YOUR REVIEW of Civ4

[Raion]

There are plenty of reviews over at Gamespot, around 75 for sure and probably more since last night. Mine is there as Visitor_basic. Don't ask, it just happened that way.

But here is a shorter review:

http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-swahili.html

A little calypso, a little samba, raise your arms and hands over your head and sway back and forth.

Well, there is the words in the tablet but repeated in the song! (or pretty close, I guess!)

As much as Civilization is, the song moves along!

Back to a Tiny World with 3 players, as I guess that is working for the game!

Baba yetu uliye mbinguni,
jina lako litukuzwe.
Ufalme wako ufike.
Utakalo lifanyike duniani mbinguni.
Utupe leo mkate wetu wa kila siku.
Utusamehe makosa yetu,
kama tunavyowasamehe na sisi waliotukosea.
Usitutie katika kishawishi,
lakini utuopoe maovuni.
Amina.

[MarkG]

lets see if this works

Rating
		Excellent!
		Very Good
		Good
		Fair
		Poor

[Adagio]

You don't have rights to vote on this resource!

[MarkG]

you didnt vote before?

[Adagio]

Before?

[MarkG]

try now, tell me what message you get

[Adagio]

Now it says "You have already voted for this entry", so I guess the vote counted as I tried earlier... how do you see the results?

[yin26]

I get sent to this page: http://apolyton.net/dir/index.php?&t...&sid=355905324

[MarkG]

it means your vote count yin, check the entry again

http://apolyton.net/dir/index.php?id=4898&t=reviews&toprate=5.0000&tophits=5534&cat=3

[Civfreak1970]

The game is very boring! This coming from someone who has loved Civ1,2,3 and 4 is just a pretty game with no personality!

[Nikolai]

You're kidding, right? If you said so for Civ3, I could have agreed, but Civ4? No way.

[SKIPICUS]

I rate it good but take out the bugs and I'll give it excellent.

[Stumple]

I rate Civ IV at a lowly 7/10 at present owing to the various, already documented problems, awaiting a solution. It has the distinct possibility of gaining 9.99/10 once some of the issues are dealt with. The simple basis for judging the game being that it does keep me going for the 'one more turn' as did Civ II & unlike Civ III which I never took to. Given a patch or two it may even reach the perfect 10/10.

[Tommar]

Civ 4 is far better than Civ3 (which isn't saying much), but not as good as Alpha Centauri.

Why not as good as AC? No workshop or terraforming. Not as immersive, the voices on tech and movies on Wonders really gave some depth to the NPCs and made them more real.

Leonard Nimoy is cool, but... Forget the movies on Wonders, they bog my machine down and I wish I could turn them off.

No workshop, I kind of understand. I remember all the players whining about how it was too hard, but I also remember thinking - then don't it, use the default builds. On the otherhand, those who could use it would wax those who couldn't (or wax the game faster than those who couldn't). And the workshop might be harder to balance with Civ3/4 focus on resources. (Hmm, is x and y enhancement better than a basic unit that requires oil to build?)

No terraforming + time limit = failure to understand that some of us just like to build, and don't really care about winning any time soon. But do like our scores to count in the Hall of Fame. After all, the only reason I play the game multiple times in single player mode is to beat my own previous score.

The graphic enhancements in Civ4 are a detriment, if they have contributed to the technical issues. My machine isn't the best, but I can play WoW with fewer technical issues (just about none, in comparison to Civ4.) I don't play a turn-based game for the graphics, go figure.

The good about Civ4, aside from the obvious fixes over Civ3 like resource abundance and little penalty for expanding to get the resources you need, is the wealth of information. I like knowing why exactly why the NPCs feel about me the way they do.

However, I still have to keep hand-written notes to handle the pop-up windows, which prevent me from looking for the information that is there in the game, but the dang pop-up window won't let me look. (Hmm, should I build a Wonder from this city, or is there another city that could build it faster, and is in spot that is more effective? Do I need the Luxury that this NPC wants to trade for? Should I make a Christian missionary or an Islamic one?)

Bottom line - Civ4 is TONS better than Civ3, but is not as good as Alpha Centauri. If you find it boring at first, it's most likely because they give you suggestions on what to build next, and mindlessly clicking on those are boring indeed. Doing so is generally ok, but far from optimal. Too bad you can't check the data when the pop-up window is asking you for an answer, but with respect to city build stuff, you can go back and correct it later without too much penalty. It's just tedious to do so.

[smithldoo]

I have been playing a lot of Ages of Man, before buying Civ 4 and I am very cranky.

Sorry, I have spent the past 3 days trying to finish ONE game of Civ 4. I have been having all the troubles referred to in the help columns, eventually finishing the game with the partly fogged out map referred to. Trying all sorts of drivers. etc.

Without a doubt, I have had MORE trouble with Civ 4 than EVERY other game I have played PUT TOGETHER. As a average computer person, I did not realise that you needed a special video card to play Civ 4. I can play RomeTW, MTW, EU, AOE3, and RON on big maps with lots of units and no troubles, but on my 2.8gig processor, 1.5gig Ram, 128 mb video card (2 yr old), Civ 4 is like dragging a dead sloth through quicksand. CTD, freezes, mouse freezing, CTD that totally locks the computer that even Ctrl/Alt/del would not release, had to power off to regain control. I have finished one game and that will be all. I also forgot the small memory leak.

Go and read in the Civ4 Help column for a while, far out, its a disgrace. Even in the general forum there is a lot of discussion about bugs etc.

If I knew I had to buy a special video card to play civ 4, I would never have bought it. IMHO the system specs are vague and if you read the Civ 4 help threads, MANY, MANY people have also been caught out.

Many wrong, vague or inconsistant messages and bits in manual.

When I disband a cleric in a home city, I get a message to say if it is successful or not, in a foreign city no message, have to check the little religious icons to see if there is any change. IMHO very inconsistant.

In respect of the Gt Person for advance, I expect what the MOUSEOVER says, you "AUTOMATICALLY GET THE ADVANCE". I now know find this is not the case, but that is buried at the end of a paragraph in the manual and clearly contradicts the mouseover.

I am looking now at GP Keppler in my last game. It says
"+3288 for the research of Fibre Optics. This will have the great person automatically discover a technology. This action will consume the great person".

I am aware of the process now, after having it pointed out. However I have highlighted the part that is confusing and misleading if you do not remember sentence 3, para 1 page 82 of the manual.

Too put it simply in a civil court if I had 2 DEFINITIVE statements vs one that is contradictory, I believe I would win on the balance of probabilities. It says in the mouseover, quote again "automatically discover the technology". Simply one of several wrong messages and vague explanations in the manual

Kassiopeia is dead right, a lot in the manual is not very clear, collateral damage, inflation etc.

There are more instances of the above re wrong messages. The game I got out of the box is not even a good beta in my opinion, more like an alpha IMHO.

The in game manual and the tutorial are a farce, if I had a hand in those I would be moving cities and changing my name in embarrisment.

Dragging a dead sloth through quicksand play.

In AOM, I can be playing a game that was 5 times the size of the one I finished up winning in Civ 4(hug map), and I can grab a stack and be ready to move before the last one finished at turn 300 when there are nearly 300 cities and 2500 units in the game, you tried that in Civ 4? It takes up to 5 seconds in civ 4 for a unit to move one tile towards the end of the game.

I bought it in good faith, the system specs are really not very factual or clear, much like the manual and mouseovers. If I knew I needed to buy a new video card to play, I would never have bought it.

If they had simply added the new concepts to the old civ 3 graphics, I would not be complaining, simple as that.

The AI.

Re the AI, I am well aware that for over 3 decades we have been told that real AI is a decade away. however, I have seen much better AI than this one in older games.e.g. The civ 3 ai was more of a challenge IMHO.

As far as the cheats go, in AOM, once you eventually get on top, you don't have to worry about AI getting all sorts of handouts to boost them. The cheats are much fairer IMHO in AOM.

In the first 2 civ 4 games I played to I had never attacked anyone (except barbarians). Then both games I was targeted by a friendly neighbour. In the second game, I was attacked out of the blue by Bismarck 2 turns after I had given him cow and 20 gold as a gift??? Funnily enough, when I decided to implement IAS (aka Infinite Attack Sleeze (as discussed with stankarp)), it was predictable and booring. Get to 5 -6 cities then attack, target a neighbour with happy resources and go for it. In game one I was half way through my 3rd ai and it was pretty booringly simple, when the game died. Played again and this time managed to get to the win, one turn before I killed my 4 th AI (but I did it anyway). Capturing cities regularly funds deficit research spending.

Get this, while I was super aggressive, NO AI DECLARED WAR ON ME. How realistic, wow Over 2 games I crushed with ease 7.5 AI and no one even sent me a diplomatic note. What BS. In AOM, by the time you kill one medium size AI you are on the threshold of being branded a cross between hitler and attila and one more war and you are on your own buddy. When I was totally peaceful, I was attacked????

It (the out of the blue attack)was only a problem in my first 2 test games because I was lulled into a false sense of security, 5500 years of peace, never attacked anyone, traded with all. The reason it was a problem is proximity, the map is basically full by 500-1000AD. After I became aware of the possibility it was not a problem, in fact it was funny watching ai units immolate themselves on my defences. Then of course, have cavalry to kill those stupid catapults that often travel like sheep in groups by themselves.

Religion.

So far, I have not seen what the major impact is in CIV IV. Is there one?

Remulak

Well in 4 games so far (all monarch level, huge map), 2 tests, one crashed and died when I researched Broadway, and one eventually finished with a mucked up map, I ask the same question. AFAI can see, the only major difference I noticed is multiple religions in one of your cities allows you to build different religious buildings in the one city. In the last game I researched one religion, then as border cities got new religions would build other religious buildings and clerics to spread religion and buildings to make more happy and culture points. After a while it got pretty repititive. It made IAS very easy as there were practically no happiness issues.

Diplomacy.

Rubbish as partly covered above. Too many advance related exclusions, bring back civ3 diplomacy any day of the week.

As far as playing again on a higher level, shove it. Slow, teedious, over animated, bland map, booring ai, diplomacy much poorer than civ 3 etc. But, before you all go off, I will simply say if they had put the new concepts into the old civ 3 engine, I would not be complaining.

In AOM I can play a gigantic game with 300 cities, 2500 units, map 500% bigger and do a turn in the same time as civ 4. In AOM I can grab a stack and be ready to move before the last one finished, tried that in civ 4??? It takes up to 5 seconds in civ 4 for a unit to move one tile towards the end of the game. Hexegonia said it takes you 3 hrs to do 15 turns during the dark ages in AOM, it took me that long to do that many turns in civ 4 in my last game (1800AD) that is 25% of the size because the whole thing is sluggish and jerky and gets worse. Yes I had graphics on mimimum, animations off, quick battles etc,etc,etc,etc and the result was a bland, booring featureless waste of time.

I vote Civ 4 the worst out of a box game I have ever played.