Sid Meier's Civilization IV

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Description

Sid Meier's Civilization IV, the fourth installment of the series, starts the player, like in the previous games, with a single village in the Stone Age and has them advance from there by exploring, founding cities, researching, exploiting natural resources and eventually trading or making war with neighbouring civilizations. While Sid Meier's Civilization III put cultural influence in the forefront, this time it is religion that is put forward as a new factor underlying many aspects of the game.

In addition, Sid Meier's 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 defense and attack values, have a special ability and can be further enhanced with experience in a player-defined way.

The game also offers some aesthetic improvements such as a detailed 3D map, environmental ambiance and animated units.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

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

Part of the Following Groups

• Civilization IV series
• Civilization series
• Gameplay feature: Fog of war
• Games that include map/level editor
• Games with classical music
• Games with official modding tools
• Games with randomly generated environments
• Game with creator's name
• Middleware: Gamebryo/Lightspeed/NetImmerse
• Middleware: Scaleform GFx SDK
• PC Gamer Presents Games
• Sid Meier's licensees
• Software Pyramide releases
• Technology: amBX

User Reviews

[v3.0] Whoa, Sid...what did you do to Civilization?	Windows	Indra was here (20891)
Civ 4 is a huge improvement over Civ 3 in almost every way except the system requirements and stability.	Windows	Droog (522)
They broke Civilization!	Windows	PCGamer77 (3233)

Critic Reviews

GameSpy	Windows	Oct 27, 2005		100
DarkZero	Windows	2005	9.4 out of 10	94
IGN	Windows	Oct 21, 2005	9.4 out of 10	94
ComputerGames.ro	Windows	Dec 21, 2005	92 out of 100	92
HonestGamers (Staff reviews only)	Windows	Jan 29, 2006	9 out of 10	90
AceGamez	Windows	2005	9 out of 10	90
Game Chronicles	Windows	Dec 07, 2005	9 out of 10	90
Eurogamer.net (UK)	Windows	Oct 26, 2005	9 out of 10	90
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Windows	Jan, 2006		90
JeuxVideoPC.com	Windows	Dec 08, 2005	16 out of 20	80

Forums

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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 you start 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.

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

Related Web Sites

• Civilization Fanatics Center (A huge site with loads of mods, scenarios, civs, etc... Has also a very active Community)
• Civilization IV (Official Website)
• Civilized (German fan page containing screenshots, downloads, tips and more.)
• Find New Ways to Conquer the World (An Apple Games article about the Mac version of Civilization IV (July, 2006).)
• IGCD Internet Game Cars Database (Game page on IGCD, a database that tries to archive vehicles found in video games.)
• iMod: Civilization IV (IMG's introduction to modding Civilization IV on a Mac.)