Like many other geeks who were around for the start of the x86 PC era, I'm a huge fan of the Civilization series of games. Sure, the games are often challenging as heck and the computer AI has been periodically kicking my butt ever since I first tried playing the game, but the sense of achievement when you figure out the right balance in order to win is hard to match with other games.These days, the average real-time strategy game opens the door to speedy resolutions to conflict. Rushes quickly end matches and there's often a greater emphasis on larger armies of similar units if only to churn them out faster. Turn-based strategy games like Civilization always stressed the need for more careful planning and the need to focus on expanding your empire and not just army-building alone. The game has a way of capturing the weight of a nation's need for a reliable infrastructure for any effort, whether it's building a great wonder or trying to raise an army.
Civilization has predominantly thrived in the PC gaming market since the system lends itself well to hours and hours of playing and the complex calculations needed to compute the AI's next moves. It's not the type of gameplay that you would immediately associate with the console market, which tends to favor faster, more dynamic games. But when I first got to try this game out, I was surprised at how well it worked and now it continues to eat up a lot of time for both me and my partner.
