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great game, horrible program

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: November 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

2+ minutes game load time, 1+ minute between turns (large pangaea) and circa 1999 graphics which lag and sputter make this game unplayable for all but the most devoted of Civilization fans. Those that grit their teeth and continue playing will find a substratum of game design brilliance which is promising, yet horribly buggy (in peace negotiations, ask your opponent for too much booty and he'll decline to settle. Then ask him what he wants and all of a sudden he'll be willing to hand over every city but his capital and all the gold in the treasury). Such obvious bugs as this could only exist because the QA department had such a hard time actually getting the game to play.

Sid Meier should really be ashamed to have released this under his name.

Do not buy unless your computer is amazing

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: December 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game was definitely not ready for release. Don't even bother playing the game as soon as you install it, go to the website and find out all the patches, software, and system problems you have to fix for the game to even work first. And even after you do all that, it still may not even work, and is apt to random crashes that cause your computer to restart. Honestly, even when I've been able to play the game for more than 20 mins, I think Civ III Complete is actually a better game. Maybe the expansion pack of Civ 4 will improve, but who knows?

It's a beta

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 20
Date: November 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm a huge fan of all the civilization games. But there is no fun in a game that freezes your system all the time.

Is it Civ IV or early 80's Atari?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: November 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It didn't crash on me. That's good. It did start and it did run. That's good. But the map is black, can't see terrain, can't distinguish the units, and the cheesy supplemental features (i.e. Mr. Nimoy readings) are the only things that work correctly (most times). Not to mention it plays very slow. My machine meets the requirements easily, yet it feels like a Commodore 64 game.
The terrain did manage to become more visible as the game went on, but the fun was gone along with the interest and it was only out of morbid curiousity that I continued to play.
And don't bother calling the tech support. They'll hang up on you after a 2 minute hold.
DON'T BUY THIS GAME!

Good game but wait

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 16
Date: November 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a good game when it works. The graphics are great and the game is very addictive. I would wait until a patch comes out before buying it. On my system the game continues to crash even after I updated the video card drivers and turned the graphics to low.

Not Ready for Prime Time

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 16
Date: November 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The concept is great, but the game plays poorly. Check the various forums on the Web and you will see that many people are complaining about the game not working properly. The problems seem to stem mainly from the inability of the game to handle video properly. Even after installing the latest video drivers, the game does not work for many of us. I cannot get through a turn without the game exiting to my PC desktop. I'd recommend waiting for the game to work properly before buying it. And, by then, it may also be cheaper.

A total waste of money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 16
Date: November 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Simply, it does not work. The manufacturer/developer should be ashamed they put this out. They have not to my knowledge addressed the technical problems associated with it on their website as of the time of this posting. Are they truly oblivious to the bugs? Is it that Do they not want to admit fault as to not be liable/accountable for refunding money to those us unhappy with the game? Whatever their reason(s) for not addressing this problem, it is unacceptable, an acknowledgement and a promise of a fix would have been enough, however they have not done this. All they have managed to do is frustrate and annoy a loyal customer base.

Great concept, horrible execution

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: November 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Civ is supposed to be about playability. The game runs slow on most systems, and if you have a laptop, it probably won't work at all. There are some great graphics, and while they are nice, CIV is a game about straegy, not graphics. Implementation of these graphics, however, has made the game unplayable for most people.

If you want to buy it, make sure you hardware supports it fully. Really, however, you should just wait until they release a bunch of patches for it. Wait.

Buyer Beware!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: December 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is unplayable. My computer system is only 2 years old, yet it takes over ten minutes for the game to completely load up. Then when it's ready, a fatal crash soon ensues once I try to play.

If you are like me, having bought the game at a Target store, you will not even be able to obtain a refund.

This is theft, pure and simple. I think a call to my state's Department of Consumer Protection will be well warranted.

One of the best games I've ever played... if only it worked all the time.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: December 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Well, I have been a "civfanatic" ever since Civilization 1 (which came out in 1993 or sometime around then) so I was naturally looking forward to Civilization 4. Before, starting with the actual review, it is necessary to warn people before buying:

1. Have a BEASTLY computer. Seriously- mine never lags for any online game, but it is really slow on CIV 4.. and it sometimes crashes.
2. Many people with ATI Radeon and NVDIA (not sure of the types for both. I have NVDIA GEForce4 440X it works fine) experience an error during the install. The latest patch supposedly fixed that, but I still hear complaints.
3. I also hear that Firaxis ships 2 install discs or 2 play discs and this happens often
4. My install disc is actually the play disc and the play AND the install disc. My play disc does nothing. Just thought it was weird.

Now:
The Pros!
1. Graphics are a step up from CIVIII
2. Extremely addictive... almost dangerously
3. Unit animations are particularly well done such as the grenadiers and Aztec Jaguars
4. I really enjoyed the scenarios which are WWII Desert War, EArth 1000AD, Ice Age, Ancient Greek World, American Revolution.
5. Rather balanced- there is no superior civilization etc.
6. Diplomacy is drastically improved and there are some funny (and some lame like when Julius Caesar says "would you like some salad... I made it myself).
7. A difficulty level for everyone
8. Unit promotion system very well done. In the system, your units gain certain promotions if they win enough battles like "city raider" which increases your units "strength" when attacking cities.
9. Very strategic based. If you like thinking and planning ahead and overall organization, this will be great for you.
10. Combat system is balanced
11. Problems like Infinite City Sprawl and Pollution from CIVIII were eliminated.
12. Specialist (for cities) are fun to use, but confusing sometimes.
13. Many ways to win
14. Great People system is well done. When you put specialists and wonders in your city, it generates Great People Points (GPP) which can spawn a: Great engineer, prophet, merchant, artist, scientist who can do good things for your civilization.

Cons
1. Graphics aren't outstanding, and the leaders look stupid (No comment on Gandhi and Louis XIV's hair...)
2. Slow on anyones computer and there is a threat of crashes (luckily autosave is enabled)
3. some combat oddities still exist like knights beating helicopters
4. Religion really doesn't play that much of a factor.
5. I would like a greater diversity in units. There's only like 5 different kinds of boats.
6. Attacking is very difficult especially if you are technologically backwards due to very high bonuses to defence units.
7. Can get very tedious

and the most important con: VERY STEEP LEARNING CURVE. The instruction manual isn't very healful, but the tutorial is and is you play the first few games on settler (easiest difficulty), you should get the hang of it.

5 stars if it works well, 4 if it is constantly slow/crashes

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