Oh Boy! What a waste of a good Name!
Then there came the 2nd Civ. We were amazed by the things improved, graphics, balance of gameplay, ai, that was my favorite game ever. I still have that game in my archive. It is still an never ending love for me.
Later on, I have also played the "activision" version of the civilization (call to power 1 & 2) they were also good, especially i was amazed by the combat system. You could built an army of 9 units and there was an animated battle screen which you can watch your army fight. That increased the value of the game incredibly (since half of the game is aggression and combat)
Than Sid was on the run and released the 3rd in series, it was hmmm... ok. Very well trading, (some resources you had to trade from the opponents - this made your opponents more than a nation to conquer ) That was a major improvement in civ series. However i was terribly disappointed when i realized combats were still in the same way civ1 does. Units attack one by one. It was increadibly demoralizing issue for me because i was very addicted to the battle screens of "call to power". I just asked for my self: "what an increadible game it would be, if and only if this combat system was like call to power's..."
Now in Civ 4 i see that nothing has changed but the graphics. And combat system is still the same. Graphics are impressive, however -let me remind you -, no true TURN BASED game fans will buy its 3D graphics. I tried to find some improvements about Civ 4 myself, But what i saw was;
Goverment forms are a little different, say editable (a bit like "Europa Universalis") options, Culture & influence range are nice features, Religion factor is added, tiny changes in tech tree, units have selectable features....
But all these are just not enough to make it an INNOVATIVE nor REVOLUTIONARY game as its name represents... Bad AI, primitive combat system, Technology breakthroughs are happening too fast and dull, somehow unexciting, wonder animations doesnt give you the feeling "you have completed something big". More over, their benefits often dont worth the production. Worse of all repetetive and boring gameplay plagues this game in the 2nd - 3rd hour of play.
I expected some improvements from this game, but i see now i asked too much from Sid.
Civilization name is going down, becoming worse by every new civ. series. And this is for you people: you are overrating this product, it is neither the best in series nor a master piece. Gamespot gave this product 9.4 and has fooled me and many people unnecessarily.... It was an "INNOVATIVE" game once ... Pity..