23 replies to this topic

[LocalSeer]

Sid finally released CIVILIZATION IV! It's the best civilization yet; improving on the few points lacking in Civilization III. The government system is expanded so no more just democracy and communism empires. Now you have 5 different aspects of government to pick the ones that really benefit your strenghts. Second, city AI is greatly enhanced, greatly reducing micromanagment and the annoying Civilization 3 polution (that would relocate your work squares even though your workers would clean it in one turn)is now totaly fixed. In fact I barely ever have to adjust the squares the AI picks. In diplomacy the computer still demends tribute and technology, but this time it remembers and improves your relationship(you can later ask it for stuff). None of this even considers the enhanced combat system, no more stacking dozens of mech infantry with modern tank and rampaging. It actualy helps to split up stacks and units have bonuses against other units creating much more unit variety.

Now to be fair the bad: Sid put his own voice in the game, and it's just not right hearing him quote Napoleon or the Bible. It sounds like he's trying to seduce you, it scares me. The game does have a steep learning curve, I've been a Civilization fanatic since Civilization I and it took me half an hour to piece together the basics. Newbies will need to spend at LEAST an hour playing on easy mode to get a fix before they can spend days playing a real game . There were some kinks in the game, players seeing the "cheshire cat"(only see eyes/appendages of units) should download the patch and some people supposibly got the french technology tree. In addition I had my install disk and play disk labeled opposite.

I rate it a 9.8/10 definite buy!

[Sprnknwn]

Thanks a lot for this review. I´ve always loved Civilization saga. I enjoyed a lot of time with Civs I and II when I was a child, and I think it was definitely a decisive point in strategy games. Better graphics, real-time and 3d advantages have never beat its cleverness. I´ve played to a game called Civilization III: Call To Power years ago that was not very good but I think it was not a Sid Meier´s release. I liked Alpha Centauri too. I still play Civilization II sometimes, I´ve never found a more addictive game.

So thanks again for reviewing it. As another Civ fanatic, I´m gonna buy this one. I can´t wait to hear that voice thing

[xereo]

i think that If you have even a passing interest in strategy games, world history, or getting less sleep at night, you owe it to yourself to give Civilization IV a try.
Contains strategies for building empires for both single player and multiplayer game.

[ZeroHawk]

Wow xereo I swear I heard your quote in some review... I heard that it has some huge unrelasim issues and lots of technical problems... nonetheless I'll proabaly get it.

[moogie]

I've had Civ4 for a few days now and it's incredibly addictive. As was mentioned, the improvements over Civ3 are huge and I think the 3D graphics are very well done. I'm a huge fan of Sid's games and have played all the Civ games.

Game play is much more user friendly once you get used to it.

As for technical issues, occasionally my computer will just back out of the game. Have no idea why because I've got a fast machine and 256MB on my ATI PCI-X video. It hasn't happened very often but it's annoying when it does. Guess I'll check the Civ4 site and see if there's a fix.

[Plenoptic]

I have Civilization III and the bundle pack so I have conquests and stuff. I wish it had better graphics though. Other than that, I would buy Civ. IV It sounds pretty cool. I would like to try the new forms of government and all that good stuff. It's sort of slow paced at first until you get used to it. I like playing online verse other people.

[anarchyboard88]

LocalSeer, on Oct 31 2005, 08:12 PM, said:

Sid finally released CIVILIZATION IV! It's the best civilization yet; improving on the few points lacking in Civilization III. The government system is expanded so no more just democracy and communism empires. Now you have 5 different aspects of government to pick the ones that really benefit your strenghts. Second, city AI is greatly enhanced, greatly reducing micromanagment and the annoying Civilization 3 polution (that would relocate your work squares even though your workers would clean it in one turn)is now totaly fixed. In fact I barely ever have to adjust the squares the AI picks. In diplomacy the computer still demends tribute and technology, but this time it remembers and improves your relationship(you can later ask it for stuff). None of this even considers the enhanced combat system, no more stacking dozens of mech infantry with modern tank and rampaging. It actualy helps to split up stacks and units have bonuses against other units creating much more unit variety.

Now to be fair the bad: Sid put his own voice in the game, and it's just not right hearing him quote Napoleon or the Bible. It sounds like he's trying to seduce you, it scares me. The game does have a steep learning curve, I've been a Civilization fanatic since Civilization I and it took me half an hour to piece together the basics. Newbies will need to spend at LEAST an hour playing on easy mode to get a fix before they can spend days playing a real game . There were some kinks in the game, players seeing the "cheshire cat"(only see eyes/appendages of units) should download the patch and some people supposibly got the french technology tree. In addition I had my install disk and play disk labeled opposite.

I rate it a 9.8/10 definite buy!

Very well put, just a few missing from each collumn tho, like the new interface. i CANT STAND the new way it looks, it scrolls weird and it seems to never be a good zoom in/out place to play. Because of the game size it takes a fast comp to couter attack the lag generated. The scroll of side to side and up and down is a big sketchy too, it has a bad reaction speed to the users requests (eg: moving units) . . . also i HATE the fact that there is no right click feature.
But on the bright side. . . the game is ALOT more realistic to modern and past life of the world. Im not religous, but im very glad that they incorporated this feature in gov't systems and the AI. its a part of history, theres no two ways about it, im glad they realized it. Contraversial?. . . yes, but that keeps the world interesting. i also like the new animated wonder creation videos. It seems a little confusing though about the overlapping units, its hard to tell if u have multiple units on the same area, theres no real indication theres multiple units. As far as the voice of sid meiyr's, its ok, but he's right, its kinda creepishly seductive. the music is no where close to as good as CIV3. All in all, i like the CIV3 interface and viewmodes better, but as far as truthfullness to history, and graphics . . . CivIV all the way... Pe@cE

[Cain]

Just out of curiousity how did you guys like the main theme songs for Civilization IV? I want to be able to give feedback to the guys who did it. If you're confused about which songs, I'm referring to "Baba Yetu" and the coronation song called "Coronation" .

[EJay]

Civilization Four had major techinical problems with my laptop. This thing is even 4 months old and its top of the line. I mean really, the only thing it couldn't handle the shadowing and lighting scheme. Then My laptop repeatedly crashed when I tried to play it, and I had to reinstall it. It looks wonderful, If only I could experience the gameplay. If anyone knows how to disable the game graphics (shadowing\lighting) and I could play it almost like Civ 3 that would be awsome. Thanks - Ejay

[moogie]

EJay, on Dec 21 2005, 01:06 PM, said:

Civilization Four had major techinical problems with my laptop. This thing is even 4 months old and its top of the line. I mean really, the only thing it couldn't handle the shadowing and lighting scheme. Then My laptop repeatedly crashed when I tried to play it, and I had to reinstall it. It looks wonderful, If only I could experience the gameplay. If anyone knows how to disable the game graphics (shadowing\lighting) and I could play it almost like Civ 3 that would be awsome. Thanks - Ejay

The only way that I can find to change graphics settings is from within the game. When the first screen comes up, choose ADVANCED, then OPTIONS, then the GRAPHICS tab. From there you can change quite a variety of settings and you can set your capabilities to a lower level.

There also may be an issue with your video card/chip and you can check that by going to the support site for Civ4. Click HERE to go there.

When I just checked the site, I noticed they have a new patch to download and it's a major patch. It's for performance improvement for everyone running the game but they make a point of stating that it will really help people who are trying to play using the minimum system requirements. Even though your laptop is brand new and high end, you might download the patch and install it. It might help too.