Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
Platform: PC
Developer: Firaxis
Publisher: 2K
Genre: Empire building strategy
Metacritic: 94
What is it: Choose a civilization, grow your empire, and conquer your foes through means both military and peaceful. And wait. A lot.
0:00 - I’ve never played a proper Civilization game before, but I sunk hours into Civilization Revolution, which is supposed to be Civilization with less micromanaging.
0:01 - Intro cinematic zooms in on earth, pans over armies battling, zooms to a city full of teeming masses gathered to see a single individual atop a pedestal. I guess that’s supposed to be me. Nice feeling of epicness to kick the game off.
0:02 - As expected there’s no campaign, just a game generator. Single player, continents map, American Empire, and the easiest difficulty. Look out world, here I come!
0:06 - Lots of killing time in the beginning, waiting for research to be completed. Rather dull, really.
0:08 - And I’ve met the Aztecs. “You play ceremonial ball with us, we’ll play ceremonial ball with you,” they say. Cute.
0:12 - Hinduism was just discovered, 400 years after Buddhism. Yay alternative history!
0:16 - It’s kind of fun just exploring the world around me, but the slow pace of the early game is starting to annoy me.
0:22 - And I’ve met the French. The game handles this by having Louis the XIVth suddenly pop up on screen waving his hand at me. It’s disorienting, so say the least.
0:24 - I’ve entered the classical era! Not sure what I did to deserve this (the game sure doesn’t say), but… yay?
0:34 - This game rapidly settles into a soothing monotony. Just constantly building up my city, making improvements, expanding my nation, etc etc, none of which is particularly exciting but is quickly addictive. I can see why the Civilization series is so well regarded.
0:36 - There are multiple menus in here with icons that aren’t obviously self-explanatory and don’t have labels of any kind. I’m sure there’s an explanation in the in-game glossary, but that seems like an unnecessary inconvenience.
0:39 - Confucianism: founded by America in 1160 BC.
0:45 - Agreeing to open borders was a mistake. All these enemy units moving freely through my territory is starting to psych me out.
0:50 - Just met the Arabian Empire. There has to be a better way to handle meeting new empires instead of just… suddenly, Saladin.
0:54 - I’ve entered the medieval era in 700 BC. This game just loves to break history.
1:00 - Okay, that did not feel like an hour. As soon as you get into the groove of the game, the time just slips right by.
Will I play it again: Yes, but with the game speed turned way up. I see why they made Civilization Revolution. This game is fun but way too slow.
