Due to a strange quirk of my gaming history, I never played a numbered Civilization game beyond the original Civ (also known as Sid Meier’s Civilization: Build an Empire to Stand the Test of Time). That game I utterly consumed back in the early 90s when it was released, probably completing the game with every possible combination of civilization and victory condition.

Civ II, for example, wasn’t released until 1996, five years after its predecessor (I had spent much of that intervening period playing Civ), and at that point Quake, and then the mod Quake 40K/Chapter Honour (boy, there’s a site I haven’t seen in ages), become my time-sucking game of choice.

During most periods of my life, I’ve tried to consistently play games in a variety of genres—in the 90s, I was mainly into adventure games, shooters, and strategy games—but I’ve also generally had one game that lurks in the background, filling the cracks in my gaming time between this title or that title. Civ was probably the first game to hold that honor. That was followed by TIE Fighter, then Quake (and CH), then Team Fortress Classic, then Diablo II, then StarCraft (chronologically unexpected, I know). I think there might be a gap of several years in there which could claim no default game, excepting of course the mighty Tetris, which for about ten years was a constant presence casting a dim shadow over all these other timesinks.

For a time it was Minesweeper. Then at some point came Halo (this was a few years after its release), then Halo 2. For a blessedly short time, relatively speaking, there was World of WarCraft, then, uh, Zuma. Nostalgia for Diablo II (which, I have neglected to mention, has made several resurgences into these ranks, but let’s not delve into that) prompted a spirited pre-release attempt to elevate Hellgate London to omni-game status, but that sullied more memories than it honored. Halo 3 was next, and you could possibly make a thin argument for Grand Theft Auto IV, and a similarly thin one for Catan.

Most recently, I have been monopolized by Civilization Revolution, the first Xbox 360 title whose entire list of achievements I have bothered to…achieve. (Prior timesink Halo 3 is missing only 90 points of mainly goofy multiplayer feats.)

A few of these games have particularly strong resonance in my memory. Halo, for the unparalled same-room camaraderie it engendered; Diablo II, for the number of years, sheer volume of total time, and undead-like ability to rejuvenate and reassert itself in my life at any time with no regard for its ancient 800×600 resolution; and Civ, for being my first real gaming obsession, possibly having set me on the path to becoming what we ambiguously refer to as a “hardcore gamer.”

Civilization Revolution is a game extremely reminiscent of the original Civ, and the first since that title to have been designed primarily by Sid Meier, which brings this reflection full circle. With the exception of the Halos for whatever reason, I frequently end up not playing sequels to games that once dominated my life, out of a concern that the domination will return. (You can bet your ass I’ll be giving a pass to Diablo III as well.) That was one reason for never having revisited Civ until Revolution, which released some 17 years after its spiritual predecessor and seemed like it had run out the statute of limitations.

However, perhaps due to a decade and a half of gaming that has given me a more sophisticated perspective on underlying game designs—or, just as likely, due to me being less patient and forgiving than I was during my Civ days—it recently became time to return Revolution to the proverbial shelf.

And, after three years of hearing what an amazing experience I have been missing, I have installed Sid Meier’s Civilization IV, with the Warlords and Beyond the Sword expansion packs. I still haven’t mustered up the will to launch the game; I’m telling myself that’s because I’m still tooling around in Spore, but the more fundamental reason is my deep-seated fear. I am expecting a more robust experience than the Xbox 360 spinoff, a more multi-layered offering that has the terrifying potential to envelop my life.

Pray for me.

Tags: blizzard, catan, civilization iv, civilization revolution, console gaming, diablo ii, diablo iii, grand theft auto, halo, pc gaming, quake, sid meier, spore, starcraft, tetris, tfc, tie fighter, valve, wow, zuma

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 1:43 pm and is filed under game design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.