Lowest Price

: 35.99

Brand

: 2K Games

Model

: 31571

Reviewer: Richard A. Kelo| Date:2009-11-29

There's a huge compatability issue with ATI graphics cards... if you have a Dell & didn't pay to upgrade your video card it will probably crash on you. I have a Dell built in 2006 (the game came out in 2005) and the game crashes constantly. My computer has 2GB of RAM and the fastest processor you could get at the time, but the graphics card has issues with Civ 4 so beware...

Also 2KGames website is shut down on Civ 4; doesn't have any active support and you can't download any patches there to fix this bug...

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Reviewer: J. Ahrenholtz| Date:2009-11-28

I've played many turn based strategy games over the years, they're my favorite. This one though, I can't make heads or tails of. Played it for about 2 hours and was not only bored stiff but have no idea what I should be doing. It's so bad! Someone noted that the graphics are like "Age of Empires I in 98" but that is being far too kind, they are not even that good. The description "beautifully detailed, living 3D world" is very missleading. It looks like a game that would be a free download. I really don't mind the lack of good graphics so much if it's a game that draws me in but this one does not. I paid $40 for it unfortunately, wish I had tried a demo first.

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Reviewer: vincent anzalone M.D.| Date:2009-11-16

Civ IV is a game that puts you at the head of different civilizations. You are charged with the responsibility to expand your empire while keeping it solvent and safe from aggressors. One can have fun and learn about the past. The games keep me playing long after the sun sets. By the way I'm in my 50's!!

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Reviewer: Alex| Date:2009-11-13

What can I say, It's Civ and an RTS. If you are into RTS style games, you will enjoy this one. Lots of hours play with tons of replay value.

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Reviewer: Skwisgaar| Date:2009-11-03

There are so many improvements in the game mechanics compared to Civilization II, it's incredible.

But dropping the zone of control ruins everything.

One great innovation of Civ IV is the introduction of special resource squares. If you want to produce military units that require iron, you must have a road leading to an iron deposit from one of your city squares, and a mine built on the square.

Alternately, you can set up an exchange with another civilization. If they have more than one iron deposit they can trade that with one of your surplus resources.

The problem is with defending your resources. Enemy units, most notably barbarians, can just pass right by any unit you have defending one of these squares and destroy (pillage) the road leading back to your city square. With the road cut off, you may lose the ability to produce iron-based military units throughout your civilization!

The more succesful you are, the more barbarians the A.I. will send your way. So success means you spend all your resources building military units to protect your resources.

In Civ II units exerted a zone of control that meant no enemy could move from one adjacent square to another adjacent square. So, if enemies got next to your unit, they would have to either retreat or attack. It made exploration difficult at times, but it would have been so valuable in Civ IV.

Point of clarification - the A.I. will always be sure to send one unit to either side. If you attack one of them, the other one has free range to pillage your territory. Putting two strong defensive units per valuable square is too expensive. The main city tiles are so fortified with city walls and castles that you can make them all but invulnerable with a garrison of archers or longbowmen, which don't even require either copper or iron to produce.

You can just turn off barbarians altogether, but that solution is not acceptable to me.

The zone of control was probably dropped because of too many complaints and a need to market newer games to less intelligent people. Which is why people like me throw video games away after a couple of weeks even when we do deign to purchase them.

Review from Review from Amazon