This makes it much easier to get these units out of smaller, less prosperous towns, but it also makes it impossible to grow your population in cities that have substantial food surplus. Instead, cities will simply convert all excess food into production while settlers and workers are being built. While we're on the subject of growth, settlers and workers don't consume population when they're built. If you have a big food surplus (or access to health-giving resources like cows, rice, etc.) your cities will survive unhealthy conditions, but they won't grow. Any extra unhealthiness is basically bought off with surplus food. To offset the decline, you'll need to build health-producing improvements like aqueducts and hospitals. The health of a city drops as population and pollution increase. The health and happiness of your cities is handled differently than in previous versions of the game. While it's not a big deal while you're just browsing, it's kind of limiting when you're selecting a new technology and can't access the other entries. The comprehensive Civilopedia offers all kinds of information, but there should be cross-linking for civic types and terrain improvements. While some players might find pop-ups more obnoxious, it would certainly help me stay oriented to what's going on during the game. The announcements that your rivals have completed a wonder or founded a new religion should be put right in your face, not off to the side in the smallest font the game has available. Though the new interface is wonderful, there are a few areas where more could be done.

Since there are many more terrain improvements this time around (and since you'll need to build them before you can access strategic resources or luxuries), having this information handy makes strategic planning much more convenient. Similar options let you see military units, resource yields, cultural ownership and other factors. This makes it much easier to pick out where the key deposits are. There are options you can turn on to highlight certain resources. Since there are many more types of terrain improvements this time around, you'll be able to tell just by looking at the map whether a given tile is generating food, commerce or production. The game map also shows off a lot of information. What's more, it will even list all the units in the square, their strength, movement, identity and any promotions they have. Mousing over terrain tiles tells you what the defense bonus is, the resource yield, any special resources (and the improvement needed to utilize them), as well as the ownership of the tile.

While all versions of Civilization have allowed players to dig down into the numbers behind the game mechanics, Civilization IV offers such ready access to these figures that you'll get a really good sense of how the game is working. I'm still amazed at the way information is presented in this game. A wealth of fantastic music highlights the entire experience with a pitch-perfect voiceover assist from Leonard Nimoy. The interface elements have all been refined to ease access and readability. A new graphics engine adds life and charm to the world, making the experience really come alive. On top of these revisions, Civilization IV finally offers up a presentation worthy of the gameplay. Concepts like civil disorder, predictable tech paths, pollution and the creeping pace of the late game have all benefited from substantial revisions that make them more manageable and enjoyable aspects of your strategy. City production, combat, and culture have all been tweaked to allow for more intuitive application within the game. Fans should be assured that all the basic concepts from Civilization are still here, but many of the more obnoxious or troublesome elements have been greatly improved upon. The first thing you need to understand is that Civilization IV is a fundamental reinvention of the franchise.

Civilization 4