Best turn based strategy out there!
You wouldn't think a strategy game has great graphics, but Civ 4's got the detail, the vividness, and the variety in landscapes to earn it a 10 with respect to other strategy games. Especially when compared to other strategy games available, such as AOE 3 or Civ 3, it has great graphics. Again, like AOE 3, it has a zoom function, but unlike AOE 3, where the detail is completely gone upon zooming in, Civ 4 actually ADDS to the detail when you zoom in, especially on developed cities. It is simply a joy to zoom around watching your cities and the structures in it that you personally built! The city look changes as you build different buildings in it.
Sound: 8/10
Not too much variety, not too interesting sounds. Sound is easily Civ 4's worst category. However, seeing that it's a turn based strategy, what does sound hafta do with this?
Gameplay: 10/10
Only thing that could describe this game: irrisistible. Prepare to lose sleep over this. Personally, I lost over 10 hours of sleep already, over a 1 week period. This is the first opportunity I got to get away from Civ 4, and that's jjust because I lost to the darn Montezuma... The game usually starts off slow, very slow, but speeds up with a vengeance. You have to see how much resources you partition to research, expand your colony, then monitor what resources your citizens are gathering, then choose which buildings to build, which units to train, and which technologies to research. The discoveries just never seem to end for the player. To get an idea of what's actually included in the gameplay, read the online game guide, cuz if I try to describe everything here, you'll be far too bored to read this. All that I'm emphasizing here is that there are near endless choices for you to make in the game, making it a true "Civilization" management game, including trading, diplomacy, and the space race. As well, there are many ways to win a game, the hardest of which is actually, surprisingly, conquest. So for those who love overrunning opponents, you'll be hard pressed to win many games.
Good: Unending choices, addictive, classic strategy = no quick reflexes needed.
Bad: Sound, losing sleep.