Sid Meier's Civilization IV
by 2K Games
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Video Game Reviews of Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Customer Review: Best of Civ
Summary: 5 Stars
First, I will say that I haven't had any problems at all with the game being too slow or crashing. I'm using a Pentium Core 2 Duo with an upgraded graphics card. This game probably didn't run very well when it first came out because of its buggy initial release and the slower hardware that people had 2 years ago. But it runs great now.
At first the game didn't seem that exciting, after all I played the previous Civs. But after playing it awhile it became addictive. Much more so than Civ3 which was the weakest Civ. I finally conclude that this is the best and definitive version of Civilization. If you liked the earlier versions, you will love this (assuming your computer was purchased within the last two years).
Why is this so much better? The special resources, religions, and culture are all elements that weren't in the original Civs. You have to be much more careful about WHERE you found your cities. You have to choose between having your workers build farms or cottages. Keeping forests instead of chopping them down is also a viable option. There just seem to be more things going on that you have to think about. I have a very difficult time winning at Prince level which is just one level up from the level where you and the computer players are on equal footing.
Diplomacy is essentially the same as earlier versions, but you now get a detailed display of WHY leaders like you or don't like you. Instead of seeming random, it now feels like you have control over which leaders like you and which ones don't.
The map generating feature gives you more control and works better than ever. The AI is a much better naval strategist--it used to be that it was too easy to win on an island map because the AI didn't know how to use navies. Now island maps are fun, and you have three different kinds of island maps to choose from.
Customer Review: Only 3 Stars???
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't believe this game only gets an average of 3 stars. It is one of the most complex, thoughtful, detailed, deep and addictive games ever released on the PC. I can't believe these people. Oh, boo hoo. It's turn-based. Deal with it!Customer Review: A throughly involved game
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoy this game and like other have lost track of time. I enjoy the multiplayer aspect and the graphics are great as well. This is a time consuming game and takes thinking and planning - for some it may be slow going since it is turn bases. There are multiple ways to win and many different play styles can be use, which I enjoy. Lot to check out and involved in the game - can be slightly over welheming of some one new to the Civ series, but worth the time.Customer Review: Civilization 4:
Summary: 5 Stars
I have played the Civilization series since Civ 1. (Believe it or not, my grandfather introduced me to the game - he must have played it since it first came out, but I started about 10 years ago) I have enjoyed every version of the game, but once I started playing Civ 4, I realized that I could never go back. Civilization 4 is my favorite of the Civilization series for several reasons.
1. The developers have by all appearances worked very hard to both "remove unfun elements", as they called it, and to keep to the standard Civilization style. I think they have done both well.
2. Careful balancing of the game allows one to play a Quick game or a Marathon game, as well as two speeds in between. The Quick games can be played through in one to several hours, but the Marathon games can last 20+ hours. The speed setting allows me to fit the game to the time I have to play it (though I'm starting to prefer Marathon to the Normal speed I was playing).
3. Perhaps the most valuable thing the developers of Civ 4 did is make the game easily moddable. If you don't like Civ 4 the way it is now or wish some feature were included, odds are you can find a mod to meet your desire. Whoever made the decision to make Civ 4 easily moddable should get a raise - Civilization 4 could literally be the turn-based game to end all turn-based games, because whenever you get tired of playing a certain way, you just have to download a mod to get a new experience. In certain cases, the game can be turned into something else completely.
Also, consider buying the expansions for Civ 4. I have Warlords and will buy Beyond the Sword after I play my money's worth out of Warlords. Both expansion packs (but especially Beyond the Sword) will entertain you for hours and hours, late into the night. FYI, I've gotten 6 or less hours of sleep the last two weeks for that very reason.
Enjoy!
Customer Review: Disappointed a third time
Summary: 2 Stars
I've been playing Civilization for over a decade, all the way back to Civ I. I excitedly buy each installment of the series hoping "this-time" they'll get it right. But each time so much energy is put into graphics and bells and so little is changed to make the game more than a mind-numbing waste of time (this from a guy who has spent hundreds maybe thousands of hours playing the games). I loose interest because all the wonderful subtlety constantly goes out the window with the inevitable surprise attack from a 3rd rate civ from the other side of the world. Each game becomes just another race to get the techs that lead to the best guns.
The diplomacy is only marginally better than Civ 2. Trade and trade routes (the most significant motivator in human history) is, and always has been, pathetic. It's still handed like spoiled kids trading snacks at lunchtime. "I'll give you my Twinkie for your coal." Religion is an interesting addition but it's used in such a benign way it does little to change the game. The great-leaders seem exciting at first but it quickly becomes apparent they are little more than anonymous "bonus cards" that show up occasionally. While the graphics are at first impressive, the game really dissolves into endless tedious hours pushing little animated soldiers around the screen.
There is still no storyline. No random events to keep it interesting. Still nothing to distinguish unique cultures beyond graphics and special units. The AI leaders act predictably hostile and uncooperative. There is no romance in the game. I don't mean royal arranged marriages, I mean the thrill you get watching that online ad narrated by Martin Sheen. There is no epic sweep that could so easily be there if the authors spent less time animating little sprites you ignore by the third game, and more time adding true personality. It needs heroes and revolutionaries, pirates and brigands, disasters and surprises. Add real trade routes and the need to provision ships and caravans. That would make the map actually strategic instead of just a pixel battlefield.
How about colonies and revolutions? New civs that appear over time? How `bout leaders that change over time? It's so stupid to be negotiating with FDR in 3000 BC. There are so many things that could be added to make the game more interseting and dynamic not just pretty to look at.
But sadly even in Civ 4, Each game is very like the last, only the map really ever changes--from game to game or version to version.
Like the three versions before, Civ IV is over by end of the bronze age. If you aren't the undisputed top dog by 1AD you might as well cash in your chips. Except for war, there is no real unpredictability in the game. War wouldn't be so bad except it's so tediously long. On this game's calendar Ike would have landed in Normandy in 1999, only a few years after Napoleon finally got back from Moscow. And frigates are still able to sink battleships, and your tanks still burst into flames attacking Knights.
I'm always so hopeful loading in the newest version of Civilization. But yet again I am disappointed. After all these years, it's still little more than a cross between Sim City and Risk.