"Sid Meier and his team have explored the real world ... I wonder what else they've yet to find."
Strategy games can have an end point, so will Civilisation IV but this game has endless opportunties. Yes, all we do is sit there and click the mouse but yet we are so addicted to it. The Civilisation games that I refer to are the ones actually have "Sid Meier" title slapped onto the disc. These games may not be the best of the best but they will always have the title 'classic'. Why? Because the game will be brought back from the archives and put onto my PC as it always has a strange attraction.
The progession from the older Civilisation games is incredible, you will not be disappointed. You will find different ways of exploring your path and how you want to run your country, you be ruthless or be passive, combination of both, be first to give freedom to your country and spread the word, it adds the combination of real life and be implemented so that we can have a bit of fun playing politics. This is just many of the new added features, because you find so many, you just want to keep to it and find more new stuff which is war bit, I will explain this later.
The graphics are significantly improved from the last time, especially by using 3D units, which to be honest, its a the greatest part of Civ, in fact, probably the last thing that you will say, "Wow, look at those graphics!".
Never the less, its a good start, Sid Meier has revolutionised strategy games. Its no longer a simple game of creating settler, build city, improve land and fight battles, you have to find your own path and even use dirty tricks to success.
This was my first game, I started off with three cities growing fast, the help guide was saying that I should get more settlers to expand the empire. I did so but ran into a few problems, Barbarians. The Barbarians are now a nuisance more than ever, they plunder, destroy city roads/irrigation and also razed down cities. I found myself stuck in a place where I had to fight. No longer could I be lenient, my empire would collapse and not expand.
So, after bringing in archers and spearman, I managed to hold off the barbarians and expand the borders. This is the thing, we can't just wait and think that everything will just turn up, thought, implementing and action needs to happen. However, titles are usually a good thing to have, I call myself a dictator, well that I am personally but I tend to have larger empires around because they are more focused on expansion and trade, these are called expansionists. In fact, you may well change your style and approach every time as things get better or for the worse.
Diplomacy and War is another improved and modernised version of what you will expect to come across in real life. Protocol language is not exactly used in Civilisation IV but you do have to be careful on what you say and do during the time of advancing further into the game. One very good example, although the Americans like the trading and culture, such as using Christianity as the state religion, they did not like me being tough on other Civs, such as the Arabians (yes, it can be unrealistic, but always fun!). From here, if you want to improve that relation with the Americans, you will need to arrange a ceasefire with the Arabians. Other ways could include to give technology to them, goods or even convert to the background and style of government.
Another thing I would like to touch on after adoring so much of the game is the battles. No more do we have a chance of a Archer having a chance against a Rifleman. This is down to pure fire power and timing. The chance is given to those who have disadvantages, such as weak defensive units to get promotions, so they more health and/or a special bonus of having a 20% extra defence whilst on hills. Civ IV now allows you to examine the enemy and battlefield and then plan your attack, you can weaken defences of cities, bombard and actually allow a final assault to take charge to finish on the remaining defences.
With all these advancements in gameplay and in graphics, Sid Meier and his team have explored the real world and made more discoveries. I wonder what else they've yet to find.
I can not wait for Civilisation V but my eyes are on Civilisation IV because it's that damm good and will be on it for a long time.