Civilization IV [Download]

Wow, don’t go by the recommended requirements at all on the box with this. I have a 2.1ghz Imac with a gig of ram, and I have to run the game on the lowest graphic setting. The music is very choppy, but even on the lowest setting, the graphics are gorgeous. Gameplay is typical Civilization style. It’s crashed on me numerous times, mostly when windowed, fullscreen made the game drag to a crawl (but no crashes), and I was wishing for a ‘Civ3 view’ under the options. I wouldn’t recommend playing this on anything other than one of the newer machines with a ton of ram, or a quad style machine. If and when Aspyr updates with a patch that hopefully removes much of the resource hogging, I can easily give this 4 stars, but in it’s current condition, I can only give it a 3, but I really feel it’s more of a 2 right now.

***UPDATE*** (10/31/2006)
After applying the beta patch, I can easily give Civ 4 the 4 stars it deserves. Great game and Aspyr really shows how to make games on the Mac work.

I’m a huge fan of the various incarnations of Civilization. The other reviewers are correct — ignore the system requirements at your peril and get as much RAM as you can! Speed is fine on a brand new Core Duo iMac. I experienced my first Mac OS X crash since Mac OS X Beta years ago when I increased the graphics settings. I backed them down a bit and things have been fine since.

Other than that one (serious) glitch, the game is great and I am losing whole blocks of time to Civ IV the way I did to previous versions of the game.

UPDATE: The new patch (1.62a) seems to have addressed the crash problem, although I have noticed minor problems with some graphics and audio. It is an improvement, but there are still some things that need to be addressed.

Some games are just fun to play, regardless of whether they have the “bleeding edge” graphics that strain almost every PC or Mac. In short: Civilization IV is a fantastic turn-based strategy game.

In a traditional game, you begin as a fledgling civilization just abandoning your nomadic ways and eventually go from a small colony to a world power. Are you going to be a despot wielding a huge military power? Will you be the cultural center of your world? Will you rush to develop new technologies faster than your competitors? Will you become an economic powerhouse or will you forge alliances with the various other tribes and come to a place of prominence in international politics? It’s your choice in Civ IV.

Regardless of the path you choose, Civ. IV requires you to use your wits to ensure that your foothold in the new world is secure. In additional to the traditional game, you have a wide variety of options. Want to start in the space age with modern technology and weaponry? You can do that. Want to play through some historical campaigns? There are a number of preloaded scenarios. Can you take over the helm of the American revolution and beat back the British? Why not give it a shot, you budding Washington you.

True quality stands the test of time. Yes, the graphics are from the mid 2000’s, but what does that matter if the game is fun to play? I appreciate the new games with their incredible graphics and sound, but my point is you won’t notice that the graphics aren’t bleeding edge in games with quality gameplay and replay-ability. That’s what Civ. IV is. It’s well-worth the price.