And Sid Meier knows this. He understands that his games are addictive, and he understands he has a dedicated fanbase behind the franchise. That’s why Sid and Firaxis Games have produced a game that not only betters the series, but also breathes new life into the genre. What’s the difference between EA and Firaxis Games you may ask? Well, it’s the dedication to listen to their fans. They’ve established an already excellent formula, but largely thanks to listening to what fans liked and disliked about previous titles in the series, they’ve produced a well-balanced title that should meet all satisfactory standards of Civ fans. A whole lot of improvements plus a whole lot of fun equals one of the best strategy games to date. Period.
Those of you who are unfamiliar with the Civilization series, the games are traditional turn-based strategy games where you play as a nation’s leader where the ultimate goal is to take over the globe. Gamers can do this in a number of a ways - by conquering your neighbouring nations, establishing a cultured society or being the first to research advanced technology.
It’s outstanding to see the dramatic change in strategy though. The changes to the gameplay have not only made the game more playable, but adds a completely new layer of strategy altogether. Take, for example, your units. Civilization IV no longer has separate attack and defence values, but rather the two have been merged into one single rating. Rather than simplifying the system, though, the new system opens up a number of fascinating strategies when combating with your units. Units have substantial bonuses when in different situations, as well as special abilities. Spearmen have a significant bonus against mounted troops, Archers have the ability to strike first in combat, while larger units, such as catapults, are able to withdraw from battles they obviously won’t win. A significant difference has been made to artillery units also. They’re able to bombard enemy cities, which lower defences and the strength of large stacks of armies. While the changes may seem a little puzzling at first, the system is still relatively easy to understand, however, just with an introduction to a bit more depth in how gamers approach each and every battle.
After winning a battle, each unit will earn experience points that will lead towards buying upgradeable stats for your units. These range from upgrading simple attack bonuses (+1 attack power) to improving the units’ defence in towns. There a number of special powers you can give your units also, such as first strike or acting as a medic. This enhances how gamers approach large armies greatly. Running into an enemy town with no medic or city attack bonuses will see you picking up the pieces of your dead soldiers.
Finding a key location is important.
Civilization IV also displays the terrain bonuses. This becomes vital when you’re selecting new areas to establish a town. If you begin a town in a location with low production value, then you’ll have trouble building new structures. This is made so much more easier now, with Civilization IV allowing gamers to see what each tile produces beforehand – be it generating food, commerce or production. However, unlike previous Civilization games, your starting point won’t ruin the entire game for you. Previously, if you built your nation on a mountain with low food production then you would’ve been at a disadvantage compared to those who established near a lake. Thankfully, your worker units can build a few more improvements on land compared to their previously restricted options. Workers can now build cottages that produce revenue, farms that produce food and mines that produce production, as well as a number of others. And it is usually important for gamers to begin the game with a number of workers so to milk the most out of their surrounding land early. With each upgrade, over time, these will also improve on what they produce. For instance, when building a cottage, it will later improve from a cottage to a village and then later to a city. After each improvement increases in size so will its value of what it produces.
These terrain bonuses are also important in advancing much faster through the game. Like previous Civ games, your cities will produce units and buildings. Production points around your city improve the rate at how fast you build new structures, while food improves the rate of how fast your city expands. Civilization IV has introduced a number of differences to the building of units and structures also. Gamers can no longer exploit the building of expensive structures and then switch it to put all the production points into another project. While this makes building units you need on hand a little more difficult, it does however introduce a much more realistic approach. Gamers can’t just focus on building military structures either, since your town will soon grow unhappy with the lack of food plantations and entertainment, which will slowly put a dent in how fast you build new projects since your workers will just refuse to work.
Another significant improvement is the game’s religion system. The system is relatively easy to set-up; however, controlling them to your advantage is a different story. You can adopt different religions throughout the game that will later give the towns that have adopted that religion certain bonuses such as an increase in happiness or even plus one gold for every town that follows your religion. Gamers can build units that can go into other nation’s towns to sway them to adopted your chosen religion also. This can become helpful in gaining better relationships with other nations for adopting a certain religion, as well as taking over a neighbouring nation’s town because they prefer your chosen religion.
However, there are number of downsides that come into play also. Not so much downsides, but things that you should pay close attention to when choosing which religion you think will help you. Neighbouring nations will know everything you’ve done in the past; be it trading with a nation they dislike or opting a religion that they hate. This will make it harder to strike trade deals with them, as well as a possibility of leading to a nation that’ll wage war on you because you’ve done everything to tick them off. However, if you do enough to get on the good side of neighbouring nations then it’ll help you gain technology and resources for little or no cost depending on your relationship. And religion just adds a new layer of strategy when forming these relationships.
This is what happens when you spend too much time playing Civ IV
That’s the great thing about Civilization IV though, the variety. There’s never a confinement to play the game one specific way, which therefore leads to the increase in the game’s replay value. Gamers can try opting a different religion, different nation, different winning options and how you create your empire, which, ultimately, never leads to you growing tired of the game after one long five hour game. In fact, you’ll want to play again, but this time with the not-so-forgiving China where you’ll play for total world domination or perhaps as India who only wants a diplomatic victory.
Due to popular demand, the pace of the game has changed also. There are several speeds that change the way the timeline advances: there’s a fast speed that goes through the game’s timeline extremely quick, a normal paced speed, and even a slower speed that is suited for gamers who prefer to take their time and advance through the ages in a more realistic style. It’s a great addition to the game, one that helps gamers plow through the game much quicker if desired. Previously, games could take anywhere up to eight hours, however, games can vary from one hour to five hours depending on what speed best fits your needs.
This speed option also helps towards improving the previously restrictive multiplayer options. Previously, trying to finish a multiplayer game seemed far too much work and it seemed like a smarter option to not play at all. However, thanks to the changes in speed, multiplayer games are far more enjoyable and are more realistic in finishing them, rather than people dropping out because of how long it’s taking. Civ IV includes a number of multiplayer options such as hot seat and play-by-email, as well as online options. Playing multiplayer was more trouble than it was worth previously, but Civ IV has improved the interface and gameplay options that it opens up a completely new world, and for the better. Aside from the increases in speed, gamers can tweak around with their towns while waiting for other players to move their units. If a player drops from a game the remaining players will be asked if they will wait for dropped player to return or let an AI opponent take over. Thanks to these new tweaks, after growing bored of the single-player mode (ha, bored) there’s always the option to give multiplayer a try – a much-improved system compared to previous Civ games.
Don't like a nation? Nuke em'.
Civ IV looks considerably better than previous versions. There’s a lot more detail going on in the game, and thanks to the colourful 3D graphics engine, the game seems to show off a lot more too. Trees will fall and grow over time, there’s nice animation for units, great expression on the portraits of other nation leaders, and the smaller details of the construction of buildings is much more appealing and gives you a better sense of what’s going on.
The soundtrack is fitting for the context of the game, having certain nation-specific and harmonic tunes that blend well with the entire game. The sound effects are well done, and when clicking on your troops they will mutter something in your chosen nation’s language. While I preferred the game much more with the music off, there is still much to enjoy from it. And nothing more so than hearing the ideal narrative voice of Leonard Nimoy when discovering a new technology. It’s the way he speaks that makes his voice-work that more enjoyable, bringing a little bit more class and intelligence to the game and its players.
The only problem reviewing Civilization IV is that we’ve sadly prolonged the time you can spend with this game. It’s a marvel to play, and stands as the most balanced Civilization game to date. The game is easy for first-timers to enjoy and acts as one of the finest strategy games to date, and receives a few extra brownie points because of the game’s increase in strategy.
While we’ve buttered-up this game throughout the entire review, it has to be said that Civilization IV is one of the best games on the PC since, well, Civilization II.
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