Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Complete Edition
released on May 12, 2009
Sid Meier’s Civilization is widely recognized as one the greatest PC game franchises of all-time. Heralded as one of the top ten games of 2005, Civilization IV is a must-have for gamers around the globe. Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: The Complete Edition includes Civilization IV, plus all three expansions: Warlords, Beyond the Sword and Colonization.
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Complete Edition
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Absolutely peak Civ, i love how this version comes packaged with some mods already.
“Convincing Me Of Its Quality”
After struggling to find any real enjoyment out of previous “Civilization” titles, I finally found some fun in the form of “Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Complete Edition”. With a much better tutorial, some interesting visual enhancements, a cleaner user interface, and a more pleasing game flow, I walked away feeling pretty optimistic about this title and going forward to its sequel. While I still have some issues with the tutorial and fine-tuning the difficulty, it was easier to stomach with the great Civilopedia at hand. These improvements put me in a much better position to get the most out of this game, and helped to add “Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Complete Edition” to my potential game rotation down the line (assuming I don’t enjoy “Sid Meier's Civilization V: Complete Edition” as much).
The tutorial is what really helped me start to understand this series better. Previous entries shoved most information into the Civilopedia, making learning the mechanics more dull in the process. This game opts for a more hand-on approach with simple mechanics, and it makes those fist taught to the player stick much better in their minds. It saves more complicated features for the Civilopedia though, which I would have rather seen gain their own tutorials in either gameplay or video format. Still, the game focused early on in providing a solid groundwork, and this extended to its visual reworks and user interface improvements.
I really enjoy the rework of the visuals for this title. Everything in the landscape and presentation of units and buildings is more colorful and vivid, and the game has a new life to it. Animations add charm to the experience, and helps the world feel alive despite the game being one of pure strategy and tactics in the form of various menus. The user interface is also much cleaner this time around, and it is easy to pull up information and distinguish data from surrounding elements of the screen. It helps focus the action in the center of the screen, and supplemental information is provided on the sides of the screen as well as in further menus. A great improvement indeed, and something that helped me enjoy this entry a lot more than previous ones!
The game flow is something that I enjoy much more this time around, which is strange considering it's still similar to older titles in the series. It might be because of the improved visuals or user interface, but I actually got a bit of that “one more turn” feeling so many fans of the series have claimed to get while playing. Something that is a bit frustrating is combat however, as it's a bit trickier than it appears to be and slows down gameplay sometimes due to some unanticipated maneuvers. It feels difficult to properly strategize with the relatively sparse information the game throws at you. Maybe I overthink it, but it's the one mechanic that still gives me trouble, and it leaves me wanting to play civilization with less focus on military and more on cultural dominance or religious influence. Maybe with some more time and success I can improve my score of the game to reflect a better understanding/enjoyment, but for now it's a bit of a sore spot for the experience.
Another thing I found iffy about my game experience was figuring out more complicated game concepts. As mentioned before, this title includes a tutorial that covers basic mechanics, but there isn’t really anything that helps explain mechanics introduced in later expansions. These things are left to the player to figure out, and with more complicated features like the “corporation” and deeper military strategies, it's a shame that it's only offered an explanation through the in-game Civilopedia. Yes, there are online tutorials and videos to watch as well, but I’ve always preferred the developers to give breakdowns of game mechanics themselves so that you can interact with them properly. A minor complains in the scope of things, but one that still bugged me hours into my time with the game.
Despite all of this, “Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Complete Edition” is a fun time. The game is rich in strategy, chock full of interesting history that is delivered from the clever Civilopedia, and charming in its presentation. It still has some issues introducing more complicated mechanics to new players, but it makes up for it somewhat by being a mechanically deep game. It’s interesting to learn how to play and uncover strategies with each civilization (despite the difficulties in the way a lot of the time). I can Recommend this game as the oldest “good” title in the series, and it's a good one to go back and try out if you have the chance. It definitely helped the series step up in its quality, and makes me excited to move onto the next mainline title in the series when the time comes to review it!
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
After struggling to find any real enjoyment out of previous “Civilization” titles, I finally found some fun in the form of “Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Complete Edition”. With a much better tutorial, some interesting visual enhancements, a cleaner user interface, and a more pleasing game flow, I walked away feeling pretty optimistic about this title and going forward to its sequel. While I still have some issues with the tutorial and fine-tuning the difficulty, it was easier to stomach with the great Civilopedia at hand. These improvements put me in a much better position to get the most out of this game, and helped to add “Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Complete Edition” to my potential game rotation down the line (assuming I don’t enjoy “Sid Meier's Civilization V: Complete Edition” as much).
The tutorial is what really helped me start to understand this series better. Previous entries shoved most information into the Civilopedia, making learning the mechanics more dull in the process. This game opts for a more hand-on approach with simple mechanics, and it makes those fist taught to the player stick much better in their minds. It saves more complicated features for the Civilopedia though, which I would have rather seen gain their own tutorials in either gameplay or video format. Still, the game focused early on in providing a solid groundwork, and this extended to its visual reworks and user interface improvements.
I really enjoy the rework of the visuals for this title. Everything in the landscape and presentation of units and buildings is more colorful and vivid, and the game has a new life to it. Animations add charm to the experience, and helps the world feel alive despite the game being one of pure strategy and tactics in the form of various menus. The user interface is also much cleaner this time around, and it is easy to pull up information and distinguish data from surrounding elements of the screen. It helps focus the action in the center of the screen, and supplemental information is provided on the sides of the screen as well as in further menus. A great improvement indeed, and something that helped me enjoy this entry a lot more than previous ones!
The game flow is something that I enjoy much more this time around, which is strange considering it's still similar to older titles in the series. It might be because of the improved visuals or user interface, but I actually got a bit of that “one more turn” feeling so many fans of the series have claimed to get while playing. Something that is a bit frustrating is combat however, as it's a bit trickier than it appears to be and slows down gameplay sometimes due to some unanticipated maneuvers. It feels difficult to properly strategize with the relatively sparse information the game throws at you. Maybe I overthink it, but it's the one mechanic that still gives me trouble, and it leaves me wanting to play civilization with less focus on military and more on cultural dominance or religious influence. Maybe with some more time and success I can improve my score of the game to reflect a better understanding/enjoyment, but for now it's a bit of a sore spot for the experience.
Another thing I found iffy about my game experience was figuring out more complicated game concepts. As mentioned before, this title includes a tutorial that covers basic mechanics, but there isn’t really anything that helps explain mechanics introduced in later expansions. These things are left to the player to figure out, and with more complicated features like the “corporation” and deeper military strategies, it's a shame that it's only offered an explanation through the in-game Civilopedia. Yes, there are online tutorials and videos to watch as well, but I’ve always preferred the developers to give breakdowns of game mechanics themselves so that you can interact with them properly. A minor complains in the scope of things, but one that still bugged me hours into my time with the game.
Despite all of this, “Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Complete Edition” is a fun time. The game is rich in strategy, chock full of interesting history that is delivered from the clever Civilopedia, and charming in its presentation. It still has some issues introducing more complicated mechanics to new players, but it makes up for it somewhat by being a mechanically deep game. It’s interesting to learn how to play and uncover strategies with each civilization (despite the difficulties in the way a lot of the time). I can Recommend this game as the oldest “good” title in the series, and it's a good one to go back and try out if you have the chance. It definitely helped the series step up in its quality, and makes me excited to move onto the next mainline title in the series when the time comes to review it!
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)