Hey, that was kinda evil. I expected screenshots, instead I was thrown into a live game and ended up spending quite a lot more time than intended. ;P

I just lost half an hour there... and probably some more time in the future !

Th web based game works great (and IMO the graphics are certainly polished to at least civ3 standards).

Welp, they sure optimized the ad loading code. I got to see nice animated ads while staring at a Loading spinner for the app.

Still has a very vintage vibe to it; I'm not sure how favourably it compares with Civ II (1996)...

Some people appreciate retro looks, but everything from the sprite resolution to the colour palette feels like a nineties aesthetic.

Thanks, the Amplio used the original Civ2 sprite resolution and colour palette as a starting point. It seems to have hold up well.

There's also some layout logic at work. If you look at the way the units are aligned in the tileset you may notice that defensive units point right and offensive units point left.

Yeah, I paid money for Civ 5 and I'm happy to have done so, just because it looks so gorgeous. Maybe I'm just superficial.

Nothing is shown there. I assume it needs javascript. Why would I need javascript to a page with image links?

You need JS to play the game in your browser. https://xkcd.com/1367/