Onward and upward

As an avid Civilization III player it was with some interest that I greeted the release of the latest in the series, Civilization IV. In case you don't know, the Civilizaiton series of games are turn based simulations of the entire history of mankind. While there are a few games out there that encompass this or nearly this scope, the vast majority these days are real time simulations. The difference is that with a turn-based simulation you get some time to sit back and carefully consider your options. In Civilization IV this is a good thing.

Civlization IV is far more than an updating of Civ III. The graphics are of course in a totally different category. The quality of the graphics and the animations are a quantum leap forward. Personally, I didn't find that all that compelling. I'm more interested in the strategies than anything else so the graphics are not all that important. In fact I found it rather annoying that in order to play this game I had to buy a new video card for my relatively new computer. Luckily I got it on ebay so I got a good deal.

The strategies are what really makes Civ IV shine. One of the biggest innovations in Civ IV is religion. No longer is religion handled in the generic manner of Civ III. As you develop you will have the opportunity to found one or more of the world's great religions. You will also have the opportunity to spread those religions through your civlizaiton and to others as well. The effects can be profound. You will find that civs who share your religion are going to tend to be more friendly than ones who do not.

Another innovation is the new tech tree. Instead of being articially divided into eras, the players may choose to entirely ignore parallell techs and focus on specific directions at the expense of others. It is interesting to compare the traditional balanced technical growth of Civ III with the freer method of Civ IV.

Then there are the great people that you will develop as your civilization grows. These people will help you advance in tech, culture, religion or simply enrich the cities in which they arise. That's up to you. You can also produce missionaries to send out into the world to spread your favorite faith.

I could go on and on but I won't. Civilization IV is demanding and compelling. If you desire a challenge you can't go far wrong. It has many improvements over it's predecessors and since they were extraordinary games in their own right, Civlization IV can be nothing but another winner.

You can get the detail anywhere...THIS IS WHAT I THINK!

Would be the best game if it didn't take so much memory to run, causing some computers to pause, sporadically quit even crash a computer.

This version is much improved from the last (by the way I could still play Civ 3 forever). The units, graphics, options and city control are more improved. They got rid of some tedious or redundant features in the game. The game is like playing a new version of Madden, the concept is the same but it takes some getting used to.

This game takes a lot of time to master so I will use a Civ Cliche...you will be spending many nights, even DAYS playing this game. Its hard to stop playing and is so good that EVERYONE who plays it gets addicted to it AND admits it! I haven't met a single person that played this game that didn't make a joke about staying up all night playing.

You want some details. There are more cultures to choose from and some improved units but the cool changes are in the cities and civ controls. The city is more efficient and easier to understand (but harder to master). The fights are different and more interesting. The points of your position still matter but the chances of a come back win are greater.

There is a lot that can be said about this game. But the only statement that needs to be made is that this is THE BEST (turn by turn style) Strategy game.

This game is THE benchmark. I highly recommend buying it and then giving it to a loved one to hide from you...as you will neglect your life with a computer game if you don't! lol Thanks

How to each an old dog new tricks

I have been a player of civ since it came out in the days of yore, each installment has been an improvement over the last, and 4 is no exception, and, in my humble opinion, the best to date, keeping all the stuff you loved, removing much of what you hated and adding all sorts of new goodies.
For those who love to micromanage, you can still do that, for those who hate to, this installment remedies that greatly, much more streamlined and intuitive than all the previous games, a n00b can get into it easily, and vets of the series will quickly notice, and, probably love all the new stuff, vastly improved graphics, no more troublesome pollution, the addition or religion, better, more challanging AI, and, best of all, the part that really made the last game, they made the game much easier to mod, which adds infinitly to the already incredible replay value of this game, any strategy fan will love this game, be prepared to lose many hours planning the direction of your people.
The drawbacks are little from what I have discovered, and the only one worth mentioning is the with the increased graphics, the systems that you could run civ 3 on, will just sit and stare at the requirements for this one, but unless you computer is a fossil, you are probably ok, all the same, I have seen one complaint that larger maps crash, this is due to the fact that with more surface area, the computer AI will have much more to do, and therefore, to think about, whuch means, unless you have a better than average system, your computer will crash faster than a P2 trying to run Doom 3, not pretty.
In summary, if you like this sort of game (Strategy/Deity/control the world type stuff), get it, it's a very safe bet you will like it, if you already like the Civ series, why have you not bought this yet?, what's wrong with you?

don't waste your money on this game

Sorely and terribly disappointed.

While the graphics are somewhat nice to look at, the actual gameplay is horrible. You are not managing an empire, you are loosely managing a series of city-states. The game is not realistic in any fashion nor is it enjoyable.
When founding a city, a player is forced to determine what type of city it will be. Either a city with a high cultural value and industrial base or a city that simply put in a place to acquire a resource.

If a city is located next to two or even three food resources, it cannot send excess food to another city that is lacking in food for development. The same is true if one city has a high potential for industrial but cannot send production, in the game, production is referred to as hammers, to another city to build structures like libraries, temples or other need buildings.

In one instance, I declared war on the Chinese before they had "discovered&a​mp;quot; the location of my empire's boundaries. I found them first. After I declared war, I watched their warrior head straight for my capital city. This leads me to believe that all a.i. players automatically know the locations of cities/empires so the player is at a serious disadvantage from the start.

I also seriously disagree with the ability to produce food. According to the game, there is no way for an empire to increase food production of a plot from ancient times with the exception of the medieval technology of irrigation until a player discovers the technology of "Biology&​quot; in the modern era which is pure B.S. as advances in farming an agricultural have occurred throughout history.

The diplomacy is a joke. While an empire can rate you to other empires and can view other leaders view of other leaders, you do not have the ability to input your feelings to the game and show your approval to other A.I. players.

I cannot recommend this game to anyone for any reason as it is just too unenjoyable and in some cases, excruciatingly painful to play. I myself uninstalled it and put it away.

PC Game where you try to create the best civilization!

I decided to purchase this game because I am involved in and online gaming community (www.dayaftertom.com)that has a group of people that play it. We play many First Person Shooter (FPS) games such as, BF2, and Unreal Tournament. The game can be learned easily by playing the single player mode but can also be played on-line against friends. What I like about this game is the various civilizations you can create and how each civilization can be created differently. Not only can you build up your civilization by creating cities with vast armies, but you can mine gems and metals, harvest crops and even trade goods to better yourself. You can create religion and spread it as well as wage wars. You can take over the other civilization or destroy them outright. There are so many particulars that it’s impossible to list. Warriors, Axmen, Spearmen, Horse Archers, Long Bowmen and others fight for lands and wealth. Build wonders to make your citizens happy. Conduct research to get armor for your warriors or boats to set sail to find new land. The possibilities are endless.

The only fall back is the addicting nature of the game. You can easily get caught up playing for hours at a time.