Well, I managed to squeese in a few more Civ. 4 hours this last weekend. 10 to be exact. This was the amount needed to finish 1 normal game, standard speed and mapsize.

I had a lot more fun than in the first game. Still my opinion hasn't changed much. All the annoying "bugs" from previous versions seem to be in their place.

For example, the opponent diplomatic AI is non-existant. A Civilization that I had all but crushed suddenly decided to piss me off and make stupid demands, which could only lead to one result. Pissed me off and I finished the job.

When you are trying to negotiate some trade, the npc usually has everything "in red", meaning he won't discuss even the possibility of trading those items. Not until they are on your good side at least, which takes a few hundred years of ass kissing and bending over.

Another extremely annoying thing is when it comes to conquering enemy cities. It takes a millenia for your culture to spread in a new country it seems, so the cities are cornered off without access to pretty much everything for at least a few hundred years. Unless of course you conquer the entire civilization....

And Gamespot rated this game higher than Half-Life 2??? Come on....

Still, it is enough fun to keep me playing for those 10 hours, and I will probably play a game or two before I give up on it. But a score of 8 is more like what it deserves.

7.5 even, yeah I think that sounds about right.