Opening
Bibliographic Information:
Civilization IV/ (Concept) by Sid Meier
ASIN: B000BC38K6 / OCLC Number: 123236435
Format: PC (Windows XP)
Format: PC (Windows XP)
Design Companies – 2K Games and Firaxis Games
Release date: 2005 / $12.59 (Amazon)
Body of Content
Summary: Civilization
offers an immersive gaming experience – where players start as the controlling
figure of a nation-state – at the dawn of civilization (4000 BCE) – attempting
to win the game – by the time of the last turn and history’s conclusion (2050
CE). Players can win the game through a
variety of means – militarily through the defeat or domination of all other
nation-states – scientifically through the creation of an advanced spaceship
destined for Alpha Centauri – diplomatically through a United Nations general election
– culturally through sustained societal presence – and temporally through the
highest score at the year 2050 CE. The player
has a wide variety of different-sized maps, climates, and nation-states to
select in their campaigns. Players may
choose a historical map or may select a computer-generated one. Along the way, players build their nations –
founding cities, investing in technological research, conscripting armies,
waging wars, forging alliances, exploring landscapes, trading commodities, and
balancing governmental politics.
Critique: Civilization
IV offers a nice addition to the series.
There are numerous benefits to this version of the game over its predecessors
– but there are a few flaws as well. One
benefit is that players now have a better control over how long each game lasts
– by selecting one of four time settings – as short as “Quick” to as long as “Epic”
– translating into about four hours for the former and twenty-plus hours for
the latter settings. The graphics are
very nice and stand as a high-grade improvement over the earlier versions. Battle scenes are engaging and interesting –
as the player receives the opportunity to see different armies attack each
other. Personally, the mismatched
battles – between knights and catapults – or between stealth fighters and musketeers
– are some of the most entertaining aspects of the game.
Still, the game does carry some setbacks. Military victory is long, enduring, and
difficult to achieve. In Civilization IV,
a player must completely destroy another society to defeat that
nation-state. The time requirements –
and diversion of resources – needed to do so is complicated in games where
there are more than four players. Taking
that into consideration, the makers of Civilization V allow gamers to win a
military victory by simply destroying another nation-state capital city. Although the visuals are impressive in Civilization
IV, a gamer will need a massive computer – with more than a standard video card
– and loads of memory – to play the game to its fullest capacities. I have played large maps against 23 other
computer players, where my graphic card crashed mid-game – even with the battle
simulation at lower visual settings.
Overall, the game is thoroughly satisfying.
Teaser: Civilization places the player at the core of a nation’s
development. But can you defend your nation-state against attacks? Can you win
before another nation wins a Space Victory? Only time and history will tell!
Information about the Author: Sid
Meier developed the first game title in the series and later founded his own
production company (Firaxis), which lead to the creation of the other titles in
the series – five (main) titles in the official canon. Meier took his inspiration from other
strategy games like SimCity, Empire!, and Railroad Tycoon (Wikipedia, 2011b).
Currently, Meier is 57 years old. He is married – and the couple has one
son. Meier hails originally from
Ontario, Canada. For the last three
decades, Meier has worked on video game and computer programming ventures –
with the Civilization franchise as his main source of recognition (Wikipedia,
2011b). The game is well-received
critically – with over nine million units sold across all formats and versions
of the series (Amazon, 2011).
Civilization IV accounts for three million of those items (Wikipedia,
2011a).
Supplemental
Material
Genre: Turn-Based Strategy /
Historical Simulation
Curriculum Ties:
History – government types, progression of technologies, geopolitics
Booktalking Ideas: 1)
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you used a thermal nuclear weapon?
2) It’s almost the Renaissance era and a neighboring nation-state just
developed the machine gun well before you have … What actions should you take
next? 3) From civilization’s cradle to the climax of culture and technology,
what nation-state will you steer throughout history?
Reading Level:
Although the game is suitable for ages 10 and up, the game is a complicated
simulation game replying on a fair amount of knowledge to beat the harder
difficulty settings. Like most gamers,
males in their high school and college years (14-25) probably comprise the
majority of Civilization IV’s enthusiasts.
Challenge Issues and Defense: The game does not contain some
violence – as it can depict military battles between rival nation-states. The level of graphic violence is low. Realistically, if a parent complains about
the violence in this game, they would probably complain about every game containing
slight mentions of violence. Nevertheless,
the game does have an option to turn off the visual reenactments of battles –
if parents find it necessary.
Personal Reasons for Inclusion: Civilization
IV is one of my favorite games. It is
quite an addictive game that, on more than one occasion, I have sworn off
because of the need to concentrate on more important things.
Last Thoughts
References:
Amazon.
(2011). Civilization IV [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Sid-Meiers-
Civilization-IV-Pc/dp/B000BC38K6/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=
1322030768&sr=1-2
Wikipedia.
(2011a). Civilization IV [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civ_4
Wikipedia.
(2011b). Sid Meier [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Meier
Listening to (Music):
Artist
– Third Eye Blind / Album – “Third Eye Blind”
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