Sid Meier's Civilization IV (PC Games, 2005)

When I first started playing Civ IV I was had a hard time adjusting to the way game concepts have changed from previous Civ games. After a few games I was able to get a hold on happiness, income / maintenance, and promotions. Once that happened it was very enjoyable. You should be fine if you don’t have or can get rid of your preconceived notions (great for new players). Beware that each difficulty setting is a big step up and that you may never be ready to play the hardest levels. Overall this is fun game that requires a lot of thought.

This is a great game except for one thing...you play the HUGE or Large map and in the middle of a good game, the game crashes for no reason. I would suggest checking the forum for this game on the gamesite itself for patches. But for now, Don't buy it, unless you want to always play on a small map. But why pay $50 bucks for this game if you can't use all it has to offer?

Buy with caution.

If you're a gamer that likes to think out their moves over aiming and firing, then this game is for you. The point of the game is to start off with one city and end up building an entire civilization. You'll compete with rival AI to develope technolgy and build Wonders of the World. Unlike past versions of this game, it comes with multiplayer. The only downside from the game's wonderful gameplay, graphics, and sound effects is the very high system requirements and bug that come with the game. These bugs are easily squashed with the download of a patch, but someone buying this game without an internet connection might end up with a few headaches. I would definatly recommend this game because despite it's flaws it is an immensly enjoyable game.

Would be the best game if it didn't take so much memory to run, causing some computers to pause, sporadically quit even crash a computer.

This version is much improved from the last (by the way I could still play Civ 3 forever). The units, graphics, options and city control are more improved. They got rid of some tedious or redundant features in the game. The game is like playing a new version of Madden, the concept is the same but it takes some getting used to.

This game takes a lot of time to master so I will use a Civ Cliche...you will be spending many nights, even DAYS playing this game. Its hard to stop playing and is so good that EVERYONE who plays it gets addicted to it AND admits it! I haven't met a single person that played this game that didn't make a joke about staying up all night playing.

You want some details. There are more cultures to choose from and some improved units but the cool changes are in the cities and civ controls. The city is more efficient and easier to understand (but harder to master). The fights are different and more interesting. The points of your position still matter but the chances of a come back win are greater.

There is a lot that can be said about this game. But the only statement that needs to be made is that this is THE BEST (turn by turn style) Strategy game.

This game is THE benchmark. I highly recommend buying it and then giving it to a loved one to hide from you...as you will neglect your life with a computer game if you don't! lol Thanks

As many of you may know, the original Civilization title was released back in 1991. Since then we have seen Civilization II and III emerge as the traditional follow up to one of the best selling PC Game titles.

However, the sequels were both stuck on the old interface and game style of the original title. This is not so with the freshly released Civilization IV. As IGN.com puts it: "the new sequel reenergizes core concepts of the series, staying faithful to what fans expect while also creating a wholly original game." All the monotonous aspects of the game have been eliminated or improved and the game challanges both, veternas and newbies alike without hindering the experiance of leading your empire through over 6,000 years of existance.

Every time you start a new adventure there's always a different twist from the way you decide to build up and structure your empire to the ways you tear down and destroy other empires in your way. The new graphics engine and in-game movies add more realism as you race to build a vast empire. Are you going to be a warlord or an economic superpower? Are you going to be a leader everyone else is going to look up to or are you going to opress your people?

How will your empire be remembered?

For any computer gamer who likes a turn based strategy game I highly recommend Civilization IV. If you have played Civilization III this is the next step up with better units, better graphics, even the music is very well done. For those of you are are unfamiliar with the game there are many possible ways you can win such as a space race victory, a diplomatic victory by becoming UN secretary general, and the conquest victory. You start in ancient times by starting as one of many civilizations such as America, England, Rome, or China and as turns go by you must research new technologies that will allow you to advance as a civilization and find new resources to build new weapons and structures. You can build archers, cavalry, tanks, jets, and ICBMs. While you want to expand militarily you also want to keep you people satisfied by building wonders and structures like the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, power plants, shipyards, and much much more. This game has been out for some time so you will need to download the current patch (which is free) and as for graphics my computer has a 128 mb 9700 ati graphics card, 1 gb ram, pentium 4 3 ghz, and the game runs fine with the settings all the way up. Again this is a great game for all ages. I hope this was helpful.

I've been playing Civ games since way back in the days of Civilization...yeah, that's right, the first one. Each game gets progressively better and Civ IV is no exception. The graphics are excellent, though they pull pretty hard on your system...some tweaking may be necessary to decrease the drag on your particular system. I've had a very minor problem with the game crashing when playing a huge map, but it doesn't happen often enough for me to stop playing the game alltogether.

Sid Meier is a genius! Civilization IV is a masterpiece!

This is a must have for any Civ fan!

I first was hooked on Civ III from a friend of mine while I was playing on it on hic PC and I was hooked.

I purchased a copy of Civ IV and what a difference over III. Much improved graphics and this version even has a tutorial. This is the GAME OF THE YEAR 4 disc version at Walmart.

There is a zoom in and out feature. Great animation when wonders are built and another feature that III didn't have and that is when you are concidering attacking a city; it caliculates the odds of your soldier etc against the defender, example 14.40 vs 13.57. Your cannon can " bombard" a city defenses to weaken it without the cannon taking any damage.

The only complaint is I have not been able to figure out how to choose my opponents yet; if it is possible at all. The version I purchased did come with a manual.

I love this game. My son let me borrow it for six months. when he took it back I had to hove one for myself.

Great game. Can get a little repetitive after awhile, but if you like strategy games, this is a must have.

I have owned and played Civ I, II, and III. However Civ IV is the best due to improved auto controls on cities et al and graphics. I am careful when I choose to play as I know it will take me a minimum of 7 hours to complete a game and I will find it difficult to leave the game until it ends.

Our two sons have grown up with the game and are pros at it. I am a lower intermediate player.
Richard Mueller

My brother and nephew introduced me to this game and I had to have it. Since you can play as a single player, multiple player, or on line (family lives several hours away) it was perfect for me. I also purchased the additional game, Warlords, which I would recommend. It is a great strategy game that makes you think ahead. I love planning on who I want to attack, make alliances with, or what I need to do to strengthen my own cities. The only negitive is I barely slept the first few days after I purchase the game, because it is addicting.

Overall, the game is excellent. The complex issues affecting the evolution of any civilization are convincingly simulated in this game. You have to worry about everything--money, food, technology, religion, annoying or dangerous neighbors, etc. And diplomacy is a skill you will have to master. But while the details are critical in building your nation from the ground up (literally), they are manageable with the game's interface, which allows you to select and focus on the issues you find important, leaving the AI to manage the rest. And the AI does a decent job, for the most part. Graphics are OK, but not wonderful. As for the music, if you like classical music you'll be happy with this game; otherwise, you might find the background score boring at best and irritating at worst. If combat is your thing, you might want to steer away from this game. While the military aspects are enjoyable, they are not terribly realistic and the combat system is badly oversimplified. Sometimes it leads to ridiculous results (like a bunch of archers defeating a unit of WWII-era infantry). And you will likely find that any serious warfare is out of the question if you want your civilization to advance; it is simply too expensive, in time and resources, to contemplate conquest on a wide scale--especially late in the game. One other thing: If you have a slow computer, don't bother. My own machine far exceeds the recommended requirements, let alone the minimum, and the game still runs very slowly at times. The load and save times are annoying, especially if it is late in the game or the map is large. As for the minimum requirements, I suspect the game would be virtually unplayable at that level. You would be doing nothing but waiting for the computer to catch up with your mouseclicks.

This game is money, and online play really enhances the entertainment vaule. Make sure you pay attention to system requirements. I bought it without checking my video card on my laptop and it runs extra cruddy under the minimum 64mb. Like a dream at 128 though.

This is the latest version of the hugely successful Civilizatin game for PC. This new edition is just as much fun as the old game with many expansions and enhanced graphics. Ive been p;aying Civ for some years now and this version tops them all.

My 10 and 12 year old boys LOVE this game. It is fun to watch them play and develop strategies and create.

This is a great multi-faceted strategy game that allows you to play as great leaders of history guiding your civilization from the stone age to the distant future. What makes this incarnation great is the scalability and options. You can play the game at normal speed, slow speed, or fast speed tailoring the play to your taste (although I normally play at normal speed). You can play special scenarios the represent a pivotal time in history. You can play as many different leaders each with specific advantages. The game can be won in many ways. You don't even have to fight a single battle to win the game. You can dominate the world with your cultural or political influence. You can hold enough land or destroy your rivals, or you can develop the technology to colonize outer space. If any of this sounds not so fun, you can turn off that victory option.
Basically, if you like turn-based strategy games, this is one of the best. It can be micro-managed or somewhat automated. It has so many parameters; victory conditions, resource management, culture, military, technology, exploration, that the replay value is very high. One of my favorite games ever.

Great games, patch updated it to lastest version also. Tons of extra maps and Mods now- very nicely done - The game has the update option for the patch

A lot like civ III with multiple new features added, graphics enhanced, and game played sped up. Designing your goverment in also a lot more interesting in this game. In the last game you had a couple of things to pick from. In this you can adjust your economic system, law system and other parts of your goverement. If you liked the last game, you should really enjoy this one.

This game is a lot of fun. If you like RTS's at all, you must add this to your collection. You can get as detailed as you want or fly through the game...whichever suits your style or mood. Be prepared to spend a lot of time on it, though. It's very hard to stop playing. You'll be saying to yourself, "OK, I'll just do one more turn." and then before you know it you've played another hour of "one more turns". Great game....get it!

great game to play and relax at home. nice to trying to be a president of a country and make some improvments and then you know'warwith other civilizations.

Since I was 6 years old, I have been playing the "Civ" series. Civ IV is definitely better than 3, and on the same level as the 2nd game. I think this game combines the previous Civ games, Age of Empires II, Empire Earth and Lords of the Realm II. I think this a great game for any fan of these games listed.

A good game overall. Like the Age of Empires series, but turn based, which I find I like better. Of course, having this game means I spend hours on the computer...