Firaxis/2K Games Sid Meier's Civilization IV Review

Ever since the now-defunct MicroProse Software company released the original version of Sid Meier's Civilization in 1991, I've been hooked on what is perhaps the most popular "god game" franchise in the history of entertainment software.  With the exception of CivNet (the first Internet/multi-player variation), Civilization: Call to Action, and 2K Games' Civilization III, I've either owned or played most of the published upgrades to Meier's simulation of world history that challenges players to build an "empire that will stand the test of time."

Basic Concept of the Game:  Sid Meier's Civilization IV is, in essence, an open-ended simulation of world history in which you, the player, have to guide a civilization (say, the Aztec Empire) across a 6,000-year-long span of time and have it evolve from a Stone Age level of development to a high-tech Space Age one.  Unlike sims based on actual events - such as the Battle of Normandy or Operation Desert Storm, you aren't dealing with pre-determined numbers of troops or starting locations that you then have to manipulate to change history. Instead, victory or defeat, advancement or stagnation, and success or failure depends on decisions you make from the very beginning of a game.

in a single-player game, you usually begin with a Scout or Warrior unit and one or two settler units, a few civilization advances, and your own innate leadership skills.

Using terrain and resources on the mapboard, which starts as a sea of black except for the spaces your units are on, you find a suitable place to found your first city, then you start a 6,000 year process to create an empire that will either attempt to conquer the world or, for more points and a tougher challenge, win the game by gaining technological advances through research, keeping your subjects happy by improving Culture and creating Wonders of the World, building up a huge treasury via trade and taxation, and racing the other civilizations to be the first to reach Alpha Centauri before the game ends sometime in the 21st Century. 

As a ruler, you must choose very early on what your end game is going to be and plan accordingly.  If world conquest is your ultimate goal, then you must focus on obtaining technology that allows you to strike hard, move fast, and conquer mercilessly.  An army with a good balance of infantry, mobile units (chariots and cavalry in the early stages, tanks and mechanized infantry in the later eras), and missile units (catapults, cannon, ICBMs) is essential in games involving world conquest, and because other players (either artificial intelligence ones or other humans) aren't exactly Kumbaya-singing pacifists, even in less-aggressive game sessions a strong defense is important.

 What's New: Not having owned Civ III or its somewhat mediocre non-MicroProse predecessor, I can only comment about the upgrades I noticed from 1996's Civilization II.

Although the basics of the game are the same, Sid Meier's Civilization IV has a snazzier look, with three-dimensional worlds and fully-animated units - some of which are "culturally unique," i.e., American leaders can field SEAL units in the late-game eras - that add "eye candy" appeal and excitement.  The graphic interface from which you can issue your orders - Build City, Go To, Build Improvements, Fortify, and Attack, for instance - is very easy to learn and use, and it frees you from having to remember keyboard commands. (Veterans of previous versions probably won't have any problems, though, since many of the basic keyboard prompts - B to "Build City" and F to "Fortify Unit" - haven't changed.  Also, you can select an option that allows you move units around with the aid of the Numeric Keypad: you'll see which spaces you can move to because a numeric graphic, centered on the unit, will appear on screen as long as the unit has movement points.)

 Additionally, some of the more tedious chores, such as creating trade routes to other civilizations, have been automated.  You no longer have to send a Caravan from Washington to, say, Athens to start a trade route.  Now all you need to do is have an Open Borders agreement with Alexander the Great and trade routes are automatically created and your GNP should start increasing accordingly.

Also, players no longer need to either build Leonardo Da Vinci's Workshop to upgrade obsolete units or delete and replace them with modern units when new technology is discovered. The designers dispensed with the Workshop altogether (though Leonardo himself makes a cameo as a Great Person that is "born" during gameplay). Now they allow players to modernize existing troops . For instance, Warriors, the first unit that can be built, can be upgraded to Axemen, Spearmen, or any non-missile unit when the proper tech is researched. Scouts can likewise be changed to Explorers once Optics are discovered in the "middle passage" of the game. In any case, players no longer have to worry about either having to keep obsolete but veteran troops just because they have experience or deleting them and replacing them with modern but inexperienced units.

Religion and culture also play a bigger role in Sid Meier's Civilization IV, as do Wonders of the World.  Where in the versions I played before the concept of Religion was generic and not tied to any of the great world faiths, now players have the chance to found any of the seven major religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Taoism, and Islam.  The game doesn't delve deeply into specifics, but players who found a religion can then build a culture-unique wonder that can make citizens happy and improve the civilization's culture rating.

In this version of Civ, the better your culture rating, the higher your score.  You can build Theaters and culturally important Wonders of the World (such as the Hanging Gardens or Hollywood) and adjust the amount of tax revenue that goes into Culture.  This makes your citizens happy and hopefully more productive, and lessens your chances of having a city revolt and "flipping" allegiance to a rival Civilization.  Conversely, the more culturally influential your cities are, the likelihood that another city belonging to one of your rivals will rebel and ask to join your empire increases exponentially.

Another exciting new feature is the addition of spoken quotes and an "in the beginning" voiceover by actor Leonard Nimoy as the game is going through setup. The quotes, such as "I cannot live without books," by Thomas Jefferson, are said when one discovers a civilization advance, and the "in the beginning, the Earth was without form, and void" is taken straight from the 1991 version of Sid Meier's Civilization "game building" phase before game play could start.

The most important thing about Sid Meier's Civilization IV is that it mixes fun, challenging gameplay with "stealth learning," because players who wouldn't be caught dead reading a history textbook for the sheer heck of it will still learn a few important things, because going "up the tech tree," reading the Civilopedia, and trying to manage a civilization's rise from a primitive state to superpower status involves a sort of intellectual "connect the dots" as a player makes decisions on what technology he or she wants (or needs) in order to achieve his or her ultimate goals.

The Liabilities: As big a fan as I am of this game, I do have a few quibbles about it, some of them about "the tech stuff."

First off, it is a memory hog.  I suppose if I owned a more expensive PC I'd have no problems, but on my e-Machines T5408 Media Center PC it requires some "tweaking" with the graphics settings so it won't freeze up in mid-game.  That means that I have to settle for slightly less detailed visuals, especially in the unit graphics where one soldier has to stand in for three.  Not a big deal in game play, but I like the multi-soldier look for unit icons.

Second, it's highly addictive. There have been times in which I have lagged behind on projects or not activated my Yahoo/Windows Live Messengers because I'd be obsessed with beating the living tar of Spain's Isabella or getting to Alpha Centauri before the other leaders.  Yes, I can save games and load them at a more appropriate time, but the game is just as seductive to its fans as the dark side of the Force is to Anakin Skywalker.

Third, the second time I searched for a "patch" the experience was not a good one.  The game has an "search for updates" option and I've used it, but the last time I did it, Sid Meier's Civilzation IV would close and I'd get an error message saying a .dll file was missing.  I then uninstalled the entire program and reinstalled it and the first patch, but not the second.

For an overview of the 2007 Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword expansion, click here

The Tech Stuff:

Minimum System Requirements

Operating System: Windows® 2000/XP

Processor: 1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent

Memory: 256 MB RAM (Windows 2000) / 512 MB RAM (Windows XP)

Hard Disk Space: 1.7 GB Free

CD-ROM Drive : 4X Speed

Video: DirectX 9.0c-compatible 64 MB video card with Hardware T&L support ( GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better)

Sound:DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

DirectX®: DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher

Operating System: Windows® 2000/XP

Processor: 1.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent

Memory: 512 MB RAM

Hard Disk Space: 1.7 GB Free

CD-ROM Drive : 4X Speed

Video:128 MB Video Card w/ DirectX 8 support (pixel & vertex shaders)

Sound:DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

DirectX®: DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher

Windows 2000 "Service Pack 1 or higher WITH Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher

Windows XP: Home or Professional w/ Service Pack 1 or higher