E3

[Locutus]

Civ4: Col @ E3: Fidgit

Freelance game journalist Tom Chick for his Fidgit blog on Sci Fi's website explains to us in a nutshell what Civilization IV: Colonization is:

This total conversion of Civilization IV (a "total conversion" is a mod that requires an extra lot of work) is a remake of the cult-hit strategy game (a "cult-hit" is something not many people played, but they each loved it enough to make up for the people who didn't play it) created by Brian Reynolds ("Brian Reynolds" was the guy who did some of Sid Meier's best work, no disrespect to Mr. Meier intended). It's all about arriving in the New World, colonizing it, and then declaring Independence. In other words, the most American thing ever.

He also confirms that the game will be out in September, a claim now also backed up by UK gaming site GameSlave. Until we hear the official word from Firaxis we consider this a rumour, but it seems to be a credible one.

[Locutus]

Civ4: Col @ E3: GameSpy

Dave 'Fargo' Kosak of GameSpy posted a preview of Civilization IV: Colonization based on what he's seen of the game at E3.

Much like the recent re-release of Sid Meier's Pirates, Firaxis has raided the closet and is once again updating a classic. The success of Civilization IV, and the flexibility of the engine, gives the team a perfect excuse to revisit Colonization with some snazzy new graphics and some gameplay enhancements. As with Pirates, the team isn't trying to change the formula; at its core, this is very much the same game that kept us up all night 13 years ago. But like Civilization IV, it's got the slick presentation and refined gameplay of a modern strategy title... not to mention multiplayer.

The article gives an overview of the classic gameplay and reveals a little bit of the leader traits: if you play as the English with George Washington you will get a military bonus, but if you choose John Adams you receive economic benefits instead. Kosak explains how you assign colonists to either work the land to gather resources or specific buildings to manufacture finished goods from those raw resources. An important difference compared to the original game appears to be city expansion:

As your economy develops, your cities will begin to spread across the map, encompassing multiple tiles. We loaded up an advanced game and checked out a Spanish settlement featuring multiple large cities, all walled-off with stockades. The largest of the cities had little satellite towns around them, harvesting raw materials, while tiny wagon trains criss-crossed back and forth between urban centers. Visually it looked great.

Founding Fathers have also been tweaked: in the remake, they can only join one nation and will have to race the AI to your favourite ones. The article also addresses the new constitution and multiplayer features. Find out more about them by reading the full two-page article on GameSpy.

[Niptium]

One bits of information that slipped past locutus and, that, to me seems important :

''Players have lots of choices to make with regards to an overall strategy. Around 52 "founding fathers" are featured in the game; these are prominent colonists who can give you big benefits if they decide to join your cause. Each founding father will choose to join only one nation, and they'll only join a nation that meets certain criteria, so you can adjust your strategy to woo certain individuals.''

This is different from the original Colonization game.

[Locutus]

I paraphrased that it in my last paragraph. If I directly quote all the juicy bits you have no reason to ever visit any of the sites we link to and the owners of those sites get pissed at us

[Niptium]

I overlooked that last paragraph, I'm sorry !

[Locutus]

Civ4: Col @ E3: GameZone

While the Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3) may be over, the previews for Civilization IV: Colonization based on the event continue to roll in. GameZone just posted their article, which explains the basic gameplay and the differences with Civ4. The article mentions among other things that the game will last only 300 turns and that there are 52 Founding Fathers, one of which is Betsy Ross. But while the game is set in colonial times, a Firaxis representative was quick to point out: This is not a history simulator; it’s a game.

GameZone concludes: At its core, Colonization remains a turn-based strategy game with plenty of options to tweak the game experience. The maps, whether you pick a recognizable landscape or get a randomly generated map, are huge in size and the game grows in a very nice visceral manner.

You can read the full preview here.

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by Locutus


Well, it wouldn't be Colonization if it didn't have that...

Exactly. Hence my worry.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Dale
Can someone please confirm if it's on the PC Gamer mag this month?

I can now confirm that it is NOT in the new PC gamer. Not sure about last month's. It includes the game, but no preview (that's all Fallout this month, basically).

[Locutus]

Civ4: Col @ E3: Jesse Smith

At last week's E3, Civilization IV: Colonization's senior producer Jesse Smith was interviewed by GameSpot about the game. In a 2:37m video that was released this week, Jesse explains the concept of the game and mentions some of the changes compared to the original:

We added a couple of buildings to the game like the ranch and such, so that there's kind of new content. The Founding Fathers are awesome because there's 52 of them and they're based on which type of game you play, so if you're very trade-oriented, selling a lot of goods, you get trade Founding Fathers, if you're very militaristic you get military Founding Fathers. Each one can only be controlled by one of the colonies, so it's kind of a race to get the ones that are really powerful. But each one gives you huge bonuses so we're really trying to play off this idea that you know it's very unique and every game is gonna be like very interesting and a very exciting game.

He also talks about how every game is different, because of the random map generator, the different nations, your starting situation, the Founding Fathers you acquire, etc. You can watch or download the video on GameSpot or from the embedded link below.



Edit: it appears the Flash player isn't working in the forum for some weird reason, you can still visit GameSpot or watch it from our Colonization section, where it does work

[Locutus]

Sounds a lot like Founding Fathers are much more like Great People now than like the original FFs, with as main difference that they still give unique benefits a la the original game.

[Niptium]

yeah totally... still one has to wonder if the game is due in 2 months, we only got a handful number of screens and no video for the game...