Civilization IV Review

9.2

Format PC

Developer Firaxis

Publisher Unknown

Genre Sim / Strategy

How do you improve Civilization? It's an icon - a bastion of PC gaming. Changing the rubric of Meier's opus would be like removing the Beauty Contest card in Monopoly, turning Professor Plum green, or reintroducing the controversial 1976 Double-Nip rule back into Mornington Crescent (third edition). In short, there'd be fighting in the streets.

Civ III played it safe, almost too safe, and now Civ IV becomes the prodigal son - reappearing on our doorsteps fresh, reformed, tweaked, tucked and with a few extra features moved slightly out of view under its well-toned arm. Oh, and it's a masterpiece. Did I mention that? A bonafide classic that's politely informing Age Of Empires III that it's raining while pissing all over its shoes.

For those 14 years late to the party it falls to me to act as both pusher and pimp, so if established hacks could take a few steps back then I'll address the masses. Civ sees you direct the path of human society from club-wielding warrior through to the space age: you explore, found cities, research technology, trade, wage war and engage in all manner of nefarious diplomacy to ensure that your race (be they English, Roman or whatever) comes out on top, hits the stars first, gets voted the head of the United Nations, or does one of several other notable achievements. It's turn-based, and it's the greatest board game ever created; although seeing as there's so much to it, it's rubbish when played on a board and as such lives in your PC instead.

So what's new in this iteration? Well, let's start with the warm niceness and the gloss, seeing as that's what strikes you first after installation. Beautiful world music chants in the background, giant globes spin, Leonard Nimoy mumbles relevant quotations whenever you discover a new technology: you're put straight into a cosy mindset that lies halfway between the striding animals of The Lion King and The Discovery Channel.

This snugness doesn't really spread to the graphics (someone standing behind me politely informed me that it "looks like it's been kicked in the face"), but by its very nature Civ isn't a game in which you care much about visual niceties. Besides, everything is as colourful, decent and obvious as you'd ever need it to be. There is the zoomy (and slightly spinny) camera that all the marketing blurb demands these days but, quite frankly, who cares? This is Civ!

CONSTANT CRAVING
Having spent several evenings blankly staring into the mid-distance and pondering my nascent war with the Egyptians and wondering quite whether I can trust George Washington, I come to you as an addict with no hope of rehabilitation. I dream about it. I sit on public transport thinking about where I've gone wrong with my precious English race and what I'll do differently with my next civilisation. I sit and stew about the infamous time in which I'd left my capital city (which I've been calling 'Will is Cool' since 1991) completely unguarded - allowing those bastard Romans to sneak in from my largely unpopulated Northern coast and take it without warning. In fact, I'm still fuming about that, absolutely bastard livid. I'm sitting here with my blood boiling at the impunity of a computer-generated race of Buddhist Romans, and I desperately want revenge - in this life or the next. And this, my friend, is the power of the Civ.

NEW TRICKS, OLD DOG
What's new, though? Well to kick off there are the great people, engineers, artists, prophets, scientists, merchants and the like, who appear at intervals (encouraged by any wonders of the world you may have up your sleeve) and conjure up helpful bonuses - aiding city growth, researching stuff extra quick or perhaps double-teaming with other great minds and starting up a golden age of innovation. This all works very well, and certainly isn't quite as fiddly as the (nevertheless welcome) addition of religion - something that adds another layer to the Neapolitan ice cream that is Meier's
creation.

Essentially key faiths get founded in certain cities as soon as the relevant technologies are discovered - they then spread either through missionaries or trade routes regardless of national boundaries. Because of this a state religion isn't necessarily universally shared among your nation and neighbours (at one stage Will is Still Cool was Christian, Mos Eisley was Muslim and those pesky Buddhist Romans were upping the ante and trying to get me to convert to their way of thinking under threat of violence). Remember, a happy nation is a unified nation, but you're a better strategist than me if you can get it.

COGS OF WAR
Cohorts 'n' combat have also been slightly upgraded this time around, and are liable to give established Civ hacks a mild shock when they march into enemy territory - so pay attention at the back. These days, units get promotions depending on how much action they see, and there's a massive range of bonuses that can be lavished upon them so you can tailor troops to your whim - city defence specialists, hillside guerrillas, woodland warriors, all that malarkey. Because of this your freshly researched musket-men won't necessarily trounce a bunch of blokes with pikes - and an added level of chin-beardery strokage is ushered in. Should anyone be watching the battles over your shoulder then they will laugh and point (it looks like three wobbly toy soldiers poking a horse until one side falls over), but for us armchair generals the import is the difference between life and death - especially if your wobbly horse is pushed over by someone you know through the magic of Civ IV's fabled multiplayer.

This is most definitely the field in which Civ has been most errant in times past (Civilization III: Play The World being nothing short of a buggy and untested demonstration of computer gaming evil).

Now, however, it's been nailed: simultaneous turns, variable game speeds, the ability to join a game on the hop by taking over an AI opponent and game dynamics that leave you despising your best friend. Quite frankly, you needn't buy another game for the entirety of next year - Civ will suffice, and it gets deeper each time you play.

It's a game that's part of the establishment rather than one of the endless parade of fleeting moonlight installations that come and go with the seasons. A much-loved part of the PC gaming furniture that's been passed down from ancient times that we'll leave to our grandchildren when they're ready. Then they can hate the Romans too.

PC Zone Staff