I decided to rate Civ IV since I don't think I'll be playing it much more, time to analyze the experience. Short and sweet below.

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Same old game for the most part. What's new seems to be taken from games like Rome Total War.

It's fun for a few rounds, but not really as addictive as you may think at first. As with all other Sid Meier's games the repetitiveness is what wears you down fast.

I didn't get so far as to try the multiplayer aspect of it (yet), which could breath some more life into the game. Haven't touched it for a few weeks now and don't miss it.

Sound and music is excellent, Sid Meier fans will probably recognise a few sounds there from other games, such as Pirates.

I would have liked to see the diplomatic part worked on a whole lot more. You are faced with the same frustraiting lack of options there for the most part. Instead of really boosting such things, they've chosen to animate the characters....

On the whole it fully deserves a grade between 7.5 to 8.5, not much more, certainly not 9.4

My Rating = 8.2