Game reviews: Civilization IV – 44

I’ve returned to civilization. By which I don’t mean I’ve just returned home from a week-long Ibiza debauch-fest, instead I’ve returned to the latest incarnation of the PC game series, Civilization. It’s easy enough to spot a Civ player: chanting “Just… one… more… turn”, they share the same pale skin, bloodshot eyes and lack of personal hygiene as any number of hopeless addicts.

Back in the day, I too was hooked on this evil cocktail of strategy gaming genius. Saved by a blown PC power supply, I managed to tear myself from its vice-like grasp. But with the arrival of the latest version of ‘Civ’, I may as well give up on the remains of my already pitiful social life.

Taking your civilisation from the Stone Age where catapults and other primitive tools (such as Windows 95) reigned supreme, you must oust your opponents throughout time. Victories can be achieved in many ways: there’s peaceful, cultural, scientific or religious means; or you can use tanks and stealth bombers to rid your opponents of their catapults of mass destruction.

For players who’ve already experienced the Civilization series, the mechanics of Civ IV will be familiar. But rest assured, there are enough improvements to make the most ardent fan happy. The elimination of all the nit-picking, micro management tasks that detracted from the strategic focus of the earlier games is truly welcome. The AI has been improved, and subtle game play mechanics encourage you to take a strategic view rather than a perfectionist, micro management approach. This is a good thing as you can still see the depth the game has.

Multiplayer is a blast. Games can become huge epics and simultaneous turns, plus minimal micro management, means they run fluidly.

Civ IV (or ‘C’ as it’s known on the streets) is about as good as strategy games get. There’s 14 years of game play fine-tuning in this and the end product is nothing short of incredible. All in all, I can’t honestly think of a better strategy game, and I’ve played plenty. Shamelessly ending on a cliché, I’ll simply say the Civilization series has stood the test of time.

By Justin Purcell