It is that time of the month for another Paula’s ramblings, so welcome!
I’m sure you have heard people say “Oh that makes me feel old remembering that”. We have all have moments in our lives seeing a photo or watching a film that reminds us of times gone by.
If you are a regular reader of LadiesGamers you will know that Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise of games is one of my all-time favourite 4X strategy games. This week, while scrolling down my Twitter feed, I had one of those moments. I spotted a Tweet from CivGame which definitely made me have an “I remember that” moment and also confronted me with my age. Sid Meier’s Civilization is 30 years old, WOW! You can do the calculations but that would mean I was 28 years old when I played my first game of Civilization.
Happy Birthday Sid Meier’s Civilization
https://twitter.com/civgame/status/1443607126501298180?s=21
History of Civilization Sid Meier’s
It all started way back in 1982 when Sid Meier and Bill Stealey founded MicroProse. Civilization was first developed by Meier while at MicroProse. After MicroProse was acquired by Spectrum Holobyte, Meier left with other designers to form Firaxis Games in 1996. Firaxis Games has been the principal developer of the series since.
The first game in the series, Civilization, was released in 1991 and since then Sid Meier has had creative input for most of the games in the series too. Civilization is a turn-based strategy game. The series is considered to be the best example of the 4X genre. These are game in which players achieve victory through four routes: “eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate”, hence the name 4X strategy game.
One More Turn
Civilization is also known for spawning the saying “One More Turn”. As someone who has played thousands of hours of Civilization, I can testify that “One More Turn” is a real gaming syndrome. I turn Civilization on to have a play with every intention it won’t be a long play session……Yeah, right who am I kidding? Many hours later when I finally lift my head from the Switch or Laptop (I have the game on both those formats) 6 hours have gone past. Zen our dog is standing cross-legged at the back door hoping to finally go out to the yard. I haven’t eaten or drank anything in all that time. And it is dark outside! How did that happen, it was daylight not that long ago!
Strength to Strength
Since the release of the first game, the series has gone from strength to strength with the games having more content and, since technology has improved considerably since the early days of Civilization, the graphics have improved too.
My own experience with the game has improved through the years, from floundering around in Civilization way back in 1996 and not really knowing what I was doing while playing the game, up until now when I know how to play the game. Check out all our Civilization VI guides here.
As Civilization grew up so did I, at least I think I did though my partner might contradict that! The game’s graphics have gone from being very basic to looking amazing on a computer screen now.
Good Game and a Bad Game
As Sid Meier has said.
“A bad game strands you in the past while a mediocre one keeps you in the present. But a really good game keeps you focused on what’s yet to come”.
He is right you know, and that is the great thing about the Civilization series of games. You are always planning ahead and moving forward in the gameplay, not always successfully of course but losing is part of the fun.
Planning Ahead
You start the game by choosing which civilization you want to lead, be it the Romans, Aztecs, or Americans with lots more to choose from. Plotting out your moves, what building to construct on that particular tile to get the best bonuses?
There’s the diplomacy with your neighbouring civilizations and hoping it goes well and they don’t get angry. It is all the forward-thinking involved and the plotting out your next move to get the best advantage in the game that I love.
Confession Time
I do have to confess that I haven’t played every single game in the series myself. I have played Civilization, Civilization II. Sadly I missed out on Civilization III and never got to play it.
Civilization IV and Civilization V were games my son-in-law had on his computer when they were released and I got to play them occasionally. I also used to watch him play them, which was fun for a while until I wanted to push him off the computer chair and take over. I don’t know about you but I would much rather play the game than watch someone else play the game!
What’s Next in the Series?
Who knows what is next in the Civilization series. Will we see another expansion pack released for Civilization VI, you can read Yvonne’s review of the game here. It’s doubtful as Firaxis has hinted that Civilization VI is complete. Much like I do in the game I’m looking forward to news of Civilization VII someday.
What are your hopes for the Civilization series? Feel free to leave a comment below!