If you get past the weak AI and the lack of punishment, you'll see how amazing Civilization IV really is.
The Bad: Playing by yourself is really easy, somewhat diminished scale, takes about two hours to load
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be king (or, to those really picky, dictator)? What would you do? Would you destroy any country that you deem too large? Would you make your country a peaceful, luxurious resort? Or would you do a little of both? Such is the premise in this amazing strategy game. When beating a rival country is too easy, it is still satisfying to see their axeman grovel at your tank's wheels. The long loading times are worth waiting for because of its replay value. This is how this game achieved its perfect status: blotting out its flaws. And about a billion other ways, too.
Interfaces will never be as complex, yet user friendly as this one. While it isn't the best interface out there, it certainly has the most impressive interface-to-complexity ratio. Sometimes I was frustrated by very useful things appearing small on the screen, like the avoid population button, but everything else is obvious and easy to use.
When you read the "Good and Bad" thing at the top, you'll probably think this game has good graphics. You're partially right, the environments are truly stunning, but what I really mean by "Great Detail" is how the information on each tile of the game board is displayed. Sometimes you won't even have to go into the city interface to see its buildings. The old land and water tile display is over: you can see all of a tile's resources, landforms, and buildings without doing anything.
No matter what you like about everything I have mentioned above, what will really pull you into the game its replay value. One uninterrupted session of Civilization IV can easily run about five hours, not including the time you will punch yourself for stopping the game about five minutes after quitting and get back on the computer.
Overall, this one of the best games I've played. If your computer can run it, buy this game and be addicted to it. This is not crack. This is not cheese. This is Civiliztaion IV!!!