[1] Colonization is much like a more-developed version of Sid Meier's previous game Civilization (1991) in visual design and handling, but the two have marked differences in gameplay.

The player controls the colonial forces of either England, France, the Netherlands, or Spain; the other powers are then played by the computer.

Resources harvested from the land, such as cotton or tobacco, can be processed and converted into commodities, such as cloth and cigars, and sold at a greater profit.

The king may at different times raise colonial taxes to pay for a war taking place in Europe or for some other reason.

Moreover, the player manages their citizens, educating them in various skills to increase their productivity in areas such as farming, resource gathering and manufacturing.

If another colonial power has already established a mission in a village, a missionary may attempt to denounce them as heretics; this has a 50% chance of succeeding.

When waging war, the player has a basic colonial army consisting of militiamen, artillery, cavalry, and ships.

Weapons and soldiers can be purchased from Europe; however, to win independence, the player will need to develop a home-grown arms industry.

Indians will initially only have braves and no horses or guns; over time they may obtain them via trade or by defeating colonial forces in battle.

In addition, missionaries may convert Indians to Christianity and convince them to live in the player's towns, where they are a little better than free citizens at working the land (and unlike specialists, are better at any type of it), but poor at industrial trades.

Some professions, for example growing cotton, sugar and tobacco, can only be learned in Indian villages or in a colony as they are unknown in Europe.

An unskilled colonist (including a petty criminal) who enters a neutral or friendly Indian village on horseback may (rarely) be killed, may be given a gift, or may be promoted to be a specialist scout.

Analogous to "Wonders of the World" in the Civilization series of games, social and industrial advances are achieved by the addition of "Founding Fathers" to the "Continental Congress", which are gained by generating a sufficient number of "Liberty Bells" through the colonial pride of settlers.

One main driving impulse in Colonization is the harvesting of natural resources, such as lumber (for building), ore (for manufacturing), and food (for population growth).

He then has to defeat most of the King's army to win, which is not an easy task as the royal army and navy are individually more powerful and usually more numerous than the player's colonial forces, although the King's troops are unused to fighting in the New World and are more easily defeated in rough terrain.

[10] Next Generation stated that "MPS Labs borrowed heavily from classic hits of the past to create a surprisingly addictive title with a flavor all its own.

It uses the upgraded Civilization IV engine and features the original gameplay (with some changes, particularly to colonist education), 3D graphics, an updated AI, and multiplayer support.