As a die hard Civilization IV fan I had my concerns on the previews of this game. For me, there is no better way to play Civ IV than set the speed to Marathon, largest map with no less than twelve opponents. A single game can last weeks and when finished my immediate instinct is to hit the new game option. A lot was being changed for the consoles, dumbed down being thrown around by a lot of net users, showing I wasn?t alone in my doubts.
The first thing you notice is it gets the most important thing right. The interface. It?s nice, slick and has a certain Sid Meier fun charm to it. The tutorial (playing on Chieftain) walks you through what you need to know, how to control it, and it doesn?t overwhelm you. The controls are good and very instinctive after only a few small turns.
The pace is lightening fast but I never felt rushed. A lot of the things are more simplified like the city screen, production and experience but never feel basic. The combat is fast and entertaining to watch. Combat odds are displayed clearly when shown, but masked for city invasions. But they?ve added an all important retreat button for attacks. If you find yourself in over your head or didn?t intend to fight to the finish you don?t have to. You begin to level up after only three victories and if you have three of the same unit in the same square you can form an army. Win enough victories and a great general comes along, giving you combat multipliers for everyone in that square.
The goodie huts are still in the game but now there are two types, Barbarian huts and friendly ones. Friendly ones give you all sorts of gifts and often point in the direction of more finds. Barbarian huts are good combat experience for your army and both have more personality than you find in a PC Civ game. When you take a barbarian village, the tribal leader tells you it wasn?t an important village to him anyway, despite all the money you stole. Take out the bigger ones and they point in the direction of a foreign town you may want to invade.
Gone are workers. Cities now build things like roads between cities using your treasury. Settlers and Wonders are no longer the resource commitment they once were. Wonders are also much more powerful but shorter lived, giving you key strategic advances while they last. Settlers you get for free (but can build as well) for economic bonuses. Once your nation hits certain milestones (100 gold, 250, 500?) a settler unit is created. You also get bonuses for being the first to discover certain technologies so there?s an extra level of strategy involved in picking your order.
As I said its much faster paced. Units are created within a few turns. Wonders and buildings don?t take much longer either. Roads are created within a turn and act more like railroads now, making your own territory much more defendable.
Corruption has always been an element creators play around with, experimenting with what works better. Its not explained but it seems distance from your capital effects your towns cultures. Cultural boarders dictate where your town can get its resources from and you seem to get less of it the further from your palace the city is. Corruption modifiers help but they don?t call it corruption; things like courthouses expand the amount of squares you can farm/mine for example.
Victory conditions are layed out. Be the first to get so many wonders, so many techs and build the right things, a certain amount of gold, or take control over all the enemy palaces in combat and you?ve won. Demo doesn?t go through the entire game obviously so I cant say what that?s like.
All I can say is my enthusiasm has been heightened once more for this to be released in full, it lives up to its promises of a console Civ and it doesn?t seem to be less of a game. This is not civilization IV but it doesn?t try to be and I think it?ll will appeal to a lot of people put off by the scale of the other games.
My biggest concern is replay ability, always one of Civilizations strongest points. With so many options taken out of your hand in game creation I wonder if I?ll be playing again and again like I have others in the series. I?m not much of an online gamer, especially with Civ, although this could be a game that changes that.
One other feature that sounds good is its way of doing scoreboards. One of the playing options (locked in the demo) is game of the week. Each week a new game is created, like the normal single player but the settings are the same for everyone. The same map, same rivals same playable Civ and the score is compared with everyone else who plays. I like that idea.
The first thing you notice is it gets the most important thing right. The interface. It?s nice, slick and has a certain Sid Meier fun charm to it. The tutorial (playing on Chieftain) walks you through what you need to know, how to control it, and it doesn?t overwhelm you. The controls are good and very instinctive after only a few small turns.
The pace is lightening fast but I never felt rushed. A lot of the things are more simplified like the city screen, production and experience but never feel basic. The combat is fast and entertaining to watch. Combat odds are displayed clearly when shown, but masked for city invasions. But they?ve added an all important retreat button for attacks. If you find yourself in over your head or didn?t intend to fight to the finish you don?t have to. You begin to level up after only three victories and if you have three of the same unit in the same square you can form an army. Win enough victories and a great general comes along, giving you combat multipliers for everyone in that square.
The goodie huts are still in the game but now there are two types, Barbarian huts and friendly ones. Friendly ones give you all sorts of gifts and often point in the direction of more finds. Barbarian huts are good combat experience for your army and both have more personality than you find in a PC Civ game. When you take a barbarian village, the tribal leader tells you it wasn?t an important village to him anyway, despite all the money you stole. Take out the bigger ones and they point in the direction of a foreign town you may want to invade.
Gone are workers. Cities now build things like roads between cities using your treasury. Settlers and Wonders are no longer the resource commitment they once were. Wonders are also much more powerful but shorter lived, giving you key strategic advances while they last. Settlers you get for free (but can build as well) for economic bonuses. Once your nation hits certain milestones (100 gold, 250, 500?) a settler unit is created. You also get bonuses for being the first to discover certain technologies so there?s an extra level of strategy involved in picking your order.
As I said its much faster paced. Units are created within a few turns. Wonders and buildings don?t take much longer either. Roads are created within a turn and act more like railroads now, making your own territory much more defendable.
Corruption has always been an element creators play around with, experimenting with what works better. Its not explained but it seems distance from your capital effects your towns cultures. Cultural boarders dictate where your town can get its resources from and you seem to get less of it the further from your palace the city is. Corruption modifiers help but they don?t call it corruption; things like courthouses expand the amount of squares you can farm/mine for example.
Victory conditions are layed out. Be the first to get so many wonders, so many techs and build the right things, a certain amount of gold, or take control over all the enemy palaces in combat and you?ve won. Demo doesn?t go through the entire game obviously so I cant say what that?s like.
All I can say is my enthusiasm has been heightened once more for this to be released in full, it lives up to its promises of a console Civ and it doesn?t seem to be less of a game. This is not civilization IV but it doesn?t try to be and I think it?ll will appeal to a lot of people put off by the scale of the other games.
My biggest concern is replay ability, always one of Civilizations strongest points. With so many options taken out of your hand in game creation I wonder if I?ll be playing again and again like I have others in the series. I?m not much of an online gamer, especially with Civ, although this could be a game that changes that.
One other feature that sounds good is its way of doing scoreboards. One of the playing options (locked in the demo) is game of the week. Each week a new game is created, like the normal single player but the settings are the same for everyone. The same map, same rivals same playable Civ and the score is compared with everyone else who plays. I like that idea.
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