Product Details
 | Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Game of the Year Edition |
| List Price: | $19.99 |
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Product Description
With over 6 million units sold and unprecedented critical acclaim from fans and press around the world, Sid Meier’s Civilization is recognized as one of the greatest PC game franchises of all-time. Now, Sid Meier and Firaxis Games will take this incredibly fun and addictive game to new heights by adding new ways to play and win, new tools to manage and expand your civilization, all-new easy to use mod capabilities and intense multiplayer modes and options. Civilization IV will come to life like never before in a beautifully detailed, living 3D world that will elevate the gameplay experience to a whole new level. Civilization IV has already been heralded as one of the top ten games of 2005, and a must-have for gamers around the globe!Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #4677 in Video Games
- Brand: 2K Games
- Model: 710425217128
- Released on: 2005-10-24
- ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
- Platforms: Windows 2000, Windows XP
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.25" h x 5.25" w x 7.50" l, .75 pounds
Features
- Match wits against world leaders in a quest to build the ultimate empire
- Detailed, living 3D world with animated units and customizable armies
- Flexible tech tree provides more strategic choices for developing civilizations
- Easy-to-use interface; team play offers new way of setting locked alliances
- Single player or multiplayer gameplay options
Editorial Reviews
From
the Manufacturer
With over 6 million units sold and
unprecedented critical acclaim from fans and press around the world, Sid
Meier's Civilization is recognized as one of the greatest PC
game franchises of all-time. Now, Sid Meier and Firaxis Games take this
incredibly fun and addictive game to new heights by adding new ways to
play and win, new tools to manage and expand your civilization, all-new
easy-to-use mod capabilities and intense multiplayer modes and options. Civilization
IV comes to life like never before in a beautifully detailed,
living 3D world that elevates the gameplay experience to a whole new
level. Sid Meier's Civilization IV has already been heralded as
one of the top games of 2005, and a must-have for gamers around the
globe!
Features
 |
| Civ 4 features beautiful 3-D worlds with fully animated units |
 |
- Civ IV comes to life! - Beautiful 3D world with dozens of fully animated units (including culturally unique units) and totally customizable armies. Detailed cities and wonders will appear on the map. Wonder movies are back!
- Greater Accessibility and Ease of Play - An easy-to-use interface will be immediately familiar to RTS and action game players, and newcomers to the series will be able to jump in and play. Multiplayer -LAN, Internet, PBEM and Persistent Turn-Based Server (PTBS or Pitboss) offer players all-new strategies and ways to play when competing or cooperating with live opponents.
- Team Play - Whether playing multiplayer or single player, team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances that result in shared wonder effects, visibility, unit trading and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options.
- Mods and Community Tools - Designed from the ground up for modability, the game contains a powerful map editor with XML and Python support.
- Choose Your Leader - Many Civs now have 2 leaders from which to choose, with each Leader having traits that provide various bonuses to the player and lots of replayability.
- Civics - With the discovery of new techs, civic options can become available. Freedom of speech or slavery? Hereditary rule or open elections? This creates endless government choices and possibilities!
- Religion - Now there are 7 religions in the game that are unlocked through researching. When unlocked, the religion spreads through a player's empire allowing them to use the religion to help manage happiness, gain gold and create Great Prophets.Great People - As the player uses specialists they gain Great People points in the city that is utilizing the specialists. Great People include the Artist, Tycoon, Prophet, Engineer, and Scientist. They can be used to get free techs, start Golden Ages, or join a city to increase its output.
- Promotions - Each unit has a promotion path that emphasizes specific unit traits. Promotions include bonuses to Attack/Defend on specific terrains/features, movement bonuses, sight/visibility bonuses and increased withdrawal chances.
- Tech Tree - Flexible Tech tree allows players more strategic choices for developing their civilizations along unique paths.
- More Civs and all new Units and Improvements to enhance and grow your empire.
- Faster-Paced Fun - Gameplay has been streamlined for a tighter, faster and more compelling experience.
- In-Game Movies - Civ IV will have over 70 in-game movies and animated sequences.
Customer Reviews
Released as a beta version, but now works (mostly) fine
[5th version of my review -
March 1]
While I can edit this review, I can't updating the
ratings above; if I could, then I'd change them to 5 stars for 'fun' and
4 stars for 'overall' with the 1.52 patch installed.
I stand by
my earlier contention that 2K Games pushed Civ4 out the door a few
months too early. Civ4 should never have gotten through SQA (software
quality assurance) and been declared 'golden' (ready for commercial
release) with these kinds of defects. I suspect this was done to
increase Christmas sales, but the net-wide flap over the Civ4 problems
likely had just the opposite effect.
Since then, 2KGames had
released patches to fix most of the technical problems. Because of that,
I've deleted the section I originally had in this review regarding
installation and graphics driver problems; just be sure to download and
install the current Civ4 patch (version 1.52, as of this updated
posting) from the 2kgames.com web site before playing.
----------------------------
That
said, I am quite happy with the changes and expansions made to Civ4. My
highest praise goes to the actual game design changes, to wit:
--Faster
gameplay. I typically play with a huge world, but I finish a game a lot
faster than I could in Civ3. (That's not saying too much; I've still
had a few all-nighters.)
--Reduction or elimination of a lot of
the micromanagement. I am _so_ happy not to be dealing with riots; in
virtually every game that I've played, I've never had to open up a city
and reallocate who was working where. Also, automated workers are a lot
smarter (and have more options).
--The improved terrain modeling
and the increased improvements options; again, it makes things more
interesting.
--The combat unit "promotion" track. I tend to go
for non-military victories, but this feature may make me play around
more with actually conquering my neighbors. It also makes barracks more
valuable.
--The "civics" and "religion" aspect. Both are
interesting and fun, and both appear to be well-balanced.
--The
"culture borders" concept. This allowed me to stake out territory while
minimizing incursion by other nations. However, be aware that keeping
your borders closed irritates the AIs after a while.
--The "great
leaders" concept. There was a little of this in Civ3, but this new
implementation makes it a far more vital part of the game. I managed to
trigger two (2) golden ages for myself in one game (one by building the
Taj Majal, the other by using several great leaders), and I also kept a
few Great Engineers on hand to hurry some major wonder projects towards
the end of the game. And Great Artists are very useful for 'culture
bombing' neighboring cities or pre-emptively staking out large amounts
of unclaimed territory.
Most of the complaints I had (UI
response, lack of right-click menu features, raging barbarians) appear
to have been fixed or, at least, improved by the 1.52 patch. Here are a
few that remain:
--The "Show Friendly Moves" option does _not_
include units that are automaticly exploring (scouts, galleys,
etc.)--which is where I used it the most in Civ3. Indeed, there appears
to be some overall flakiness in both the "Show Friendly Moves" and "Show
Enemy Moves" options--it's hard to tell at times whether Civ4 is paying
any attention to those options.
-- Even with the 1.52 patch
installed, when you complete a game, it's best to exit Civ4 before
starting a new game. I've had one or two abrupt crashes when I've tried
to go from completing one game to starting a new one.
All this
said, Civ4 is a major improvement (in game design and graphics) over
Civ3. It is very addictive, and I've spent far more time playing it over
the past several months than I should have. ..bruce..
Strategy-gamers' heaven
Why the ridiculously low
three-star average rating for this fantastic game? Only because of angry
one-star reviews from a minority of customers who have encountered
technological problems, which have since been patched. I play Civ IV on a
laptop and have had no technological problems whatsoever. Civilization
is the greatest strategy series ever invented, and Civ IV has improved
by leaps and bounds over its predecessors. Result: a gaming sensation,
which is easily the best strategy game ever made.
The game is so
good it is hard to know where to begin. The dynamic 3D graphics,
soundtrack, presentation, interface etc are all absolutely AAA. You can
zoom in and out at will, and the graphical detail is absolutely
astonishing. The music is also great and atmospheric. It changes to
match the era, catching the mood nicely. All that is absolutely
top-notch, yet it isn't even the major reason why I would recommend this
game.
Of course, strategy games stand and fall by their
gameplay, and here too Civilization IV does not disappoint. If you've
played any of the Civilization series, then you'll know just what an
addictive, "one-more-turn" experience it is. And I mean addictive. It's
all too easy for me to skip meals and sleep because I am so completely
engrossed in planning my next strategic move.
This much is
familiar from the days of Civilization II (which I spent literally
hundreds of hours playing in the old days). I'm pleased to say that the
latest installment has successfully captured all of the old feel of the
classic Civilization. I say this, by the way, as someone who never got
into Civilization III, which meant that I certainly had my doubts before
getting Civ IV. These doubts were quickly dispelled. The new features
which have been included in Civ IV, such as religion and great people,
add whole new layers of strategy to the game. At the same time, they all
combine elegantly with the basic game system of old.
What's even
more important is the radical effort that has been made to streamline
the amount of micromanagement. This was always the Achilles' heal of the
previous versions of the game. I could find myself spending an hour on
every move, painstakingly moving grains of corn from one tile to another
in city after city, in order to avoid the waste that would otherwise
occur. The great news is that the designers have at last woken up to the
pointlessness and tediousness of most of this micromanagement.
For
example, now surplus production points do not go to waste (as they used
to in previous versions) but instead go towards the production of the
next item you want to build. This "roll over" of production (which also
applies to food, scientific research, etc) means that you can
concentrate on managing your empire, instead of managing every single
tile every single turn. At the same time, the cities have also become
much smarter at managing their resources, and there is a nice array of
options (all very easily accessible in the city display) which enable
you to guide a city's production priorities. Whether you choose to
automate, or pursue a more hands-on approach, it is all very easy to
manage.
As a result of these changes, the game now moves along
much faster, while still containing a more-than-satisfying amount of
thinking and strategizing every turn. This means I can sit down to start
a game and reasonably expect to finish it within a week or two of
intermittent playing. Sadly, the same cannot be said for many other
strategy games on the market, which are often so long and complex that
they are essentially unplayable.
What else? As a veteran of Civ
II, I was pleasantly surprised to see what a challenge the game has
become. Now, an effective military is just as important for defence as
it is for attack. If you are weak, the AI will show you no mercy, and it
can mount remarkably effective invasions. In general, warfare is now
much more challenging and realistic. Pillaging has become a far more
effective strategy than in the past, which means that fighting no longer
revolves entirely around the capture of cities as it used to. The added
emphasis on combined arms means that much more thought has to be given
to the composition and deployment of your armed forces.
Really I
could go on and on lavishing praise on this lavish game. But what am I
doing? Why am a wasting time writing this review when I could be getting
on with my next move?
Turn based
strategy at its best
Like previous Civilization games, Civ 4 is a turn based strategy game that gives you control over
the development of your civilization. Without going into all the
features, I will point out the strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths:
While
some will complain about this, the overall game has been redesigned.
Unlike previous games which encouraged the building of as many cities as
you could in the early part of the game, Civ 4 goes to a more strategic
approach, but also gives you something to do each turn(instead of
setting production and waiting several turns for what you want to build
to finish). The game now eliminates the "corruption" system of previous
games, and goes to a system where there is an expense that the city
places on your government. So, you start with one city, and you need to
build a bit slower, at least in the early game.
The graphics
engine is now 3D, and with a decently powerful video card, you can see
all your city improvements from the main map. You can zoom in and out as
well.
Cultural boundaries are based on the culture output of
your cities, and you can use culture as a way to expand your borders and
capture border cities.
Religion is a system that allows the
founder(s) of the different religions certain extras. If you are the
founder of a religion, and you accept that religion as your "state
religion", you can see all the cities that contain that religion.
Religion can spread on it's own, or you can help it by sending out
missionaries.
The game is open for mods, and there are many out
there that you can download to tweak the game in different ways.
Replay
value is high due to multi-player, as well as the random factor in map
generation. There are some static maps, but there are also a number of
random maps that can be adjusted based on your preferred play style. If
you prefer there being only one continent, or higher or lower ocean
levels, or a larger or smaller map, you can start the game with the
settings YOU prefer.
There are also different game "speeds",
which decide how long each game will take. A marathon game on a huge map
can take over six hours, but you don't need to play on marathon.
Each
of the AI civ leaders have their own personalities, with some being
more warlike than others.
With the Warlords expansion, you have
both unique units for each civilization, as well as unique buildings.
These unique buildings and units replace a "standard" building or unit.
There
are many more positives, but no game is without it's negatives, even
though I don't really consider many of these to be real flaws.
If
your video card does not support directX 9 in hardware, the game won't
look as good, and you will need to turn off certain graphics options.
That is due to the video card not being able to handle certain graphics
features. Even with DirectX 9, if you have a low end video card,
including integrated video in most laptops, you may encounter some
graphics issues. Intel video tends to be the source of many problems,
but older laptops with DirectX 8.1 or earlier graphics chips tend to be
the source of many display problems.
Even with a reasonably fast
machine, video, CPU, etc, if you play on a huge world with 17 computer
controlled civilizations, you will find that you need to wait a bit
between turns(as the AI civs get their turn). This can make it a little
annoying, but again, the choice of playing on a huge world with an
older/slower computer is yours.
The AI at times can be a
bit...slow. This is why multi-player is a good thing, because you can
play against other humans. There are some mods out there that help with
this. The next expansion(Beyond the Sword) has improved AI as a feature.
If you prefer a game that lets you win or lose based on thinking, and less on reflexes, then Civ 4 should be seen as a great game. If reflexes and fast gameplay are what you look for, then Civ 4 is NOT for you. Warlords and the second expansion(due out in July of 2007) add(and will add) to the base game. There are also a lot of elements in Civ 4 that will appeal to those interested in history, since there are references in the game to real life leaders, cultures, and world wonders.
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