In a nod to the graphical ability of modern day PCs the graphics have been upgraded all the way from rubbish to okay-ish. Actually, the 3D effect as you zoom out to a view of the whole globe is quite nice but otherwise this is not going to be giving Doom 3 any sleepless nights.
The far more important changes are to the gameplay which has had all the overcomplicated elements from Civ III ripped out and, most interestingly, many of the features from the original that had been considered sacrosanct. City riots and rebellions are now extremely rare and other tedious elements such as pollution have been removed. This all adds up to a tighter, faster paced game that doesn?t get bogged down once you get a lot of cities up and running.
A new team-based online modes attempts to add a similar
injection of speed to the multiplayer ? although whether that will
prove as successful remains to be seen. More promising is a greater
emphasis on religion in the game, as well as great people from history
that can help morale, combat or research and sometimes all three. With
strategy games becoming ever rarer Civ IV looks like it could finally make them, if not fashionable, at least popular again. -- Harrison Dent
