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| PLATFORM: PC |
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 ver since its inception in 1991, Sid Meier’s Civilization has been the strategy franchise that everything else has to compare to. Putting the fate of an entire civilization in the hands of the player, from the Stone Age to the near future, turned out to be a great idea – especially when backed by Firaxis’ incredibly tight design. Several iterations on the gameplay later, we have Civilization IV. And a brighter day has dawned for strategy fans.
This is the kind of sequel that fans hope for. Though this title retains the core feeling and design that define the franchise, the list of improvements and streamlined features could fill a fair-sized novel. Chief among them, however, is the absolutely brilliant interface. Civ IV achieves the Holy Grail of game design in this department: hidden but accessible depth, easily visible vital information, and simple menu-free control. The practical effects of this are that veteran Civ fans will be able to quickly get to all the low-level decision-making they need to make sure their empire is running at absolute peak efficiency, while newer players will be able to easily jump in and start playing without being overwhelmed by minutiae. Considering that players have control over everything from commercial treaties and wealth allocation to scientific research and global wars, this is an impressive feat.
The new features in this sequel blend in perfectly with the core Civilization gameplay. The most important one is the Civics system. Rather than having your empire’s traits determined solely on one political axis (Are you democratic, communistic, or despotic?), players can now customize their culture on five different levels (Religion, Economy, Law, etc.) much like in Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri. In Civ IV as well as its predecessors, these choices have a huge impact of how your people work, trade, and react to your foreign and domestic policies. The added level of control that the Civics system gives you is an incredibly useful tool for managing your civilization. The rest of the new features are great additions, but not nearly as groundbreaking as Civics. Primarily, they give certain less war-like styles of play a greater breadth of options in pursuing non-aggressive diplomatic and economic goals – which is fantastic if you’re not into the whole “conquer everything” mentality.
For all that my inner Civilization dork is completely thrilled with everything Firaxis has done with Civilization IV, some niggling concerns remain. Due to the balance between attack-oriented and defensive units, it’s still incredibly difficult to prosecute an offensive war before the advent of gunpowder. It’s also still possible to get hosed by the random distribution of necessary strategic resources like oil and aluminum. However, I really can’t think of a better strategy title for genre enthusiasts and newcomers alike. Even if conquering the world from the dawn of civilization to the space race isn’t your thing, you can play through a number of smaller pre-made scenarios, like Alexander’s war against the Persians or the American Revolution. And thanks to the fact that the game is built from the ground up to be extensively and easily modded, owning Civilization IV is just going to get better and better as the huge Civilization community digs in and starts coming up with new things to do with the engine.
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There’s an idea that has somehow developed out there that turn-based strategy needs to be complicated and difficult. Civilization IV scoffs at that notion and establishes itself as one of the smartest and most accessible games in years. There’s a precarious but perfectly executed balance between giving long time, hardcore players all the options they expect, and giving beginners an easy step up throughout. A rousing score of excellent classical music and the dulcet tones of Leonard Nimoy narrating some of history’s greatest proverbs give an air of sophistication and intelligence to the passage of time. The abstractions used to illustrate the developments of technology works great most of the time, even if it’s a little odd that my archers can take down a machine gun squad from time to time. Overall, the sense of wonder and power as the centuries turn is tangible. If you’ve yet to try the turn-based strategy scene, this is the time to start, and this is the game to do it with. |
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9.5 |
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| CONCEPT: |
| Mold your wandering Stone Age tribe into a world-dominating empire |
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| GRAPHICS: |
| Better than Civilizations past, but the true genius of the game is under the hood |
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| SOUND: |
| A shockingly fantastic epoch-appropriate soundtrack provides a great backdrop for your imperial machinations |
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| PLAYABILITY: |
| Never has a title this deep had such an elegant interface |
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| ENTERTAINMENT: |
| It’s rare for a genre to have one game so clearly be the king of the hill |
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| Copyright
1991 -
2009
:: Game Informer Magazine
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