Sid Meier's Civilization

• Release Date: 1995
• Genre: Strategy
• Style: Empire-Building
• Similar Games: Sid Meier's Colonization [DOS] (IBM PC Compatible), Sid Meier's Civilization II (Macintosh), Civilization II (PlayStation)

Game Description

Build a civilization and conquer the world. Maybe you dream of it, maybe not. But that's what Civilization offers you the chance to do. You start as a wandering tribe of people looking for a place to build your first city and can end up as the premier civilization on the planet or a forgotten footnote in the annals of history.

Throughout the game, you receive notes on the progress of your own and other civilizations through the "Top Five" Lists that appear, and the newspaper from your own capital city.

Along the way, you will meet other tribes looking to trade with you or perhaps even to destroy you utterly. Although quite a bit of warfare goes on in the game, you don't have to fight to win. Through gaining "Civilization Advances" (science and technological breakthroughs), you can gain the ability to build a spaceship and be the first civilization to build a colony on Alpha Centauri, thus winning the game.

You will always have to do some fighting, either against renegade barbarian tribesmen, or other civilizations looking to cause trouble. Strategy--and the balance between being warlike enough to smash your enemies and peaceful enough to be approached by other civilizations looking to trade valuables and knowledge--is always important. Lead your people well.

Roots & Influences

This game is based on a board game entitled, appropriately, Civilization. The computer game has been streamlined for ease of use.

Review: Overall

An exciting, engaging game, Civilization will provide you endless hours of game play. The struggle to build a civilization from the ground up, overcoming your enemies, and the vagaries of chance will entertain you for hours and days on end.

It is easy to be overwhelmed by the year-to-year running of your civilization at first. The screens give a wealth of information that can be intimidating. The city screen alone gives information on the happiness and contentment of the citizens, on units stationed in the city, on what the current building project in the city is, on advice from the Military and Domestic Advisors on what to build next, a pull-down menu of items to build, what the city is taking in in trade, agriculture and materials, and more! As you continue to play, all of this becomes easier to read, and the true work of the game--building a successful civilization--comes to the fore.

Other civilizations are out there, and you can either trade with them, war with them, or attempt to extort money and knowledge from them, if they are considerably weaker than you. Of course, more powerful civilizations are looking to do the same to you, so don't get cocky!

While you can get by with never fighting a battle, this is exceptionally rare. Fighting off rebellious barbarian tribes and hostile units of other civilizations are almost guaranteed to happen at some point. For this reason it is in your best interest to develop the best combat units you can. Pay attention to the attack and defense numbers! If you attack a tank with a militia unit, the militia unit will be the one paying the price.

Goodies, in the form of Wonders, can be constructed by any civilization who has developed the appropriate civilization advance. They give powers and abilities that can be very useful in the game. For instance, the Wonder "The Hanging Gardens of Baylon" turns one citizen in every city of your civilization happy, a useful thing when attempting to prevent rebellions and civil unrest.

Perhaps the strangest thing about this game is that it is easier to kill every other civilization than it is to build the spaceship to Alpha Centauri. In addition, if you do kill off all the other civilizations, you get an extra bonus to your final score.

Your progress in the game is paralleled by the growth of your palace, which you can build in the Greek, Indian, or Medieval European style. The larger and more impressive your palace, the better you are doing.

Review: Enjoyment

Totally addicting. Minutes of playing often turn into hours and days.

Review: Graphics

Excellent on the Mac. Can easily tell terrain and units apart, which I had trouble with on the IBM version.

Review: Sound

Excellent sound. Each civilization has a distinctive "theme" played when you meet them, when they build a wonder, or when you have a diplomatic meeting with them. Your own civilization also has a theme, played when you add to your palace or discover a new civilization

Review: Replay Value

With a new world for every game, every game is different. Endlessly entertaining.

Review: Documentation

A hefty manual and Quickstart guide. The manual is needed for copy protection.