Overall 7.9 Graphics 5.3 Sound 5.7 Addictive 9.3 Story 4.5 Depth 9.7 Difficulty 5.7
7.8
A Masterpiece of the SNES era, and any other era for that matter Eirinn
Sid Meler's Civilization takes you on the journey of mankind's developement from the dawn of civilizations on planet Earth, to the end. In this game you are made the head of a small tribe and are given a very straight foward goal: build great cities and cause civilization to flourish throughout the Earth. Your end goal: to rule the World. Simple enough, right? Well obviously not, but it is the task laid upon you from the heavens themselves. And with enough hard work, careful planning, and forethought, you will soon enough realize your dream. When your game begins, you have very little at your disposal: only a few settlers, and a handful of "resources", which function as the game's currency. You may use these resources to (as is typical with games of this nature) instantly develop army units, buildings, settlers, etc. instead of waiting the alloted amount of turns for them to be completed. You may also use these resources later to pay other nations to assist you in war, to buy off travelling thieves and the like that would otherwise plunder your villages, and convince them to join your military ranks (you must send a diplomat to do so), or to pacify the wrath of other rulers who threaten your nation. Spend these resources however you wish, but keep in mind that running a nation isn't cheap, and you have to keep enough resources handy to build armies, train settlers, and construct and keep up with maintenance costs on your facilities. Ah, economy issues anyone? You begin with a view of all of the known (to you) world, and it's not surprisingly small. Indeed, it appears to consist of nothing but your tribe, and a few square miles of surrounding earth. Which is about how the most ancient civilizations probably perceived the world. Once you develop a few army units, you may choose to use them to explore the parts of the world that until this point have been shrouded in darkness. As you do so, you will find other civilizations, some friendly and others hostile. Not only will you find the other nations that you are competing with, but you will also find clans, many of which will give you things, like resources, some will even accept your rule and become one of your cities, but a few will attack your armies. Defeating another nation's city will give you control of that city, but defeating a hostile clan of bandits will give you nothing more than another day for your ambushed armies to live. It's a tough world, but your people have the means to subdue it, if you try hard enough, and stay one step ahead of your foes. It's not all about brute force, but also wits.
Graphics: 6/10
Good.
Far from special, the in-game graphics probably wouldn't impress even the NES generation. However these graphics are the perfect fit for this type of game, and if I were to rate them accordingly, they would probably get an eight or nine. They only appear so void of detail because the camera, of necessity, is zoomed out to such an extreme extent, that the mountains look like tiny bumps. This extreme angle is important, because this is the way the player can best see all of the action, and know where he/she stands in relation to surroundings and opposing forces or clans. This also grants the player adequate knowledge of where resources such as water and hills (for mining) are located, and the full view of the forrests, so that they will know how best to guide their army and/or civillian units, as travelling over mountains, or through forrests slows the faster units down considerably (each space takes two moves to traverse in these types of terrain). That said, you can see why everything lacks detail, as it would be impossible to have both this camera angle and detail. Still, in comparison to other Super Nintendo games, these graphics are slightly lower than average at best. The only thing that keeps me from rating it lower is the tremendous change in graphics during the opening and final scenes. Those are very detailed and of very high quality, and rank right up there with many of the best SNES games graphically. Also the inside views you get of your cities when a new building is finished, a city is built, or when a city is captured, are also nice, and change as time goes by (more modern houses are developed, and citizens dress appropriately for their time). So when it comes time to showcase graphics, Civilization is more than capable of pulling out the thirty-two bit cartridge eye candy.
Sound: 8/10
Exceptional.
Great tunes here, and very fitting for this type of game. They're about the kind of music you'd expect from a simulation like this one, but with a twist that plainly comunicates a historical theme. They did a fine job with the sound track, and the sound effects are nice, but I do question their choice of sound for battle effects. The ones they chose work alright, but I would have liked to hear swords clanging or guns firing, whichever was appropriate for the unit. The sound they chose is more of a sound that says "eliminated" or "destroyed", and plays as a unit is wiped out. No real faults here, just not as good as it could have been, and it probably won't leave you walking around with a tune stuck in your head afterward.
Story: 6/10
Good.
I loved the way they handled this part of the game. It's original enough, but there isn't enough of it. You're given an assignment to spread civilization all over the Earth, and to rule the world. You encounter other nations who will speak with you, and you get infrequent updates on what certain names in history have to say about the different civilizations of the world (who is the most advanced, etc), and at the end, you get a list of who you defeated and when you defeated them, and an ending scene telling you of your future. There's sufficient story here, and it's a good one, but there isn't enough to it to make it exceptional, so a six is fitting enough.
Depth: 10/10
Incredible.
This is one of the most in-depth games I've found on a console, especially one of it's time. Let me explain why.
There is an insanely large variety of units and facilities to build, which you will unlock as you learn various technologies. What technologies you can develop depends on what technologies you have developed previously. For example, in order to develop Reading, you will need to develop writing (this may or may not be an example of two techs in the game that follow this pattrern, I can't remember, as there were too many to recall, though I didn't manage to exhaust them all). And what units/facilities you can develop, depends on what technologies you have developed. For example, before you can make chariots, you must have developed wheels (again, not necessarily an example of two actual techs/units in the game). As you progress through the game, you will slowly make your way to more modern technologies, such as electricity, and television. I suspect that there are also futuristic technologies, but I didn't get that far before eliminating all other countries. And even among the technologies that I found, there are far too many that you can research to be listed. Some examples are: Alphabet, Laws, Currency, Monarchy, Astronomy, Map making, Navigation, Math, Physics, Masonry, Bronze work, Bridging, Steam engine, mythology, iron works, Engineering, Literacy, Industry, Gunpowder, Chivalry, and that's not even half of what I had, not to mention the others that I hadn't learned yet.
Next layer of depth is the units you produce, both military and civillian. Settlers, for example, can be produced and given the jobs of irrigation, building roads, building railroads, building cities, building mines, levelling forests, planting forrests, replenishing cities, and more.
Millitary units may be issued a number of commands as well, such as: attack, defend, sentry, and plunder. Also they may be used for exploration, and moving them to a city belonging to another nation will cause an emissary to send to you for conditions of peace, which almost always (if not always) include threats from their ruler, who is often bluffing.
Diplomats may: spy, subvert enemy units, and more.
As for facilities, I'll spare to list them all, but I myself found probably around thirty different types of them, each having it's own unique effects.
Couple all of this with your need to balance your budget, managing foreign relations (to befriend, appease, or flatten?), the ability to adjust how much to focus on taxes, luxury, and research, the decision of when to strike and when to wait for reinforcement troops to arrive, and when to put off war until your civilization can better afford the use of time and resources it takes to fund it. Finally, the decisions of when to make an item to improve the quality of your citizens' lives, and raise their happiness, and when to make defences and advance your society. In any case, you'd better keep them happy and in line with the law, or your city might fall subject to riots and more. And don't forget natural disasters, some of which you can protect against, and some you can't, so be prepared.
There's also the ability to customize the map you play on, the time frame, choose from five difficulty levels, and choose to have anywhere from three to seven other civilizations to compete with.
As you can see, there's so much depth here that I could go on for a good while, but I've said enough.
Addictiveness: 9/10
Excellent.
I lost some sleep staying up so late playing this one. Once you get started, it almost immediately sucks you in, and the further you get in it, the more difficult it becomes to tear yourself away from it. Several times I told myself "one more turn", and ended up playing six or seven more before finally managing to put it down. I'll definitely play this one again, but I may take some down time first, as it's extreme amount of depth can leave your brain a bit taxed after awhile.
Difficulty: 4/10
Relatively Easy.
I was a bit torn on what to rate it in this category, as I myself found it Very easy on the easiest setting (Chieftain, and three civilizations), so I would give it a three, but considering there's so much to learn, I could easily see rating it as much as a five. That said, I think a four works here. And with four more difficulty settings, and the ability to have up to seven other civilizations, I could see it being considerably more difficult.
Overall: 7.8
Very good.
There's a reason this game got one of the highest overall ratings that any game has ever gotten from me. Put simply, it's been a long time since I've enjoyed playing a new (to me) game this much. I love it. This is the best game of it's kind that I have found, but what else should you expect from KOEI? It's very well put together, and deserves every bit of this rating. In fact, my personal rating would probably be an eight and a half, or nine. There's just so much here. I was blown away by how well they executed a game like this on the SNES platform. Very impressive indeed.
In conclusion, Civilization is a game I highly reccomend if you're into games that require strategy. It's brimming with possibilities and an incredible amount of depth. One could play through this game several times without researching every single technology, and doing everything that could be done in a single game. I know I'll go back to it sooner rather than later. It's a must play of it's genre, and it would be a shame to pass by such a an incredible game. The title of this review says it all: Sid Meler's Civilization is a masterpiece among games, from the dawn of gaming, to the present.
Graphics 6 Sound 8 Addictive 9 Story 6 Depth 10 Difficulty 4
Review Rating: 4.8/5
Submitted: 02-23-13
Review Replies: 0
7
Civilization: Create Your Own History janus
Have you ever wondered how YOU would fare as the leader of an Empire? Now’s your chance! What will it be: bloody military conquests?
conquer a new world in outer space? get a better score than your opponents at the end of the game? The choice is yours! Discover or rediscover the very first game of a series that has existed for over 20 years, going across many consoles.
Graphics: 4/10
The game isn’t exactly appealing to the eye. I don’t know how it looked on the PC, but the Super Nintendo version didn’t make much of the
console’s graphics (compared to, say, Star Fox). You see pictures of your units moving around the screen, and their color is the only way you can distinguish your own from other civilizations’.
The overworld map is overly simplistic. The water does flow a little, but solid ground details are basic. You see plains, grassland, mountains/hills and tundra that are uniformly colored. There are sometimes resources (shield, gold, gems) but they don’t add much appeal. Also, cities are merely represented by numbers indicating the population. The only detail that can be added is city walls, in
which case the square is fortified, and also a more solid color if a unit is present. On a more positive note, the game can generate an infinity of maps, meaning no two game will be the same.
But the worst part is the City menu. Having played Civilization II (on PC) first, I have to say I was extremely confused at first with the menu. Not only have I had a hard time figuring out where the food screen is (I’ve lost so many settlers because I didn’t rearrange production), but navigating between the different screens is so hard without a mouse.
Finally, you get tired of the “movies” very quickly that you usually turn them off. At first, it was refreshing to see those settlers creating a city, this parade celebrating your the mob denouncing your crappy rule. But since you see the video every single time you commit the actions, it gets tiring.
Music: 4/10
Let’s be honest: Until Civilization IV (for me), the series wasn’t renowned for its magnificent soundtrack. There are only 10 or so tracks in the entire game: Four for the overworld map (you have the same music for many, many turns), the city music (which changes for a festival/a riot), the space victory music and the intro.
However, the sound effects of modern units have a realistic feel to them. Starting with musketeers, gun units sound like they’re shooting,
and modern canons/tanks sound like they’re shooting some heavy shells. Otherwise, most units have the same dull sound when they attack (a simple pop).
Addictiveness: 10/10
This is where Civilization truly shines. Since building an empire is a very long term project, you will need to be patient to make sure it’s sustainable: Levy enough taxes, keep your people happy so they work, pay for enough research so your weapons are up-to-date and your scientists make your life easier with universities, banks and various Wonders that cheer up your people or send you to space.
You start the game with only two settlers and a completely dark map. Exploring is crucial so you can find the ideal terrain to build your city, find isolated tribes that will (hopefully!) give you gold or mercenaries and find opposing empires to either build ties or crush them.
Depth: 9/10
Civilization has created this wonderful tradition of exploring human history and reliving in acceleration. Discover The Wheel so you can build chariots and Stirrup so you can build roads over rivers. Make research in Monotheism so you can build cathedrals and the Sistine Chapel to make people happy or in Astronomy so you can build Copernicus’ Observatory and increase science in your city.
Think of most of humans’ greatest constructions (the Hanging Gardens, the Colossus, the Pyramids, hell even the Statue of Liberty) or
achievements (Darwin’s or Magellan’s voyages, the Manhattan project) and you have the possibility to accomplish them. Although their effects tend to expire too quickly (Shakespeare’s Theater effect is cancelled out by television), they still serve their purpose.
You can also choose among 14 of the greatest empires that have existed: France, England, Japan, China… It doesn’t seem to make a
difference whichever one you choose, though.
Difficulty: 5/10
Until Warlord at least, this game is a joke. With enough patience and a lot of resetting, you can have a militia (the very first attack unit you get) kill a tank. Plus, despite a hyperactive production, I’ve never gotten any pollution to clean up.
However, the game does get more difficult as the level increase. Your people get more restless (they get unhappy quicker), research develops slower and the AI gets more aggressive.
In short, despite less-than-ordinary graphs and music, Civilization is a must. Creating your own history is not something you can do every day. Let’s see if you can find the perfect balance between brain and brawn, between dove and hawk, unless you want to be destroy either because of your pacifism or your ruthlessness!
Graphics 4 Sound 4 Addictive 10 Depth 9 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 4.5/5
Submitted: 01-08-15
Review Replies: 1
8.3
SNES Civilization Birth Fireproof
Sid Meier's Civilization is an excellent franchise based on strategy at it's core element. The franchise was given birth by the release and launch of this first version within the franchise. in this game you assume the role as the endless leader for one of 14 unique Civilizations. As ruler, you have absolute control over most elements in the game including; Military, War, Building, Movement, Government, Science, Taxes and more. It's up to you to manage your Nation and lead your people to power. Unlike newer versions of the game, you can finish the game in 3 methods; Destroy enemy nations, Win the Space Race or run out of time. How will you conquer the world? Only the best games stand the Test of Time and Civilization is one of them.
Overall: 8.3I love the Civilization franchise and even though I love the franchise in it's entirety, Civilization of the SNES is not one of the better versions of the game. There are many great things to appreciate from this game because it paved a road for success for future versions. What I liked most about the game is the ability to win the game in different ways. You can race to complete a spaceship, dominate your opponents or wait out til the end of the game, which I believe ends in 2020. Unfortunately, the graphics lacked quite a bit in the way of creativity. As much as I appreciate a good strategy game, I have enjoyed better music and sounds too. As you progress into the game, you have more cities to manage and more units to control. Knowing that it takes longer to control these aspects, you are listening to the sounds and music much longer. If these aspects were fixed, this could easily be higher on my list of great games.
Graphics: 6Like previously stated, the graphics lack in many ways. The capabilities of the SNES well exceeded what could have been done on this console. Knowing that they made the game in DOS, didn't help Civilization stand out as a greater Strategy Game during it's time. What I disliked most about the graphics had more to do with the units. The units take on a square block, which lacks for creativity overall.. I didn't necessarily mind that the units were in a square format, but it doesn't make for much variety. Even the outer colors in the block would be changed to represent the differently colored Civilizations.
Another aspect of the graphics I disliked had more to do with the shape and size of the lands. Playing in Earth mode was generally the same outcome every time you played it but there were few slight changes that could make it feel different. It didn't actually make enough of a change to create unique "Earths". One thing that could have been done better was to change the layout of the land a lot more. In every Earth game, the rivers are always in the same locations and most mountains are generally the same. It doesn't change the shape of the land by much, a few squares if lucky. In custom world you're able to change the layout of the land but often times you might find yourself in crappy land layouts that aren't worth wasting your time on. Every now and then, in the less mountain age with plenty of rivers, you might find a good chunk of land and great city locations.
One thing I liked about the animation was the effort put into showing the buildings after they've been built. With that said, I can also say I liked the animation on the Riots / Thanksgiving festivals. but I disliked that there wasn't more to it. Some random events would occur and there was no animation to represent that event. They could have easily added a pirate attack, flooding, earthquake and volcano to represent that event.
Sound: 5Even though I rated the sound a 7, I couldn't quite find myself caring for some of the effects and music. The last era (when the arrows turn red) has the best music associated with the game but that's probably not getting on your nerves because you've waited through hundreds of turns to get to that point. The other eras in the game get noisy at times and it doesn't really aid the overall gameplay. The sound effects are definitely one of the lesser aspects of this part. You will constantly hear the attacking effect or the moving effect (Very numerous) and it does seem to be a little much. When your turns take several minutes to play, you'll probably have many units to move. There was never any need to have that sound effect for each unit that moves. I could have easily done without that sound effect. I would recommend playing this game with your own music or none at all. Sound is easily disappointing.
Addictiveness: 9Strategy gamers, like myself, should have no problem getting into a Civilization game, especially those of you who are familiar with Civilization. The game offers a lot to manage and you have some strategies (not many) that will change the way you play the game. Having different win methods encourages you to try to play the game differently. Like most strategy games, you will probably want to destroy the enemies because that's usually why strategy gamers play these types of games. These other methods to play just add to the overall enjoyment and experience.
One aspect that makes the game worth playing repeatedly is by using the custom world feature that Civilization designers are notorious for. This allows you to play many different worlds and in many different ways. Some worlds might be more island based, so you'll play more naval based. Other worlds might be Pangaea based and offer a single large multi continent land mass but with smaller islands. The differences in the options helps make up for the lack of creativity in the graphical and musical aspects of the game. You can easily find yourself repeatedly playing this game to best a high score or get more population or playing on a harder difficulty.
Story: 3The Story gets a really low score due to the fact that there really isn't much of a story, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing either. Before you actually play the game, there is a story about the evolution of the planet. I count this toward the overall story even though it really isn't. It's somewhat informational based. When you actually play the game, your story is entirely based on what you as a leader do. Your history doesn't get written down or anything, but you can do things differently each time you play. In one sense you can imagine that if the people of your nation was real, you would make it into the history books. Who knows?
Depth: 10In comparison to the Strategy element built on the SNES interface, there is a great attention to detail for the amount of depth presented in this game. Most Strategy based games focus on this aspect quite well. Considering your ability to manage your nation, you're able to choose many options to change how you play the game. First of all, you're able to change the design and layout of your world. This helps make the game feel like a different game every time you play. Second of all, you're able to choose between 14 nations to play as.
These nations are; English, Greek, Roman, Russian, Egyptian, Aztec, Babylon, Japan, American, Chinese, French, German, India and Mongolia.
Although you have the option to choose between these 14 nations, they are all paired with another nation which represent a single color. In other words, you might choose to play as the English so you're never see the Greek in your game. If you choose the English and Romans appear, you'll never see Russia. This prohibits certain nations from making an appearance. If you were to destroy a nation, the other color of that nation may appear elsewhere in the world. One time, I destroyed a nation and a new nation appeared in the same area multiple times. I obliterated 6 nations in 6 turns simply because settlers wouldn't cease to appear in the area.
Other aspects relate entirely to your management of your nation. You can collect taxes which can be used to purchase buildings and maintain them or you can collect science which is spent on technology. You have the ability to overthrow your government and choose other types of government that come with different abilities to help your nation grow. For example: Monarchy increases food outcome of
select tiles by 1 but costs you 2 food per settler and more materials spent on your units. Democracy has zero rate of corruption, material spent per a turn per unit, 2 food spent per turn for a settler but increases every square with a trade symbol by 1. Essentially, you'll need to get familiar with each government to decide what is right for you and when.
You're also able to control your units, decide what to construct (Units, Buildings and Wonders) and negotiate peace with enemy nations. Depending on what your goals are, you'll need to balance everything, otherwise you'll fall behind in the competition and your enemy may overwhelm you. Having the ability to choose your difficulty makes the game interesting. The AI will often demand a tribute from you and surprise attack you when you choose a harder difficulty like King or Emperor. Knowing that it's war based, you'll want to be on top of your military to ensure you don't lose anything important. Last thing to note is the quantity of units, buildings and wonders. Unlike other SNES games, you don't have depth quite like you have in Civilization.
Difficulty: 8I've played and completed the game on all difficulties. The easier difficulty, Chieftain, makes the game very easy to play, with little AI aggression. This is great for learning the game but the lack of pressure doesn't actually encourage growth. Warlord and Prince will sometimes remove the second settler you get in the beginning and add AI pressure. Some AI owned cities will often be built towards your civilization to prevent your expansion. They'll also tend to build extra troops and few buildings. They do like to declare war on each other from what I've seen. In King and Emperor difficulties, the AI will research technology at a greater speed and sometimes be quite difficult to contend with. Certain civilizations will often produce many units and surprise attack you often. Taking on this challenge will need you to play similar to the enemy due to their bonus tech research. The overall difficulty doesn't make the game ridiculous to play but it will present a well balanced learning curve when you take on the next challenge.
ConclusionFans of Civilization should appreciate this first part of the game's franchise. This birth paved a way to greater versions of the game. Civilization is an addictive addition to any strategy gamer's collection and should be played with caution against the graphics or sound. Certain aspects of the game could have been improved to really make this game stand out. Unfortunately, it's safe to say that no matter what drawback you find in Civilization, you'll enjoy the game nonetheless. I played this game many times as both a child and adult. I enjoy it and I always come back to every now and then to keep my skills sharp. Civilization is a must try if you're looking for something easy going that you can play at your pace.
Graphics 6 Sound 5 Addictive 9 Story 3 Depth 10 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 4.5/5
Submitted: 10-05-11
Updated: 07-30-14
Review Replies: 6
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