Civilization 4 Review

By Kieron Gillen Published 26 October, 2005

Be Civil. It’s the right thing to do.

Version tested: PC

I've done loads today. In total: one cup of tea, brewed. One piece of cheese on toast, prepared. Two bladders, emptied. And then hours of the rise and fall then rise again of Spanish Taoism.

It’s terribly moreish, this recapitulation of human history in a turn-based format.

It’s always been - to use that most devalued of gaming terms - addictive. Addictive. It’s something games reviewers throw around without really thinking about, with colourful metaphors describing it in terms of something you could base "Requiem for a Dream II: This Time It's Got a Joypad" about. It’s mostly posture, and it takes something like Civilization to show how much that’s true. They’re not addictive. Civilization is.

I was only half-joking in the intro. I forget to eat when playing Civ. I just forget that I’m hungry. At 10:30pm, when I've wandered the streets of south Bristol looking for fast-food like a particularly determined settler trying to find a rare-resource-rich area, it wasn’t because I hadn’t eaten all day. It’s because I’d finished my game. I love Civ, but didn’t play much of the sequels after my experiences with the originals, mostly out of fear that they’ll actually make it so good that I’ll just disappear into it forever.

Obviously, the series’ fortunes rose (If they’re not hailing Alpha Centauri, there’ll be lots of players out there who’d argue Civ2 as their favourite game ever) and fell (Civ3 picked up a fair share of disgruntlement), but the core of the game remains compelling. A turn-based world, a couple of units, stone-age technology, and then the long climb from that to a world-spanning Empire. It’s an epic unfolding before your eyes, one click at a time. How could that not be addictive?

Important proviso here: people often use addictive as a synonymous for enjoyable. It’s not really true. There are lots of games that are pretty addictive, but when you look at your emotional response, it’s a flat-line. They’re not great games, just a focus for humanity’s basal-level OCD-response. Civilization isn’t that sort of addictive. Civilization is addictive like your kid’s smile, or the shimmer of sweat running along your new lover’s side as they sleep or...

Okay, as much as my membership of the Hyperbolic Games Reviewers Guild (UK) would insist, I’m not quite stupid enough to say something like "Best Civilization Ever". We won’t know that for at least a year, after countless bleary eyes have squinted at unexpected daylight creeping through their window and the real guts of this beautiful beast vivisected by everyone.

'Civilization 4' Screenshot fungi

Fungi-resources provide plentiful food resources in the end-game.

But it’s good. Damn good. In fact, I’ll certainly go as far as saying it’s the best pure strategy game I’ve played this year, and that’s good enough for me.

The changes to the formula vary from the minor tweaks that have profound influences to complete re-workings so natural that I had trouble remembering it was ever any different. Take combat, for example. The two statistics of attack and defence have been merged into one. However, rather than simplifying the system, it allows your attention to wander elsewhere. Different units have clear bonuses against different sorts, in different situations as well as special abilities. These are significant enough to genuinely alter the balance and your calculation, rewarding a mixed force; for example, Spearmen’s huge bonus against mounted troops early on in the game. Equally, Siege Weapon’s abilities will completely nullify even a million soldiers, because the splash damage affects everyone in the same square. In other words, the game makes units take attrition before they even lay a blow.

But then another twist is layered on top of that with the small matter of how you apply your upgrades to your troops. Having clocked up enough experience points to earn one, you’ll be able to choose a special ability; but you soon realise you’re far better off choosing a specialised bonus (like getting a bonus when attacking a city, for example) than the comparatively minor general strength boost.

This causes you to tightly focus your attention on how your upgrades are going to be used. For instance, a swordsman with three levels of city attack on them is fearsomely powerful in that situation, but you risk losing a hell of a lot of work if you leave him exposed or used him in the wrong situation. He’s valuable. Things matter. And since things matter, you’re alive and questioning.

'Civilization 4' Screenshot space

Playing so long you wake up and find mankind’s gone to space. Standard Civ problem.

Compared to earlier games in the series, Civ IV leans much more towards specialising areas. For example, settlements tend to work best if put towards a certain task, with the right buildings constructed. Equally, despite being a phenomenally complicated game, it’s one which leads players through the basics superbly. Wondering how to level up your troops? A full pop up will explain the details; with even most of the mathematics behind it coming to light. Can’t work out why your peasants seem to be so annoyed? Examine the city and all the factors will roll out, and give you a chance to see where it’s going wrong. And, while we're on the subject, there’s now much less of an unhappy populace simply ceasing production. Instead, some citizens stop work and it all slows down. And then there’s the stuff with pollution which...[snip - Ed]

Yes, it’s easy to get lost in the details, but that’s the game - that's why I like it. The joy is that you’re getting lost in the right details in the game, and engaging with the strategy.

Meanwhile, a special mention must be made of two of the expanded sections from previous games. Religion’s only ever been present as a ghost element, but Firaxis has tried to engage with how religions have influenced the world but without falling into Christianity (+4 against Roman Pantheism) or even more controversial modern equivalents.

In terms of how it works, it's quite straightforward. The seven religions are tied to the development of a technology, at which point one of your settlements will be dubbed the holy settlement of that religion. However, in function, all of them act identically. They spread naturally along trade networks to other cities or deliberately by missionaries, and then impacting on the population’s happiness. Christians want Churches built, Jews Synagogues and so on. Simple.

Religion particularly impacts on the entirely reworked Diplomacy section. Rather than having a general reputation, each of the computer players has a distinct opinion on you depending on how you’ve got along. If you’ve been trading, you’ll have a plus. If you’ve been trading with their enemies, it'll be a minus. They’ll come begging or threatening for technology or similar, making your offers and responding with impressive intelligence to yours. However, one of the key ways to influence their opinion of you is how your State religion compares to theirs... so the spreading of your (or their) religion early on can have a profound influence to what alliances form.

'Civilization 4' Screenshot rev

In Civ IV men are three times bigger than trees.

This religion balance can also have more direct consequences, not just to the happiness of your people, but the happiness of your accountant. If the holy-city of the religion has the proper building constructed in it, it’ll receive gold for every city in the world which follows the creed. Gloriously, beautifully, cynical. It’s also handy in certain Religion Civics, where if you take certain ones you can gain production bonuses in any city with the State religion or...

The second of the two standard-Civ elements that have been redone in a completely new way are the Civics. Previously we’d had defined government systems with set bonuses. Instead, we have Civics. Your government’s characteristics are defined according to five different categories (Government, Legal, Labour, Economy and Religion) with eventually five research-uncovered options in each. For example, in Economy you could choose between the Free-Market and State Property. It’s much better than the old system in that there’s more freedom for you to make decisions. While most will play tactical, and go for combinations of governments which are better at peace or War, there is finally room to play proper 'What-Ifs?' in Civilization IV. For example, you could try and create a nation of Free-speaking Pacifist Communists called JohnWalkerland...

But reviewing Civ often feels like trying to review a world. Notice the number of times the phrase "for example" has turned in this piece. All we’re doing is grabbing something, pointing it at you and saying "Hey - this bit’s neat. There is lots more stuff like that". So - this bit’s neat. There’s a lot more stuff like that.

And before we leave, while we’re on a surface level, it’s worth noting that while no Civilization is ever going to turn the head of someone who walks up to walls in FPS then uses the sniper-scope to examine the detail on the textures, it’s by far the prettiest yet. If you’re going to spend days with something, it needs the right atmosphere, and Civilization IV has nailed it. It even has great music on the start scene, which sounds just like something from the Lion King yet - somehow - awesome.

Anything else really important I should mention? Oh yeah! Multiplayer out of the box this time. Plus, if you're in a particular hurry, you can speed all the options up and play through the entire game with chums in a few hours. Yay! Review complete. We can all go home.

The only problem that remains is whether I can actually make it to bed and not start another game. Bodies need sleep. I’m sure I read it somewhere.

9 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kieron.

About Kieron Gillen

Kieron is one of the founders of the lovely Rock, Paper, Shotgun and nowadays writes comics for Marvel starring characters that even his mum has heard of.

Read more articles from Kieron by visiting the Kieron Gillen archive page.

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Comments (72) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • w00t #1 6 years ago

    \o/

  • Teeth #2 6 years ago

    Awesome captions :D

  • thegamesthething #3 6 years ago

    havent you emptied the same bladder, twice?

  • Genji #4 6 years ago

    Spanish... Taoism? :)

  • Furbs #5 6 years ago

    /senses this may turn in to an AoE3/Civ4 fanslagfest...

  • thegamesthething #6 6 years ago

    also try editing your review

    also try editing your review :)

  • w00t #7 6 years ago

    Tee hee!

    edit: Let's twist again!
    Edited by 1 at 26/10/05 @ 15:17

  • BremXJones #8 6 years ago

    The games thing: I never said they were *my* bladders.

    KG

  • souljah #9 6 years ago

    \o/

    That is all.

  • Roamer #10 6 years ago

    So, can I have a country of non-believing infidels, or do I need to pick a religion? I've never liked ruling over a religious bunch; in Alpha Centauri I'd always go with the greens and go to war against the fundamentalist Irish chick.

  • paralipsis #11 6 years ago

    Now if only it were in stores where I lived!

  • Razz #12 6 years ago

    O_O I love eurogamer!

    Send me a copy and I'll love you even more! :)

  • BremXJones #13 6 years ago

    Roamer: There's no "Secular" religion, if that's what you mean. You can decide not to develop a religion, but you'll almost certainly get infected by someone else's before too long.

    Though, I suppose, you could not pick up any technology which makes you found the religion, then rush to the tech that lets you declare a theocracy that stops the spread of non-state religions. Since you haven't a state religion, I'd guess that'd leave you as a culture of radical nonbelievists. Like - say - the French after the revolution.

    The most developed on the religious path is the Freedom of Religion civic, which lets people believe what they like with no State religion. You get a happiness bonus depending on the number of different religions in a city, simulating a more stable multicultural state or something.

    KG

    Edited by 1 at 26/10/05 @ 15:25

  • Khab #14 6 years ago

    I WILL RULE YOU ALL!!!!

  • bionutz #15 6 years ago

    [coarse girly voice - Crushanator style] Yoo-whoo!

  • Razz #16 6 years ago

    That is by far the best review I ever read.

  • KingOfSpain #17 6 years ago

    NEED!!

  • thegamesthething #18 6 years ago

    thats much better, great review, get some sleep

    thats much better, great review, get some sleep

  • Dynamize #19 6 years ago

    I want this THIS Friday, not next Friday. Do you hear me purveyors of computer games?!

  • Xerx3s #20 6 years ago

    "Playing so long you wake up and find mankind’s gone to space. Standard Civ problem." I woke up today and found out that the ice age was over -_-

  • MoFo #21 6 years ago

    One thing that bugged with previous Civ games is when you'd spend 50 turns trying to build a wonder only for another civilization to beat you to it the turn before you were due to finish construction! GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOO!!!

  • BremXJones #22 6 years ago

    MoFo: It's even more frustrating this time. While you could transfer construction into another project at any point in the old ones, you can't this time. You can swap to something else at any point, but it starts from zero, with the half-completed object remaining for you to complete in the future. In the case of Wonders, you get a load of cash for the work you did, but you can't swap onto someting else.

    It's even more stressful. And strategic, for the record.

    KG

  • Garwoofoo #23 6 years ago

    I'm so glad this is good.

    What are the system specs? I've already been burned once this year by AoE3, which looked about as bad as previous instalments but was so full of DX9 shaders and the like that it ran about 8 frames per second on my ageing rig. I'll be very happy indeed if you can tell me that Civ 4 is easy on rusty old graphics cards.

  • Razz #24 6 years ago

    Kieron. What are the future tech like this time? How far does it go?

  • UncleLou #25 6 years ago

    Got delivered to me today \o/.

  • Glitch #26 6 years ago

    "Civilization is ever going to turn the head of someone who walks up to walls in FPS then uses the sniper-scope to examine the detail on the textures"

    omg I do that :-(

    Is there something wrong with me?

  • Furbs #27 6 years ago

    Lou, do you have DVD-case packaging over there? If so how the hell do they fit the manual in??

  • Roamer #28 6 years ago

    Thanks, KG. Exactly what I needed to know.

  • Kiigan #29 6 years ago

    Woah, I saw the release date looming but I sort of didn't believe it was gonna get released so soon, with such little hype. Looking forward to it!

    In order of awesomeness:

    Civ
    Civ II
    Alpha Centauri
    Civ III
    Civ CTP

  • humanchu #30 6 years ago

    ëxcellent writing! hereby nominated for best review of 2005.

  • Bitkari #31 6 years ago

    i wish the release date actually was today.

    sob.

    Edited by 1 at 26/10/05 @ 16:52

  • UncleLou #32 6 years ago

    Lou, do you have DVD-case packaging over there? If so how the hell do they fit the manual in??

    It's a standard DVD case for the, um, DVD, but with a cardboard slipcase as the manual won't fit the case. The manual is roughly the same size of the DVD case, so the whole package is about twice as thick as a DVD case. Can you still follow? :)

  • lemonfist #33 6 years ago

    Great review. I'm glad to hear that you can specialize cities and units more now. The Civics system sounds like a good change as well.

    And it's only 18£ if you preorder at Play. Bargain!

  • krudster #34 6 years ago

    Lots of love in the room today. If only all comment threads were this sane :)

  • Furbs #35 6 years ago

    Yeah gotcha Lou. Excellent description!

    Its a sad state of affairs when I'm tempted to buy a game purely because it'll have a decent sized manual...

    Bring back cardboard! And Microprose!

  • OnlyMe #36 6 years ago

    This is one of those games that needs to be in a cardboard box instead. The dvd-case sized manual is to small, imo. The original Civ have a fat book-like manual, with a lot cool information (like everything from Microprose) and it also had a fold-out cardboard-card for the technology-tree.

    Colonization also had a great manual and these easy- for-reference cards. I really miss the days when the manuals were so interesting that you loved reading it when you didn't play. Some games even had things like little comic-books explaining some things you don't learn about ingame. I especially remember Dreamwebs "Diary of a (mad?) man" (not a comic but it was a fantastic read, it was the diary of the main character acting like a pre-story. Fantastic stuff.

  • Khanivor #37 6 years ago

    Must finish B&W2 now! Must. Stay. Awake.

  • UncleLou #38 6 years ago

    This is one of those games that needs to be in a cardboard box instead. The dvd-case sized manual is to small, imo. The original Civ have a fat book-like manual, with a lot cool information (like everything from Microprose) and it also had a fold-out cardboard-card for the technology-tree.

    Worry not, the manual is not in the DVD box. And there's a fold-out tech tree. :)

  • Kiigan #39 6 years ago

    18 quid is an amazing price for Civ 4. I'm sold.

  • Login Industry #40 6 years ago

    Pliny celebrates his great work : "Good game + An actual Manual rather than a print your own PDF = Open Browser to Play.com"

    \O/

  • botherer #41 6 years ago

    See, I'm hugely disappointed.

    NAMEDROPNAMEDROPNAMEDROP

    When interview Mr Meier earlier this year, we were chatting about smaller boxes and the ensuing issues. I tried to explain to him about how games in the UK used to have teatowels, and then after some extended confusion over the language barrier, eventually settling somewhere near "dishcloth", he became intrigued. I thought I'd talked him into at least investigating the notion of bundling one.

    THE EVIL TRAITOR.

  • paulf #42 6 years ago

    at last a game to cure my WoW addiction, really looking forward to this

  • Xerx3s #43 6 years ago

    Ahh well, there go me grades for this semester....

    More HQ games = lower grades :)

  • barchetta #44 6 years ago

    Any sniff of a Mac version yet...?

  • tincanrocket #45 6 years ago

    Just in case anyone hasn't mentioned this it is still 17.99 at Play.com, which works out at approximately 0.00001799p per hour of addictive fun - yay! Way cheaper than cr4ck, women, or WoW \o/

    Edit: ahhh, good work lemonfist - spread the word :)
    Edited by 1 at 26/10/05 @ 19:26

  • Stickman #46 6 years ago

    Stupid, no-good, put-back-to-next-Friday bastards.

    I WANT IT!

  • tincanrocket #47 6 years ago

    OnlyMe - thanks for reminding me about Dreamweb - I loved that game and, when I moved house recently, discovered I had kept the Diary - must dig it out and have another read of it...

  • captain-future #48 6 years ago

    I played original CIV almost for three years... oh man, how will I survive this new one?

  • Artemis_Matsas #49 6 years ago

    Nooooo!!! have a wife and kid now... Must resist...

    /orders game anyway

  • BremXJones #50 6 years ago

    There was a beautiful moment in the last game of Civ I was playing where it was clear that the opponent was going to beat me to make his Alpha Centauri vessel. I'd been wasting a load of time playing around with the end-game functions, like the UN. So I decided - right: If I nuke all his decent cities that'll hold up production enough for me to scrape it - I have the Space Elevator, so can make ships faster anyway.

    Then I realised that I'd actually gotten everyone to vote for a world-wide ban of nuclear weapons in the UN, and had it past. Damnation!

    KG
    Edited by 1 at 27/10/05 @ 00:00

  • AaronTurner #51 6 years ago

    Passed!

    And I don't care if that's wrong.

  • urban #52 6 years ago

    OMG! 9/10 THATS ALOT !

  • Roamer #53 6 years ago

    Almost 90%... incredible... That is a lot.
    Edited by 1 at 27/10/05 @ 08:27

  • symmetry #54 6 years ago

    Gonna have to get this me thinks, especially as play have it for 18 squidlies.

  • stand_at_ease #55 6 years ago

    That shock and surprise you can get as you look up at the nearest clock to discover you've just been playing non-stop for otfkthx 191193325 hours is a very rare thing. I actually might go and BUY this game on the back of THIS REVIEW, another rare thing.

  • Hicksy #56 6 years ago

    \o/

    /does not cancel pre-order

  • Razz #57 6 years ago

    Hahaha! I'll nuke anyone in Civ I don't usually care about arocities etc... diplomancy blergh! Along as people fear me that's all that matters! :)

    When I finish the manhatten project I usually bomb the capital of the weakest opponant a couple times then demand stuff from other stronger nations. :)

  • paulf #58 6 years ago

    Razz is your surname Bush by any chance ???

  • Razz #59 6 years ago

    :D
    Only in Civ... only in Civ. :)

  • riz23 #60 6 years ago

    As good as this undoubtedly is, I still want Alpha Centauri 2! After Photon Wave mechanics and SuperString theory I just can't get excited about researching muskets any more.

  • bink #61 6 years ago

    Yay, they didn't call it cIVilization.

  • Razz #62 6 years ago

    "As good as this undoubtedly is, I still want Alpha Centauri 2! After Photon Wave mechanics and SuperString theory I just can't get excited about researching muskets any more. "

    \o/ don't forget transcendance! I loved "Conversations with Planet". Made it more like a story than game too! :)

  • Razz #63 6 years ago

    Plus, I miss the Nerve Staple. :(

  • Miata #64 6 years ago

    Artemis_Matsas, I'm in the same position. I want this game, but the trouble this would get me in keeps me from running to the shops.
    These are the days I miss being a college student with lots of spare time to waste...

  • kangarootoo #65 6 years ago

    I haven't played Civ since version 1, but its nice to see so many people loving the series. Makes for a much more interesting thread.

    My parents are well into this kind of game (born again gamers in their 60s), think I'll bag a copy for them and have nosey at it myself along the way.

  • UncleLou #66 6 years ago

    Question to those that already play it, I read in the Gamespot review that there is an intro movie with Nimoy's voicever each time you start a new game, however that doesn't seem to play for me. I just get Nimoy's voice with the new techs in the game, but no intro movie whatsoever before each new game, just a little window with my world leader and some "The Germans have been nomadic people bla bla".

    Anyone? :)

    edit:

    I was just too impatient. Wait, don't click, when a new game begins.
    Edited by 1 at 27/10/05 @ 20:14

  • Bitkari #67 6 years ago

    :]


    Edited by 1 at 28/10/05 @ 00:49

  • AaronTurner #68 6 years ago

    Is the game on DVD on CD? Anyone know?

  • Royal Fool #69 6 years ago

    The Euro versions come on DVD, thankfully.

  • ave #70 6 years ago

    So, I've been playing this over the last week, and been massively dissapointed.

    Really, it playes like Empire Earth or AoE1 with a turn based system, there's so little bloody depth to everything. It's generic rather than cliched, and boringly so.

  • jadeia #71 6 years ago

    One more turn... One more turn...

  • HunterSeeker #72 6 years ago

    Seriously, having played the game for quite a while.

    I have no doubt this is one of the best strategy/simulation game in recent times, or in fact one of the

    Even though it doesn't have stunning graphics or ragdoll physics like AOE3, it is far
    more compelling and addictive.

    In short, it PWNS!!!!!!!!1111!!!111