Ruling the world

No, I'm not going to tell you about my plan of world domination here - that plan is kept secret and I would have to kill you after you've read this post otherwise. But there's perfectly legal ways of ruling the world - provided you keep to a virtual world, made up of bits and bytes. "Civilisation" has always been a way to do it.

I do have to admit that I never played the first "Civilisation" game. The second one - the CD-version - was the first of the series I bought. Number three (actually, there's various number threes, because the name lay with the company and not the inventor) wasn't as good as number two (which still runs, even on modern computers). For quite some time - and with two add-ons - number four has been out now.

The moment I was through the tutorial, the old "Civilisation"-fever was back. To me, "Civilisation" is one of the few games with a "just another five minutes"-factor. Like "The Settlers", "The Sims" or some other games of the "Sim"-series, it's a game where it's hard to stop playing. There's always something happening, you're always waiting for something to be finished, for a new unit to be produced - or a new building to be ready.

"Civilisation" is especially addictive, I think, if you're interested in history, because it encompasses the whole history of mankind, from early humans to the future when you'll be sending star ships to colonize Alpha Centauri (which is another game by the same publisher). There's a lot of different civilisations you can play, there's a lot of different ways to win. And, as it is round-based and not real-time, it's relaxing to play.

I like real-time strategy, but the complexity of "Civilisation" would make it impossible to win, were it real-time and not round-based. There's so much to do, so many cities to manage, so many units to steer. (I won't say real-time strategy games aren't complex, but they're not that complex.)

So the moment I installed "Civilisation IV Complete" (the main program plus the add-ons), I was caught again. And I like it, because where else do you get the chance to rule the world and steer the development of mankind?