Sid Meier’s Civilization IV – PC – Review

Hmm, study
for a test or play Civ IV? Play Civ IV, of course. A ten-page
paper due in two days? Duh, play more Civ IV. Have a stack of other
games and books to review? It’s a no-brainer, play more Civ IV. Ran out
of clothes to wear because you haven’t done the laundry in two weeks? Haven’t
you been paying attention? Wear dirty clothes (by now you smell, anyway) and
play more Civ IV!

As you can
tell, I’m just a tad bit obsessed with Civilization IV. The fact that
I’ve also recently gone back to school full-time after a hiatus of ten years,
and am trying to simultaneously keep up with all my church activities, family
schedules and review responsibilities is only slightly problematic. Sleep is
over-rated, anyway.

I’m one of
those people that always reads the manual before beginning the job at hand. So
yes, I always play the tutorial in any game, whether I’m familiar with
the series or not. Some of these tutorials are good, and some are wretched.
But this is the first time one gives me the warm fuzzies all over just
thinking about it.

Sid Meier is
the original creator of the Civilization series. While different
companies have designed and published the different installments of the
series, the series itself has retained the basic gameplay features, largely
due to Mr. Meier’s continuing involvement. Civilization III was an
excellent game, but offered an emotionally detached experience. While
engaging, it just wasn’t as addictive as Heroes of Might and Magic and
Caesar III. However, when I began the tutorial in Civilization IV
and was immediately greeted by an image of Sid himself with the words: “Hi,
I’m Sid. Welcome to Civilization IV,” I sensed that this game was going to be
different. Sure enough, by the end of the tutorial, I felt like dear old Sid
was a member of my family.

This
tutorial is hands down the best-designed computer game tutorial, as of this
writing. It should be required for all game designers to examine and learn
from it. People who have never played an empire building game in their life
will be able to successfully play this one. How can they not, when Sid tells
them to: “Click on the settler by placing the cursor over the settler and
pressing the left mouse button.” Can’t get any plainer than that. And don’t
let this fool you into thinking that this tutorial is simple or patronizing,
it isn’t. Coupled with the direct language is plenty of prime meat to satisfy
anyone’s taste. This tutorial really demonstrates each basic concept of the
game, along with a great, step-by-step menu item description. It could have
explained a bit more about the relationship between earning money, commerce
and production on the area tiles, but this is a tiny quibble.

This is a
revamped edition of the Civ series. Don’t worry, the essential features
of Civilization are still present, but many aspects have been changed
and improved, providing a much more streamlined and smooth playing experience.
The biggest changes have to do with the control players have over their own
gaming experience. Now, players have more choices over the game’s length,
spread and difficulty. The sandbox mode offers an incredibly wide range of
choices for those compulsive “tinkerers” out there, with a WorldBuilder editor
for people who want instant in-game control over their worlds, changeable XML
files for people who can edit simple text source files, and Python files to
add special terrain tile effects for those can manage simple scripting. And,
sometime in early 2006, Firaxis will be adding an SDK feature that will allow
gamers to actually play with the computer’s AI. Cool!

The
interface has also been changed into a much more intuitive menu with more of
an RTS flavor. Information and menu choices are instantly available by either
scrolling over units and buildings with the mouse, or by hot-keys. Retrieving
different types of informational displays is very easy with menu choices at
the top and bottom of the screen. The menu icons are logical representations
of their functions, and are quite attractively drawn, as well.

I especially
like the “The Big Picture” option available after a unit or research
technology has been completed, allowing players to instantly see how the
improvement fits into other choices now available. This is helpful,
considering that with so many items being built at the same time over many
turns, it’s easy to forget just what the ultimate goal was originally. The
resource productions of the tiles could have better information and
explanation, though. It’s more difficult to get an overall sense of production
coming in vs production going out than it could be, even with the advisor
screens. These screens could be more informative than they are.

Technology
options have been tweaked, mainly to allow for alternative choices for various
paths, instead of the rigidity in the previous versions. Now, players can
choose one of two techs to lead to a specific tech one step further, instead
of having to research both to access the later tech. The technology is no
longer so tightly tied to the era concept, either.

Different
game modes are available at first start-up: Single player, which includes Play
Now and Scenario options, and Multiplayer. The Play Now is the traditional
campaign mode of strategy games, where players begin in the dawn of time and
march forward through history until they win against the computer players.
Scenarios offer specific games wherein players have existing worlds with
different challenges to meet. The multiplayer mode offers a multiplicity of
choices: play over a LAN or Internet connection, play a “hot-seat” game on the
same computer, or even play by email! I’m definitely intrigued by the email
option, as I for one don’t have time to sit down and play a game for an
extended block of time, but could send emails at various times. I really
enjoyed playing the Hasbro email games from several years ago.

Each
civilization leader has two traits available, as in previous games, but these
traits are new. Traits include: Creative (+2 culture per turn/city),
Industrious (+50% wonder production), Expansive (+2 health/city), and
Organized (-50% civic upkeep cost), among others. These traits also allow for