(P)REVIEWS - Civilization IV Review by Velociryx
PART 2: ... No Guts, No Glory (Page 2/3)
CivIV's strong points are numerous, and among them I would name the following:
Excellent overall design that has eliminated a great deal of micro-management from the mix.
Filled to the brim with "interesting choices!"
Cities really MATTER now, as do military units. Everything is fairly expensive (especially on Epic!), and a disasterous, poorly planned and executed military campaign will be a blow in more ways than one.
Solid, functional interface. Not glamerous, not great, but also not kludgy. It does what it needs to do, and does not try to do more.
Awesome music and ambient sounds. I sometimes find myself sitting through the entire song at the main menu just because I enjoy it so much!
Attention to detail in unit animations and map/resource animations make just LOOKING at the game enjoyable.
Extras! Quotes and wonder movies!
Deep, compelling choices to be made, starting from turn one, that will radically alter the shading of your game.
Downsides:
Civilopedia -- in general, less than helpful and not-quite-complete.
Stability. Game has a tendency to crash to the desktop with frequency on less-than-optimal systems. I can live with not getting the full graphical effect of the game, but if my rig meets minimum system requirements, I think I should at least be able to play a game on a standard map without 30-50+ CTD's over the course of a game. It's annoying, and it detracts from the immersion.
Quotes -- I like Spock, I really do... but to have Leonard Nimoy as the sole voice throughout the entire game is a bit much, and it actually detracts from the beauty of the quotes. Thumbs up for their inclusion, thumbs down for delivery method (often, Nimoy mispronounces words, or even misspeaks them entirely, and in almost every case, there's a near-total lack of inflection). This is a game about CIVILIZATION... it's the most exciting story ever told! The most dramatic story of all time! It should have a whole tapestry of voices...a chorus. I[n] M[y] O[pinion], the team would have been better off to have their own members doing the quotations.
Wonder Movies -- as above... awesome that they're back, but they're kinna... bland. They don't tell a story in the least. Some of the construction vids are intriguing, but on the whole, and given what has been previously done in this area, I must confess to being mystified at this as approach as a choice.
Pacing could be better, but this, like highly abstracted combat, has been an issue since CivI. Ancient era is a bit draggy at the start and then VERY exciting, while the later eras fly by too quickly and get increasing less exciting.
Diplomacy is passingly good, but not as complex as it could be, and Espionage is downright weak (a point that Soren has said, himself).
There are a collection of minor annoyances revolving around units, none of which are game-killers, but taken as a whole, they can get downright annoying (units asleep in transports don't always stay asleep for the whole trip, waking up and demanding attention, especially if they're in need of promotions, and the routine to cycle to the next active unit during your turn needs some help, in that often when I'm in the middle of a heated battle, the "next unit" the computer selects for me to deal with is a worker on the other side of the continent, rather than the next unit in my combat stack... stuff like that).
Note that the most of the items on the plus side of the list revolve around the overall design, while the negatives are on the periphery, and this sums up my overall impression of the game very well. It's solid, compelling game play with nearly all the extras we asked for delivered in some form or fashion, but generally delivered with more FORM than fashion (ie, they're present, but clearly not all they could be).
Given that these are my biggest gripes about the game, I guess you could say that I'm sold... even as the honeymoon begins to draw to a close. ... Previous Page | Next Page...
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