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I've played all the Civilization versions over the years and this is my least favorite "improved" version. There are some new features that are great- such as religion, new resources and battle experience upgrades, but playability suffers from confusing informational graphics (terrain is difficult to discern without the resource icons turned on and the screen graphics become confusingly cluttered when they are turned on) and poor informaional display organization. While some of the drudgery of empire management have been streamlined or elimiated, managing production and resources are actually more cumbersome. The whole look and feel of the game interface has changed: better in terms of sexy animated graphics, worse in terms of playability. It is still fun to play and the new features are interesting, but I often found myself going back to playing the previous version instead. I suspect that another version will be following on the heels of this one that will clean up the playability issues. If you can wait until then, then you will probably thank yourself later.Read full review
Overall, the game is excellent. The complex issues affecting the evolution of any civilization are convincingly simulated in this game. You have to worry about everything--money, food, technology, religion, annoying or dangerous neighbors, etc. And diplomacy is a skill you will have to master. But while the details are critical in building your nation from the ground up (literally), they are manageable with the game's interface, which allows you to select and focus on the issues you find important, leaving the AI to manage the rest. And the AI does a decent job, for the most part. Graphics are OK, but not wonderful. As for the music, if you like classical music you'll be happy with this game; otherwise, you might find the background score boring at best and irritating at worst. If combat is your thing, you might want to steer away from this game. While the military aspects are enjoyable, they are not terribly realistic and the combat system is badly oversimplified. Sometimes it leads to ridiculous results (like a bunch of archers defeating a unit of WWII-era infantry). And you will likely find that any serious warfare is out of the question if you want your civilization to advance; it is simply too expensive, in time and resources, to contemplate conquest on a wide scale--especially late in the game. One other thing: If you have a slow computer, don't bother. My own machine far exceeds the recommended requirements, let alone the minimum, and the game still runs very slowly at times. The load and save times are annoying, especially if it is late in the game or the map is large. As for the minimum requirements, I suspect the game would be virtually unplayable at that level. You would be doing nothing but waiting for the computer to catch up with your mouseclicks.Read full review
I've played the first civ way back when and loved it. I'd play it over and over again back on window 3.1. The thing about civ 4 is that it has a whole lot of replay value. You can play it through once and beat it but there is more than one way to win. Also, with all the different nations the game doesn't play out the same. Adding religion and a bunch of new little things even add to the unpredictability the game keeps you on your toes. That being said, this game is in fact turn based, so while it is fun, the pace is slow. This is a game for thinkers and more about building an empire than fighting a massive battle. There are battles but it is nothing like a RTS, more about placement and execution.
As many of you may know, the original Civilization title was released back in 1991. Since then we have seen Civilization II and III emerge as the traditional follow up to one of the best selling PC Game titles. However, the sequels were both stuck on the old interface and game style of the original title. This is not so with the freshly released Civilization IV. As IGN.com puts it: "the new sequel reenergizes core concepts of the series, staying faithful to what fans expect while also creating a wholly original game." All the monotonous aspects of the game have been eliminated or improved and the game challanges both, veternas and newbies alike without hindering the experiance of leading your empire through over 6,000 years of existance. Every time you start a new adventure there's always a different twist from the way you decide to build up and structure your empire to the ways you tear down and destroy other empires in your way. The new graphics engine and in-game movies add more realism as you race to build a vast empire. Are you going to be a warlord or an economic superpower? Are you going to be a leader everyone else is going to look up to or are you going to opress your people? How will your empire be remembered?Read full review
This game was not what I expected. I have played CivCity Rome and really enjoyed it, as I could place the buildings and build cities; yet it was very easy to learn how to play the CivCity Rome. After about a half hour, I was able to play CivCity Rome with ease. CivCity Rome allows me to set the difficulty level; so CivCity Rome still presents a challenge even though it was easy to learn and to play. CivCity Rome allows one to choose military or peaceful campaigns. I really enjoy how that game is set up. Civilization 4 seems to be VERY in depth and seems like it will take a while to learn it before I can really play it and enjoy it. There is not an instruction book, just a Tutorial to watch. So, half the time, when I play Civilization IV I can't figure out what I am supposed to be doing. Civilization IV is a "turn" game...you do one thing, then end your turn (the tutorial said "Think board game"). For a one player game, that seemed boring and unnecessary to me. I don't see the need for a turn when I am the only one playing. Although, I imagine that is a great idea if you choose to play online against other people. The graphics are very good in Civilization IV. I wish I had purchased CivCity Rome instead. Just my opinion.Read full review
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