friendly and approachable.

System requirements, side by side

Sid Meier's Civilization III CompleteThe Battle of Polytopia
Minimum GPU128mb Video
Minimum CPUDual Core 2.0 Ghz
Minimum RAM1 GB
Install size0.16 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete · The Battle of Polytopia.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete and 1 for The Battle of Polytopia. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

If you like one, also try

Common questions

How different are Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete and The Battle of Polytopia in scope?

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete has drawn 7,789 Steam reviews. The Battle of Polytopia has drawn 5,988 Steam reviews, ships 12 add-ons and installs in 0.16 GB.

Is Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete or The Battle of Polytopia better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete rates higher (7.8 to 7.5). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete or The Battle of Polytopia?

Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete is cheaper right now at $4.99, against $14.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

More on each