It’s been a pretty slow couple of weeks in gaming land, at least from a current events standard. During news droughts, I actually find time to play games again, rather than just talking about crazy politicians affecting them.
In the spirit of gaming, here’s a 30 second review of my current obsession, Civ 4:
Ok, so I’m playing on Noble, and The People’s Republic of Joe is rolling into 1950, having just crushed the Arabian Empire, led by Saladin. Earlier on, Peter the Great thought he was going to be cute and attack me with cavalry units, but my people were able to rally in the name of TPRJ and push him back, eventually taking four border cities when he sued for peace, begging me not to unleash the fury on his capital. My closest ally is India, and they’re beating me on the space race; if they colonize space before I do, I lose the game. I’m desperately weighing the consequences of flattening them so I can declare myself the de facto leader of the U.N. and take over the remaining two civilizations on the map diplomatically.
Only Civ 4 can make you feel like the deity from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The only thing saving rival civilizations from my wrath is me. Only my good graces allow them to exist. And, on good days, I even trade with them while they’re at war. On bad ones, I bomb their cities for years, cut them off from the rest of the nation, and starve the inhabitants until they’re practically begging me to occupy the area.
The Joe giveth, and the Joe taketh away.
But, since I’m about to wrap up this game, I’d like to hear some 30 second reviews from the peanut gallery. What are you playing right now?
