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Abe Sargent · 07-30-2006, 09:56 PM

Time to begin the top ten countdown with that classic of classics, that marvel of marvels:

10. Civilization
Microprose
1991
PC
GameSpot Review - 9.0 *
4x

What is there to tell about a gem we've all played or heard of? If it didn't begin the "Just one more turn" phoenomenon, it certainly brought it tinto our public conscience. Civ was responsible for more than its share of cold dinners and sleepless nights.

It was magic because it has never been done before. So many aspects of Civ have been taken and added to other games, from tech development to strategic development. Making armies and fighting, sending a spaceship to Alpha Centauri and nuking those damn Indians led by that pretentious Ghandi.

In terms of ingenuity, Civ would rank near the top of all games.

Therefore, I'm not convinced why I should need to defend the choice for Top Ten spot to Civ. I may have to, however, defend why its near the bottom of that list.

Civ, the original game, does not stand up well. Let's take a look at the graphical Civ from DOS:

That's just painful. There have been numerous games that were either contemporaries or earlier that looked much better. Wing Commander came out a year prior to Civ and it looks much better to our eyes. At the time, poor graphics wasn't a big deal, because we weren't so use to good graphics. However, now, Wing Commander is tolerable and Civ isn't. In fact, for the rest of the review, I'm going to post pics from later versions of Civ and not the original DOS version.

For comparision, here is the later Windows version:

That's a much cleaner interface and the graphics are sharper as well. It's still ugly, but not as bad.

The graphical problems not withstanding, Civ still deserves a place in my list as opposed to Civ II because the original was the best. The other version may have tweaked the game a bit, added more techs, more wonders, more units, more playable nations, and more buildings, but Civ was the original.

So many decisions in Civ were really great. Different terrain types led to different cities and different things being built on them. Even railroads (which could look downright clunky after a while):

This alone was an amazing idea. Various terrain types that you improe over time with irrigation, mines, roads and more.

Even something minor, like the Civilopedia was a great idea. Put everything in one, easy to access area and then questions are reduced significantly.

From units to cities, so many of the things in Civ are clever, unusual, unique, or just plain amazing (or any number of the above). So many games owe their heart to Civ.

For a decade I was obsessed with Civ and the next Civ games. Then EU2 changed all of that. Nevertheless, it is Civ, and not EU2 that makes the cut into my personal top ten.

-Anxiety

07-30-2006, 09:56 PM	#95
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Time to begin the top ten countdown with that classic of classics, that marvel of marvels: 10. Civilization Microprose 1991 PC GameSpot Review - 9.0 * 4x What is there to tell about a gem we've all played or heard of? If it didn't begin the "Just one more turn" phoenomenon, it certainly brought it tinto our public conscience. Civ was responsible for more than its share of cold dinners and sleepless nights. It was magic because it has never been done before. So many aspects of Civ have been taken and added to other games, from tech development to strategic development. Making armies and fighting, sending a spaceship to Alpha Centauri and nuking those damn Indians led by that pretentious Ghandi. In terms of ingenuity, Civ would rank near the top of all games. Therefore, I'm not convinced why I should need to defend the choice for Top Ten spot to Civ. I may have to, however, defend why its near the bottom of that list. Civ, the original game, does not stand up well. Let's take a look at the graphical Civ from DOS: That's just painful. There have been numerous games that were either contemporaries or earlier that looked much better. Wing Commander came out a year prior to Civ and it looks much better to our eyes. At the time, poor graphics wasn't a big deal, because we weren't so use to good graphics. However, now, Wing Commander is tolerable and Civ isn't. In fact, for the rest of the review, I'm going to post pics from later versions of Civ and not the original DOS version. For comparision, here is the later Windows version: That's a much cleaner interface and the graphics are sharper as well. It's still ugly, but not as bad. The graphical problems not withstanding, Civ still deserves a place in my list as opposed to Civ II because the original was the best. The other version may have tweaked the game a bit, added more techs, more wonders, more units, more playable nations, and more buildings, but Civ was the original. So many decisions in Civ were really great. Different terrain types led to different cities and different things being built on them. Even railroads (which could look downright clunky after a while): This alone was an amazing idea. Various terrain types that you improe over time with irrigation, mines, roads and more. Even something minor, like the Civilopedia was a great idea. Put everything in one, easy to access area and then questions are reduced significantly. From units to cities, so many of the things in Civ are clever, unusual, unique, or just plain amazing (or any number of the above). So many games owe their heart to Civ. For a decade I was obsessed with Civ and the next Civ games. Then EU2 changed all of that. Nevertheless, it is Civ, and not EU2 that makes the cut into my personal top ten. -Anxiety __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 05-01-2022 at 12:25 PM.