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Sid Meier’s Civilization is one of the first games I played, ever. It was one of two or three games on that old 286. The other games were Might and Magic II, and eventually, Sid Meier’s Colonization.
This was ages ago though, like when I was starting school. Naturally, I had no idea how to play this thing, so I ended up just building the first city and moving around with my first warrior. The next thing I learned was to change the city’s production. So I changed them all to produce settlers and I ended up with a 4 x 3 block of cities which got trampled by the Greeks.
I came back to Civilization at the same time I kind of figured out Might and Magic 2 and I actually managed to win as either the Romans or Germans. When I got a newer computer with Windows 95, I got Civ 2 from my cousin and started playing that. Then I got Starcraft and didn’t see Civ for a while, until Civ 3. There was a short stint there, but nothing substantial.
One of the things I anticipated most when I finally got my Macbook was being able to play modern games. So far, it’s been okay. I’ve come to accept that I’m probably not going to be playing HL2 for a while, but some new games have been keeping me busy. Yes, that’s right, games on a Mac.
One of the first games I got when I realized it was available was Civ 4. I didn’t even know that Civ 4 was out at all, so I knew nothing about it. The only thing I heard was that it needed a pretty beefy computer. So I grabbed a torrent and checked it out.
During my first playthrough, I found the game really slow. Civ 4 is the first Civ to use 3D graphics and they are quite demanding graphics. Playing it was really annoying, but I was still addicted. Civilization had returned. Later, I grabbed a patch to fix the issues, and once the real patch came out, the game’s been running relatively well. I’m even able to have particle effects and have the game run okay. Particle effects are a must, for the impressive explosions, otherwise, something will feel like it’s missing.
I’d say Civ 4 is the best Civ sequel out of the three. There was something that felt different in Civ 2 and 3, but Civ 4 feels just right. They managed to take out everything that annoyed me about Civs from before, like civil disorder and zone of control. The music is the best out of any Civilization, and the opening music, Baba Yetu, is grand.
The sound effects in-game are also great. Without the patch, the sound was missing, and there was definitely a feeling like there was a hole. And when you gain new technologies, there’s a quote to go along with it, just like in Alpha Centauri, voiced by Mr. Spock. My favourite is Satellites and he actually says “beep” for “Beep… beep… beep… beep… – Sputnik I”.
Civ 4 is an amazing game that continues the legacy that is Civilization.
Tags: civilization, Gaming