(Take 2)

I’ll preface this review with a warning – all of the previous Civilization titles have been known to be extremely addictive and a great way to only end up with 3 hours sleep before going to work. After playing a few rounds of Civilization 4, I can safely say that this warning still applies.

Anyone who has played Civilization in any of its various incarnations will be familiar with the concept. For anyone new to it, Civilization is a turn-based strategy game that encompasses the running and administration of an empire throughout a period of several thousand years. That may sound like a boring description, but there is something very satisfying about building up an empire from scratch, conquering other empires and guiding your civilization from ancient times right through to the year 2050.

A game of Civilization 4 starts in the Stone Age, where you begin with a single settler that you use to establish your first town. From this first township, you develop further outward by creating soldiers, more settlers, workers and more towns. Towns become cities and cities in turn become centres of culture and politics. You choose whether to interact with the other empires in the game on friendly or aggressive terms.

Through a (long!) series of turns, you attempt to complete and win the game by having the four most cultured cities in the world, being the first civilization into space, being named World Leader through votes in the United Nations, being the last standing civilization through conquest, being the first to control over 40% of the world’s land mass as well as 25% of the world’s population, or by having the most points by the Year 2050. With each turn of the game you make decisions on what to build in your cities, what to research, where to move your military units and what diplomatic actions to take with other civilizations.

The game play of Civilization 4 is extremely well-implemented. The game is highly complex, but simple to pick up and begin playing straight out of the box. The graphics are a massive improvement over Civilization 3, with highly detailed animations and a newly-developed 3d map interface. Sound for a turn-based strategy game like this is decent enough.

Overall, Civilization 4 is a highly recommended game and is one that you can spend hours, weeks and months playing. It is highly detailed but accessible to play and works well on many different levels. One of the best PC strategy games in recent years and a definite all-time classic.

Rating: 5 out of 5