Review

Battle of Two Turn-Based Strategy Games: Civilization IV Versus Shattered Union

by Chuck "Magnum" Ankenbauer

VS

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago, two similar but very different games were released on the same day. They're considered a dying breed in the PC gaming world, except to the hard-core military types. But can these two new releases change that opinion for the general gamer?

Sid Meier’s Civilization IV is well known and a classic in it’s own right. I played Civilization II when it was released and became addicted. When Civ III came out I quickly went out and got my copy but was disappointed, and it eventually was removed from my hard drive. Even the add-on couldn’t save it in my opinion. So I was skeptical about Civilization IV and decided to wait a few days for online reviews. After reading a few and I saw the game getting extremely high marks, I quickly went out and got my copy.

On the same day, but with much less fanfare, another turn-based strategy game was released. I had been following the game via it’s web site for quite a while, but was skeptical about the game due to it’s "cartoony" graphics. Because of the graphics, I thought maybe the gameplay would also be a little too "arcadish". I had a little extra money with me when I bought Civ IV, so I thought, “What the heck”, and picked up Shattered Union made by PopTop Software anyway (along with Call of Duty 2 and F.E.A.R. which I’m still trying to find time to play).

Both games are distributed by 2K Games, so if you have stock in that company, you might see a rise in your stock portfolio, at least for a while.

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