Sid Meier's Civilization (1991)
If Sid Meier could ever meet with Alfred Hitchcock, they'd have a lot of stories to share. When you mention Hitchcock, most people immediately think of Psycho, or perhaps The Birds, as though those two thrillers could encapsulate the famed director's style and technique over more than a half-century of films.
Design: Sid Meier with
Bruce Shelley
Publisher: MicroProse
Genre: Turn-Based Strategy/Wargame
Difficulty: Intermediate
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In much the same way, Sid Meier has become associated with Civilization and Civilization II, to the point where he's been typecast as a "turn-based" game designer, despite his work in real-time sims and even action games. Civilization, like Will Wright's SimCity, was one of the first "serious" computer games to break into the mainstream. Though I can only point to anecdotal evidence, I'd guess that more hours have been invested in conquering the worlds of Civilization than in any other computer game in the hobby's history.
 | "The first prototype of Civilization that I did was a real-time game like SimCity..."
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Civilization is not merely Sid Meier's magnum opus, it's also the quintessential world exploration/conquest game. Sid somehow manages to mix a lot of elements - economics, military actions, the nuts and bolts of government, long-range planning, and diplomacy - and combine them into a satisfying, addictive whole that captures the flow of human innovation and cultural expansion.
As your citizens become more literate and enjoy greater contact with other civilizations, for example, they demand a higher standard of living. How well you manage to build an economy while keeping your populace happy and productive on a city-by-city basis is a key to ultimate success in Civilization.
Meanwhile, you must travel the twin paths of global exploration and the unending search for knowledge, as you discover the wheel, learn to navigate the treacherous seas, and uncover the mysteries of flight. Along the way, you build Wonders of the World such as the Pyramids, Bach's Cathedral, and the Great Library. Unlike games such as the recent Age of Empires, the Wonders in Civilization are not an end unto themselves, but provide economic, happiness, military, or other benefits to your civilization. And as one of the many nice touches in Civilization, most of the Wonders' effects expire as the game goes on.
The secret to Civilization is that every time you think the game might possibly start to get dull, you discover some cool technology, you have to make another decision that significantly affects gameplay, and the cycle begins anew. Sid Meier has long been associated with gamelock - where you find yourself playing "just one more turn" for endless hours - but Civilization still holds up as many gamers' worst gaming affliction ever, even after all these years.
Next: Sid Meier's Covert Action 
