The fourth "regular" installment in one of the most important game series ever created is here. In Civilization IV, like in the previous games, the player starts with a single village in the Stone Age and must advance from there by exploring, founding cities, researching, exploiting natural resources and eventually trading or making war with neighbouring civilizations. Civilization III put cultural influence in the forefront and this time it is religion that is put forward as the invisible factor underlying many aspects of the game.

In addition Civilization IV attempts to streamline gameplay by removing some features (corruption, pollution) which slowed down the late stages of the game and making significant changes to the combat system so that tactical thinking plays a more important role. Units now have a single combat value instead of defence and attack values, have a special ability and can be further enhanced with experience in a player defined way.

Finally the new game offers the most significant aesthetic improvements since the transition from I to II with a detailed 3D map, environmental ambiance and well animated units.

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Alternate Titles

"文明帝國 IV" -- Chinese title (Traditional)
"文明IV" -- Chinese Title (Simplified)
"Wenming IV" -- Chinese Title
"시드 마이어의 문명 IV" -- Korean Title
"Civ 4" -- Informal Name
"シヴィライゼーション４" -- Japanese spelling.

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Part of the Following Groups

Merchant	Title	Platform	Price
	Sid Meier's Civilization IV
	Sid Meier's Civilization IV	Windows	$37.99
	Sid Meier's Civilization IV Special Edition	Windows	$34.00
	Sid Meier's Civilization Chronicles	Windows	$59.99
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User Reviews

[v3.0] Whoa, Sid...what did you do to Civilization?	Indra Depari of 'da Clan Depari (12559)
Civ 4 is a huge improvement over Civ 3 in almost every way except the system requirements and stability.	Droog (467)
They broke Civilization!	PCGamer77 (3026)

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The Press Says

GameCell UK	2005	10 out of 10	100
Armchair Empire, The	Jan 10, 2006	10 out of 10	100
Game Informer Magazine	Jan, 2006	9.5 out of 10	95
GamingExcellence	May 03, 2006	9.4 out of 10	94
Game Informer Magazine	Jan, 2006	9.25 out of 10	92
PC Gameplay (Benelux)	Nov, 2005	90 out of 100	90
UOL Jogos	Dec 07, 2005		90
Playback	Jan, 2006	9 out of 10	90
GamerDad	Jan 20, 2006		90
1UP	Nov 03, 2005	9 out of 10	90

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Trivia

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.

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This entry was contributed by Corn Popper (62877) and Silverblade (1428)