castledoom.com

JuntaJoe · Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Posts: 7391 Location: Texas

With everyone awaiting the release of AoE3 in a few weeks, it seems that Civ4 will sneak in first.

I've taken a look at a couple of forums for discussions and pics and I must say it looks impressive.

They also dumped quite a few concepts from previous games.

Pollution is gone!!!! 8)

Seems like they are going different directions with the three basic templates we are used to for governments, cities, and units.

Governments will be more like the Alpha Centari model where you simply adjust sliding scales on 5 basic elements of governing. Things like military readiness, social liberality, and security.

Cities will grow based on health. You get city health for your cities by building things there. So your noxious coal power plant doesn't make a mess you must clean up, but the people will be less inclined to live there.

Units with have more than just rank. Again Alpha Centari comes into play again. You modularize your units to give them abilities and firepower based on numerous ability options given your current tech level.

The screen shots I've seen are quite good. It's gone 3D like all the other games these days and you now get tons of angles to view things. And you get to see the actual buildings, including Wonders on the visible map.

I intend to let it sell for a couple weeks to get initial player comments about bugs and entertainment value, but I'm pretty happy about them dumping a lot of stuff that irritated me about Civ3.

Normally, I'd go out and buy it immediately, but Stronghold 2 broke me of that habit of buying too early.

http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/home.htm

DrJoshuaFalken · Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:50 pm Post subject:

SUGOI! ^_^

JuntaJoe · Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Posts: 7391 Location: Texas

In English, please? :P

DrJoshuaFalken · Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:55 pm Post subject:

JuntaJoe wrote: In English, please? :P

Snee!

JuntaJoe · Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Posts: 7391 Location: Texas

Don't do well on those vocabulary quizzes, eh? :lol:

Well, play sick today anyway and hit the BestBuy because Civ4 hits the shelves today.

The "cold and flu season" will hit the game geek world early this year. And it may have a second brutal wave when AoE3 hits in a few weeks. :P

DrJoshuaFalken · Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:55 pm Post subject:

JuntaJoe wrote: Don't do well on those vocabulary quizzes, eh? :lol:

Well, play sick today anyway and hit the BestBuy because Civ4 hits the shelves today.

The "cold and flu season" will hit the game geek world early this year. And it may have a second brutal wave when AoE3 hits in a few weeks. :P

AOE III has been out since last Tuesday. I hear it blows in comparison to the others. It was on torrent sites over a week before that.

I get D3D errors on the demo all of sudden, it used to work fine, if a bit laggy.

AOE was my first game and I loved AOE II, but Ill pass this one up, at least for now.

Robbo · Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:08 am Post subject:

Try the latest drivers for your video card. That did the job for me 8)

Or, get the v1.1 demo and try that.

Waray · Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:41 pm Post subject:

I haven't touched Civ since part 2.

I loved that game.

Winning the Second World War with Spain rocked.

I blew up virtually every city with a Atomic spy kit 8)
________
Honda VTX Series history

DrJoshuaFalken · Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 11:12 pm Post subject:

I scored it.

It's amazing and will hold even the most casual Civ player's attention for awhile.

JuntaJoe · Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Posts: 7391 Location: Texas

So give up the details, man! :?

DrJoshuaFalken · Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 12:42 pm Post subject:

JuntaJoe wrote: So give up the details, man! :?

Graphics- Very functional and beautiful. Doesnt go overboard like some games and keeps it to levels where there is plenty of eye candy but is friendly with lower end system.

Gameplay- Same great game, though I havent delphed into very far. With the new graphic engine that allows you to zoom all the way out it makes you feel like you are really controlling a global empire.

Sound- Everything makes the noises it should. Though I must say Im pleased with it not using my subwoofer as much as 3.

Interface- Takes a little getting used to, but it is very intuitive and sleek.

Changes- Spies are physical entites again (or at least they seem that way according to the civilopedias) and are quite easy on the eyes if you know what I mean :wink: . Aircraft presumably are physical entities as well. And I supposedly spearmen cant possibly beat tanks. :D

Cons- World builder (it is a cheat/editor/debug interface) has crashed my game once and probably will again. Load time are a little long for Civilisation but arent to long. Addictive.

Overall- Very good game, quite possibly the Game of the Year. If you like any of the Civs, this one is worth it.

I give it 9.5 out of 10

Waray · Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 9:50 am Post subject:

Bah. Now I've got to pick between Civ4 and Call of Duty 2.

Decisions, decisions...
________
Dodge Polara History

s_stabeler · Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 2296

hmmmmmmmmmm, i might see about getting this, aalthough i am more of a RTS fan, i can play TBS games reasonably........

DrJoshuaFalken · Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 12:54 pm Post subject:

Waray wrote: Bah. Now I've got to pick between Civ4 and Call of Duty 2.

Decisions, decisions...

Civ 4. Call of Duty 2 will last you about 4-5 days in the single player max.

or Sid Meier's Pirates (see my thread).

JuntaJoe · Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Posts: 7391 Location: Texas

Well, I guess that's a sale for me. Of course, I'm sticking to my newfound habit of waiting for the first patch. Why let the worst bugs ruin your new game? Most first patch fixes are taking care of CTD's and those are the most annoying bugs of all.

Eddy · Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Posts: 714

I've been waiting to see what response other people give after the fiasco that was Civ 3. I love that pollution is finally gone, but I'm not so sure about modular units and such. Seems like it overcomplicates it.

It's still turn-based though which is a plus.

JuntaJoe · Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Posts: 7391 Location: Texas

Civ4 is obviously Sid finally melding Civ and Alpha Centauri together.

AC got lots of critical acclaim, but only faired mediocre with the fans and their wallets. Sid, however, was obviously smitten with AC. The modual units were inevitable. On the plus side, it did bring in AC's method of government and city growth. Cities get bigger and stronger as you add more stuff. Instead of bad things happening when you are missing something, the city simply stops growing.

The government system of AC was the best thing he brought over. You move sliding scales in several categories depending on your playing style. A good example would be Industry-Ecology. On one extreme your cities will pump out mega build points, but your city growth will flatline under all that nasty industry. Or you slide it to the other end and your cities grow like great flowers under all the greenery and parkland, but you are lucky to get the tree huggers to even build a rowboat.

Then you get other categories like Science-Piety that represent science and low birth rate or piously fruitful breeding.

You simply adjust the bars and pick your "poison" instead of going with a well defined government style.

You can adjust your government to enhance your playing strengths or cover your habitual blindspots.

I'm not a big fan of the modular unit method, but it does cut down on those rediculous laundry lists of available units you can build late in the game. Obsolete units are much less of a factor now as well. It's a mixed blessing, imo, for the units. But you can have some goofy fun with modularity too. Like adding rocket launchers to your war elephants. :lol:

But Sid certainly got his wish. If it doesn't do well at the cash registers then Sid may have to learn to make golf games.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for the first patch to come out before I open the wallet. Unless Amazon runs a good $10 off special with free shipping. :wink:

Eddy · Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Posts: 714

Sounds interesting. I think I may wait until after the holidays to get it then.

DarkShinji250 · Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 295 Location: Ohio

DrJoshuaFalken wrote:
Changes- Spies are physical entites again (or at least they seem that way according to the civilopedias) and are quite easy on the eyes if you know what I mean :wink: . Aircraft presumably are physical entities as well. And I supposedly spearmen cant possibly beat tanks. :D

That so pissed me off in Civ 3. Guys with repeating rifles (riflemen or infantry) being beaten by musketmen, pikemen, spearmen. Or better yet, calvary beating fortified mech. infantry. That was bull****. The worst yet was tanks being beaten by spearmen. You can't imagine how much of a headache that was.

DrJoshuaFalken · Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:06 pm Post subject:

JuntaJoe wrote: Well, I guess that's a sale for me. Of course, I'm sticking to my newfound habit of waiting for the first patch. Why let the worst bugs ruin your new game? Most first patch fixes are taking care of CTD's and those are the most annoying bugs of all.

You wont have to wait long.