I’ve been playing Civilization since the dawn time, 1987. I first played this game as a Risk-styled board around a table with some friends, when it came out as a computer game I was hooked. Now that Sid Meier’s game is back in his creative control I’m a happy camper. Civ III was a pain to play, after Jeff Briggs and Soren Johnson ruined the third incarnation of the game. Even after all the mods and upgrades came out I only played it for four weeks. I still dust off Civ II to play some quick turns to kill time. Thank God! Civ IV came out.

This has been taking up my time when World of Warcraft gets tedious. I really hate waiting in battlegrounds queues. I want to kill people NOW! Good thing Civilization IV let’s me do that when I want to. Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of the women. Oh joy! I can Nuke cities too!

Actually, the nice thing about civilization IV is there are multiple ways to win. You can kill all the rival nations (Military Victory), becomes superpower by control most of the land and people (Economic Victory), you can be the first nation to reach the nearest star (Technological Victory), or be elected head of the UN (Diplomatic Victory). Of course, beating the crap out of everyone is my first choice, but beating him or her to the nearest star is fun too.

This game has all kinds of cool perks, like building Norte Dame, the Hanging Gardens, or other cool buildings or works from history. The animation for the units is first rate and the city images are very well done with multiple views and levels of detail. Next to F.E.A.R., this game really gives Amanda’s graphic cards a good workout. There is something even better than cool graphics and senseless violence in this game.

Leonard Nimoy does the narration and voice acting for Civilization IV! It’s just nice to hear his voice and glad to see his not milking Mr. Spock for all his Vulcan worth. It’s a nice touch.