When I heard that Atari sold the Civilization license to 2KGames, I got worried thinking about the future of this beloved series, fears which fortunately proved to be totally unfounded. As with any franchise that has more than two titles, the designers from Firaxis Games faced a dilemma: Civilization IV would either bring minor improvements to the series or it will mark a different concept for the turn based strategies. As one might expect, the truth is always somewhere at the middle. Just like Heroes of Might and Magic IV, Civilization IV brings new concepts to the table, with the sole difference that in Civilization’s case, these concepts

     The first that will stand out when starting a new game is the graphics, fully 3D, which some nit-pickers might even say it’s a little bit too cartoonish. However, the unit animations are more than decent, and the little details, like the sea waves and the smoke coming from the mines create a living, breathing world. Moreover, the switch to a new era is now represented by some serious visual remodeling of your town as well, besides that of the units. If you zoom out all the way, you’ll get a 2D view, like that found in the first Civilization. If you zoom in, the view will switch to an isometric perspective, identical to that of Civilization III, which you can fully rotate. Regarding the interface, now the mini-map will show the player’s location only after it builds Stonehenge – in Civilization III, the starting location was known from the get-go.

     The musical score also worths mentioning: it’s made up of tracks composed either by Jeff Briggs (Firaxis’ CEO), “assembled” from classical scores, like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven or more contemporary tunes. The theme from the main menu (Baba Yetu) is the piece de resistance – I liked it so much that I listened to it for days on end. Other than the fact that the unit replies lack variety, there’s really not much to complain about in the sound department: the musical score changes to reflect the era you’re in, as well as the zoom level, while the sound effects and ambient noises are top notch. Also, it’s absolutely remarkable that the unit voices are authentic, in that if you play as the Aztecs, you will hear Aztec voices. Another thing to note is Leonard Nimoy’s voice (Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame), which is present at the start of the game and also when a new technology is discovered.