NOTE: Not sure where the right forum is for this but i'm guessing here.
I was fortunate to be carrying out some repairs to a mates PC. Not a high spec one in my opinion but to those interested it was 1.2 GHz, 512 RAM, 128 MB graphics card, WinXP SP2....anyway. I downloaded and installed without any fuss the Civ4 Demo. Yes you heard me, installed and ran perfectly the first time, no glitches, crashes, no sound problems, no missing files. It worked beautifully. That's got to be a first for a PC game hasn't it?
Several, several hours later and despite prolonged exposure to a PC (I washed thoroughly afterwards) I am compelled to offer the following thoughts...
1) When is the Mac demo of Civ 4 coming out?
2) Civ 4 is damn good. It's everything that Civ 3 should have made you felt but didn't. 100 turns of a demo gave me enough of a flavour not to look at the nasty third Civ ever again. I'm not going to buy Civ 3 complete because even at £30 it's still a £5 game that deserves to be forgotten. The problems I did have with Civ 4 had nothing to do with the game mechanics and very little to do with the interface....this is the exact opposite of Civ 3 where it looked slick, well sort of. But the game mechanics were appaling to the point where it's overall crudity took all the fun out of the game.
3) Civ 4 is much easier to play than the screenshots suggest. Yes I admit the interface has it problems and I would describe it as "almost there". But the terrain, units, cities, advisors are very good and make sense. It will be interesting to see what (and if) any changes are made to the Mac version.
4) Tutorial was excellent. First rate in fact to be talked through everything from simple movement. Even as a veteran since Civ I i found it useful to understand Civ 4. Can't say that about Civ 3....
5) Religion....Civ 4 has it and it's a brilliant new idea. Combined with a couple of other additions and changes to happiness and culture and the game has become a lot more fluid and subtle. Every game i played in the demo required a different approach and strategy...the emphasis is now on adaptiveness rather than following key ideas again and again. Even with only 4 civs to choose from there's obviously plenty of life in Civ 4...damn I want the Mac version now!
I'm guessing Civ 4 for the Mac will arrive around May....that's my guess. I'd like it sooner but am happy to wait and NOT waste time and money on Civ 3.
I was fortunate to be carrying out some repairs to a mates PC. Not a high spec one in my opinion but to those interested it was 1.2 GHz, 512 RAM, 128 MB graphics card, WinXP SP2....anyway. I downloaded and installed without any fuss the Civ4 Demo. Yes you heard me, installed and ran perfectly the first time, no glitches, crashes, no sound problems, no missing files. It worked beautifully. That's got to be a first for a PC game hasn't it?
Several, several hours later and despite prolonged exposure to a PC (I washed thoroughly afterwards) I am compelled to offer the following thoughts...
1) When is the Mac demo of Civ 4 coming out?
2) Civ 4 is damn good. It's everything that Civ 3 should have made you felt but didn't. 100 turns of a demo gave me enough of a flavour not to look at the nasty third Civ ever again. I'm not going to buy Civ 3 complete because even at £30 it's still a £5 game that deserves to be forgotten. The problems I did have with Civ 4 had nothing to do with the game mechanics and very little to do with the interface....this is the exact opposite of Civ 3 where it looked slick, well sort of. But the game mechanics were appaling to the point where it's overall crudity took all the fun out of the game.
3) Civ 4 is much easier to play than the screenshots suggest. Yes I admit the interface has it problems and I would describe it as "almost there". But the terrain, units, cities, advisors are very good and make sense. It will be interesting to see what (and if) any changes are made to the Mac version.
4) Tutorial was excellent. First rate in fact to be talked through everything from simple movement. Even as a veteran since Civ I i found it useful to understand Civ 4. Can't say that about Civ 3....
5) Religion....Civ 4 has it and it's a brilliant new idea. Combined with a couple of other additions and changes to happiness and culture and the game has become a lot more fluid and subtle. Every game i played in the demo required a different approach and strategy...the emphasis is now on adaptiveness rather than following key ideas again and again. Even with only 4 civs to choose from there's obviously plenty of life in Civ 4...damn I want the Mac version now!
I'm guessing Civ 4 for the Mac will arrive around May....that's my guess. I'd like it sooner but am happy to wait and NOT waste time and money on Civ 3.
Whenever I get a small check for doing "this or that" extra duty, I stuff it in the secret envelope. Even my dear mother drops me a check now and then, just because. 
) "Uh, mom, this really isn't necessary. I'm 40 years old w/ a good job.... ."
