The newest Sid Meier's Civilization retains the formula of the previous titles. It is still a turn-based empire building simulation. Players who are familiar with both older Civ titles, Alpha Centauri, or Colonization should feel right at home. In the default game type Civilization begins at 4000BC with up to eighteen civilizations and goes from there. You build cities, roads, armies while developing your culture and diplomatic ties with other civilizations. The game can be won in several different ways: a military victory (conquering all the other civilizations), a cultural victory (increasing the 'culture' rating of 3 cities to legendary), a diplomatic victory (gaining enough UN votes to be declared 'leader'), a space race victory (developing space travel and landing a ship on Alpha Centauri), or a simple score victory (player with the most 'points' by 2050 AD). Any of these options can be pursued and you are free to change your goal at any time. This alone gives the title quite a bit of replay value.

Players are not only limited to the default game time. Civilization IV comes with a variety of scenarios and allows you to mold the rules. The famously diverse mod community that has built up around Civ games appears to be taken care of here. The game ships with an editor in addition to the basic custom game options. Mod support is also included in the game.

Wonders make a return in 4. These provide (usually temporary) benefits to your civilization. You can construct the pyramids or develop the internet. However only one of each wonder can be built, so it is a bit of a race between civilizations to get the most powerful ones completed. The overall benefit of wonders is still potent, but they aren't quite the show stoppers they were in previous titles. All hope is not lost if you miss out on a few of the bigger ones.

New to Civilization IV are 'great people'. These are famous historial figures that can be born in cities throughout the world. If one is born in a city you control they can provide a variety of benefits. A merchant, for example can bring in gold, while a great scientist can be used to further advance research. Artists can be instructed to craft a great work that will increase cultural output. This can be used to swipe territory from another civilization by slowly converting the population or simply to advance towards a cultural victory. Multiple great people can be combined to start a golden age for a civilization which grants various benefits depending on the type combined. Another new feature in 4 is more advanced barbarians. Before these mysterious raiders would sometimes appear and cause a bit of trouble, but didn't do much else. They still do this in IV, but now they will also construct and defend their own cities named after their tribe.

The combat in civilization has changed a bit. While the core mechanics are mostly the same (units have a rating, this can be modified by fortification and terrain but usually the highest rating will win) the multipliers have been changed in 4. No longer should ancient units be capable of regularly destroying modern weaponry with a few defensive multipliers.

One area where I did feel let down was the diplomatic relationships with other civilizations. Don't get me wrong, they aren't broken in any way. However they are still very basic. Nothing much has been changed on this front since the original Civ. You are mostly just bartering. Be it trade, technology, or information, you are usually buying friendship. It is nice that other societies don't like you being friends with their enemies, I really feel like this could be expanded with some additional dialog and options. This doesn't make or break the game, but it is something I had hoped to see more of.

On the sound front, Civ 4 is quite solid. The soundtrack isn't the most expansive, but it does include enough variety to keep you from getting bored. The title song in particular is quite good. The audio narration by Leonard Nimoy is excellent as one would imagine. Visually the game is equally solid. Nothing too flashy, but it looks good and fits with the gameplay. I personally rather liked the stylistic Civilization leaders, though I have seen some complaints about the "cartoon" appearance.

Overall I had a great time with Civilization IV. I hope to see a bit more new features added in the next title / expansion, but there is plenty here to keep you coming back. If you are a fan of strategy games go pick this one up. I doubly endorse IV if you missed 3.