View Full Version : Civilization IV Review at SZO
Siberian HEAT
15 Nov 05, 15:44
Get the goods on the latest game in the Civ series. After completely wearing out my Civ II disc, but not playing a single second of Civ III, I think I am ready to get back into it. Just what I need, something else to suck away my scant free time. :D
http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/articles.php?p=624&page=1
jayedub7423
15 Nov 05, 20:49
good review. my favorite part of the review;
"There are unit animations for combat, although they aren’t anything to get too excited about, unless you happen to be watching that spearman poke your tank and make it blow up. I suppose that could be considered exciting."
lol, too freaking funny. lucky for me that didnt happen.
i really like Civ IV. i think it's a great improvement over Civ III, which i enjoyed a lot too.
the only problem i've been having is that the game preformance gets really bad later in the game, which is probably the memory leak mentioned in the review. after loading a saved game, the game just slows to about 1fps. i have to alt-tab out a couple of times to get the game to run smoothly.
a really cool feature is the ability to play your mp3's instead of the original soundtrack. and, the game will recognize sub-folders. so if you have a folder called music, and five folders within that one, the game will randomly play all songs.
I have yet to play any of these but this one has caught my eye.
I have yet to play any of these but this one has caught my eye.
Your not the only one. The game looks AWESOME!!!
Excellent review James.
If anyone here wants to join Overseer and I in some multiplayer Civ 4, drop us a note.
Siberian HEAT
15 Nov 05, 23:01
I'm going to pick this game up as soon as I can get the horse cart over to Best Buy. While I hope to avoid the divorce papers situation, I do plan on getting some serious saddle time in so I might one day be good enough to play multiplayer against some of you cats. :eek:
Nah we're not that good or anything. Well, Ross isn't at least... he needed me to pull him out of the gutter in our game. :laugh::p
Oh and as a side note, unlike HoI2, I think we can expect relatively stable multiplayer out of this one. Ross and I haven't had any significant problems yet, so hopefully with the addition of another player or two or three that'll continue.
Nah we're not that good or anything. Well, Ross isn't at least... he needed me to pull him out of the gutter in our game. :laugh::p
Haha...the truth hurts sometimes :D. Although, as my excuse, I had horrible city placement - I have learned my lesson.
Reinforcing what James said, it really is stable. In HoI2, it is "see you back in the lobby!" when attempting to start a game....I don't think we have had one problem yet with Civ 4. And simultaneous turns work well. You can look at cities and advisors, and I think even assign new orders, if you are waiting for your opponent to finish.
Haha...the truth hurts sometimes :D. Although, as my excuse, I had horrible city placement - I have learned my lesson.
Reinforcing what James said, it really is stable. In HoI2, it is "see you back in the lobby!" when attempting to start a game....I don't think we have had one problem yet with Civ 4. And simultaneous turns work well. You can look at cities and advisors, and I think even assign new orders, if you are waiting for your opponent to finish.
Indeed, there's been a number of times I've actually changed where my units were heading while waiting for your turn to finish (that actually wasn't a bust on Ross that time, there were also many times where he was waiting on me :laugh: ).
A fine review, My only nit would be the lack of an index in so large a manual. I had to skim to page 155 to learn that trade routes are now automatic. As an old Civ player, I kept looking for the way users set them up.
madDdog67
16 Nov 05, 09:12
I'm probably the only one on the planet that feels this way, but I find the new graphics very cartoony, and horribly cluttered...to the point of not wanting to play the game. The most I've lasted for a Civ 4 game is about 25 minutes. One night, I went back to Civ 3, and played it for 4 hours. Heresy, I know, but what can I say?
A fine review, My only nit would be the lack of an index in so large a manual. I had to skim to page 155 to learn that trade routes are now automatic. As an old Civ player, I kept looking for the way users set them up.
That's true, for most things you have to find the ToC works fine, but that would be something a little more difficult to find.
I'm probably the only one on the planet that feels this way, but I find the new graphics very cartoony, and horribly cluttered...to the point of not wanting to play the game. The most I've lasted for a Civ 4 game is about 25 minutes. One night, I went back to Civ 3, and played it for 4 hours. Heresy, I know, but what can I say?
To be honest, I'm used to not paying the graphics any attention in a Civ game, so any complaint about them I don't really notice. I look more that they show me everything I need to know and that they don't look like the 2d sprites of Civ II any more. :laugh: And I actually think that the terrain, city, and infrastructure stuff on the map looks really good (watching your city expand on the real map as build things, and watching the suburbs build up).
The two comments that seem to rule with people I know that have played the game, is the game looks good, and the game will not settle for anything less than a current powerful computer.
I have seen enough of the game to know I would like it.
And considering my computer is waaaaaay outside the range of this game's demands I can just forget it :(
I will be ready to play this probably around 2007.
The problems with the game in terms of powerful computer will hopefully be resolved somewhat come the first patch. A lot of the issue comes with a memory leak that takes it toll in later play, although I've never had a problem in the least, many people, even with better computers, have.
The two comments that seem to rule with people I know that have played the game, is the game looks good, and the game will not settle for anything less than a current powerful computer.
I have seen enough of the game to know I would like it.
And considering my computer is waaaaaay outside the range of this game's demands I can just forget it :(
I will be ready to play this probably around 2007.
I actually often play on a not very fancy laptop. Do have 64 bit chip but other than that fairly mid range stuff and purchase cost of about $2000. We are talking Gateway not Alienware. I set the graphics on low and have no problems.
Another good thing about Civ 4 multiplayer is I think people can join in mid-game....so we wouldn't necessarily be constrained to a hard start time or anything.
I'll need to check on that though.
Another good thing about Civ 4 multiplayer is I think people can join in mid-game....so we wouldn't necessarily be constrained to a hard start time or anything.
I'll need to check on that though.
Eh I wouldn't be so sure of that... but we'll have to experiment. I'm kinda doubting that though.
Eh I wouldn't be so sure of that... but we'll have to experiment. I'm kinda doubting that though.
Maybe I am thinking of the "pitboss" mode that didn't make it into the shipped game, but might come down the road.
Maybe I am thinking of the "pitboss" mode that didn't make it into the shipped game, but might come down the road.
How did it work?
Siberian HEAT
17 Nov 05, 16:31
I've got Civ IV sitting on my desk! I'm trying to finish Half Life 2 so I can focus on c4 when I finally get it installed. :smoke:
I'm *almost* done with HL2. Just an awesome game, in case anyone didn't already know that. :laugh:
I've got Civ IV sitting on my desk! I'm trying to finish Half Life 2 so I can focus on c4 when I finally get it installed. :smoke:
I'm *almost* done with HL2. Just an awesome game, in case anyone didn't already know that. :laugh:
Let us know when you're ready for a multiplayer game. At least for the first game or so, I'll be more than willing to focus on the AI and work with you. :p;)
How did it work?
The Pit Boss persistent turn-based server will allow for players to play as long as they like and leave when they like without disrupting the game. Players can also fill in for AI players and join when they like (so it is possible to jump in right in the middle of a game and take an AI's role). The server will download the current game state, then a player takes their turn and the server afterwards saves for the next player. It is like playing a streamlined version of play by e-mail or hot seat multiplayer.
The Multiplayer pit boss, which will allow persistent multiplayer games of Civ4, will be released in December.
From Civ Fanatics (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/)
There is also a news post on CivFanatics mentioning that the final testing of the new patch is underway.
Some of the highlights include multiple AI improvements and tweaks, worker behavior tweaks, MANY game play improvements (ex Animal Husbandry reveals horses), promotion tweaks, a softer pillage sound (requested by many, many people), fixed diplomatic exploits (gold for gold, peace treaty exploit), multiplayer tweaks (Hot seat, Lobby, etc.), memory, caching and performance improvements, etc. There were also a number of video card specific fixes.
(Mantis looks at dusty Civ III and PTW CDs on his shelf, and twitches slightly...)
Ivan Rapkinov
17 Nov 05, 21:02
http://www.civanon.org/
when I got my copy, there was actually CivAnon pamphlets being hand out :D
I'll have to scan it in...
Looks like James and SZO have made front page at Civilization Fanatics (http://www.civfanatics.com) (or here (http://www.civfanatics.com/news2/comments.php?id=575) for a direct link to the review compilation thingy). Congrats!
Although that 92% looks kind of stingy :D
Firing Squad gave a 93% :p
Wow. I was carried on other websites. :D:D:D
Firing Squad gave a 93% :p
93% is a solid "A". 92% is bordering on the "B" range :D.
93% is a solid "A". 92% is bordering on the "B" range :D.
Yeah well. That's what they get for shipping a game that so many people have trouble with in late stages. :p
RIT Beast
21 Nov 05, 10:30
93% is a solid "A". 92% is bordering on the "B" range :D.
My feeling is that anything over a 90% is a must-have, unless you truly despise the genre, and 80% and up is worth buying if you're a fan of the genre. Anything below 80% isn't worth the money. I'm loving Civ, but the game crashes/movie skips are getting a bit annoying. :OHNO:
A week off from work and CivIV installed on my computer. In wonder how I will ever pass the time :laugh:
They have really once and for all solved the micromanagment problem this time, wonderfull gameplay and you can for once manage your empire in a good manner.
I must however admit that I miss the ability to nudge cities into revolt with spies as a compliment to superiour culture. That and of course all the civs that where included in PTW and Conquest. But I guess the game is fantastic anyway...
Siberian HEAT
21 Nov 05, 13:43
Yeah well. That's what they get for shipping a game that so many people have trouble with in late stages. :p
I thought the review might have been a tad low on first glance, but I trusted James to make the call. It turns out I completely agree with him. The difference in scoring comes from the technical problems. I've had the dang thing crash on me several times in the late stages...my spaceship movie (for victory) crashed on me...and while the game was fun up until that point, I am very disappointed in the bugs later in the game. I won't even play it again until they come out with a patch. I think it would have been a mistake to simply overlook those problems and score it too high.
I've not had any other game crash on me like this.
I thought the review might have been a tad low on first glance, but I trusted James to make the call. It turns out I completely agree with him. The difference in scoring comes from the technical problems. I've had the dang thing crash on me several times in the late stages...my spaceship movie (for victory) crashed on me...and while the game was fun up until that point, I am very disappointed in the bugs later in the game. I won't even play it again until they come out with a patch. I think it would have been a mistake to simply overlook those problems and score it too high.
I've not had any other game crash on me like this.
Aye, the problem was I couldn't particularly hold it too much against the game, because I haven't run into a single problem myself (aside from the random bug I mention in the review about it loading me as the wrong Civ).
Which is more than I can say about that UFO Aftershock game.... :whist:
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