One of the most popular games in video game history is the game that lets you rewrite history. Yes, that's right the famous Sid Meier returns with Civilization IV, bringing with it all the freakishly addictive gameplay that fans have come to know and love. As usual, players will build up a civilization, seeking world dominance, starting from the stone age and ending sometime in the near future. Victory conditions include conquering the world through force and cultural influence, or building a space ship to alpha centauri.

The game plays very much like its predecessors, except that it has been improved in almost every respect. As usual, the player will select from a long list of historical world leaders who each bring their own unique set of beneficial traits. From there, you build cities and expand your empire. Although the gameplay has remained somewhat the same, the game itself has gone through plenty of terrific changes. For example, now workers are able to build more than infrastructure and clean up pollution. In Civ 4, workers can enhance areas for use in creating materials for building and trade. Additionally, they can build country cottages to support additional population.

Building a big city does not necessarily center around military might anymore, although that route is always an option. It's the amount of culture generated by each city that determines your empire's borders. Each city produces a set amount of culture points, which can be increased by building civic buildings such as temples. A possible victory condition includes playing until the deadline year and tallying up who generates the most culture points. On some occasions, you can use culture to take over an underdeveloped city. Culture also plays an important role in that it opens of the possibility of creating a Great Person, which is a powerful unit that will spontaneously appear within a city. They have single-use capabilities (after use, they vanish) which can vastly improve your city. For example, an artistic great person can make a fantastic work of art, thereby giving your city a tremendous boost in culture and expanding your borders. There is also an option where you can expend two Great People in order to trigger a Golden Age, where production gains a tremendous boost.

For the first time, religion is being introduced to the Civilization franchise. There are several different religions to choose from, but they all do the same thing: Generate morale and culture. Having a Holy City will generate significant culture points for your empire, but when you get right down to it, it's quite possible to win without using religion at all. Constructing missionaries to spread religion to other cities will make acquiring them easier. Cities will always be happier and produce more culture when their religion matches the state's religion.