Civilization IV

"It's welcoming to us newbies to the Civilization Universe!"

At the end of one of your reigns, one of the options sums this game up perfectly. Just one more go.

Graphics - 7

While the graphics in Civilization IV are nothing groundbreaking, they do the job as well as it needs to be done. Instead of hundreds of little men running about, doing your bidding for you, they are like giants - making them easily visible apart from each other. No zooming in needs to be done to get a look at their weapons, you can have the distance set at the default (or zoom in or out with the middle mouse wheel) and still recognize your men.

The cities themselves are the right size in comparison to the map - which looks lovely, by the way. Although, when I tend to play on larger maps the world looks a little blocky, but scrolling it to the centre of the screen smooths it out. There's another (minor) graphical glitch I've come across - one involving the model of Hatshepsut. Sometimes the top half of her face is black, and you can see the un-skinned model.

The graphic style is very nice, but don't be expecting graphics like F.E.A.R or Half-Life 2.

Gameplay - 9

Nearly perfect, but, there are a few flaws mainly in the combat. The general idea of the gameplay is this:

You start out with a group of settlers (and warriors, on the lower levels) and build a city (simple click of a button on the interface). From here, your empire expands, and you go through screens of statistics and options. Wait, the empire expanding part sounded good - but screens of statistics is a little boring, I hear you say. The statistics are vital, yes, but you moments looking at them, pick the most beneficial option and click the icon. Then, you watch as your city and empire changes to your own needs. There must be HUNDREDS of city graphics, as every building you build (and there is a hell of a lot of them!) changes the way your city looks. It'll go from mud huts and straw roofs to the UN HQ and a Space Elevator. It's absolutely brilliant.

Combat is ridiculously simplistic, and is extremely easy to succeed with on lower difficulty levels. However, on more difficult games, you have to pay attention to the enemies cities and warriors. Attacking an enemy city on "Settler" would be easy - the Fortification bonus defenders receive is pretty much non-existant. On something like the Noble setting, you have to start using minor tactics. And as it gets higher, you need to really think about what you are doing.

But, with the good, comes the only real niggle I have. I was playing a short Time-based victory match the other night, and was crusading through Spanish territories with my Modern Armour and Gunships. I come to a poorly defended city (2x Longbow + 1x Catapult) and send my Gunship to attack. Takes down the first attachment of Longbow fighters easily. Second group comes out. One fires an arrow and it hits the Gunship. The Gunship falls. It quite angered me that I rushed to get my tanks and Gunships for them to be destroyed by Longbowmen! While it was rare for this to happen, it is still annoying.

Also, for us newbs to the game, there is an extremely handy Tutorial (voiced by Meier himself) to get to grips with.

A solid game, with some bugs (memory leak, a couple of minor graphics problems) that should be ironed out with a patch.

There's also online play, but I haven't tried that out.

Sound - 6

Not much to say about, but the music is quite catchy, albeit a little freaky. I HATE tribal music with a passion! There's very little voice acting, but it's done fine. Also, Leonard Nimoy introduced you to the beginning of your games! Cool stuff, eh?

Sound effects are alright. The sound of a Nuke exploding is awesome.

Lifespan - 10

Will last easily until Civ V comes out - FACT.

Overall - 8.4

A great game, with a few minor issues stop this from being a great.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/09/05