Sid Meier's Civilization IV

aka: Civ4, Wenming IV
Moby ID: 19710

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Civilization IV appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

German version

The discovery of Fascism is accompanied by a quote from Adolf Hitler:

"The great masses of the people… will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one."

The German version maintains the quote but attributes it to "a German dictator" rather than citing Hitler's name.

Intro

The introductory sequence of Civilization has been remastered in Civilization IV and plays whenever loading a new map. Live orchestra samples have been used to bring the original theme to life and Leonard Nimoy (famous for his role as Mr. Spock in "Star Trek") narrates this sequence (along with other segments of the game).

Music

  • Just as Sid Meier's Pirates! reused some voice and music samples from Civilization III, one particular piece of instrumental music has been recycled in Civ IV. It can be heard when a Great Artist is used to create a Great Work in a city.
  • The main theme for Civilization IV is in fact a choral version of the Lord's Prayer in Swahili.

Online servers

The game's online servers which were hosted on GameSpy were scheduled to shut down on 31 May 2014 in the wake of GameSpy's total closure.

The Steam version was updated with Steamworks multiplayer integration on 5 June 2014, with the original build available as a beta branch.

Posters

Due to a assembly error, French tech tree posters have snuck into some of the North American Civilization IV boxes. Owners of a flawed version can fill in a form online to get an English version sent by mail. 2K Games has also made available a downloadable PDF version on its website.

References

  • In a parody of Nimroy providing voice talent, some leaders will respond to a proclamation of peace with, "May we all live long and prosper."
  • At the end of the game, players are rated based on their performance by a comparison to one of 10 world leaders. The lowest rating compares the player to former US Vice-President Dan Quayle, who is legendary for mistaken expressions such as "If we do not succeed, then we run the risk of failure", "What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is" and "Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here."
  • When the Rock and Roll Wonder is attained, a clip of cult rock band Velvet Underground's 1970 track Rock & Roll is played. The song's lyric "then one fine morning she puts on a New York station.... You know, her life was saved by rock & roll" is also used in the game when Radio is researched.

Spanish version

The Spanish release has a translation error, the Religion Civic "Organized Religion" says "Can build missionaries without monastery" and it's translated as "No se pueden contruir misioneros sin un monasterio", which is exactly the opposite.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2005 – Best PC Game of the Year
    • 2005 – Best Strategy Game of the Year
  • Computer Games Magazine
    • March 2006 - #1 Game of the Year 2005
  • GameSpy
    • 2005 – Game of the Year
    • 2005 – PC Game of the Year
    • 2005 – PC Turn-Based Strategy Game of the Year
    • 2005 – PC Strategy Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2005 – #5 Online Multiplayer Game of the Year
    • 2011 – #5 Top PC Game of the 2000s
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 02/2006 - #1 Strategy Game in 2005
    • Issue 04/2006 - #2 Strategy Game in 2005 (Readers' Vote)
    • Issue 02/2006 - #5 Best Game in 2005

Information also contributed by Dark Dante, Little Yoda, Martin Smith, Michael Palomino, PCGamer77, Rambutaan and Zak Green

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Trivia contributed by Sciere, Alaka, Martin Smith, Patrick Bregger, Plok, FatherJack.