For the last couple of weeks, I've had a new addiction. It has replaced housekeeping and blogging (both reading them and writing them) and television. The only thing I've managed to do besides the new addiction is read. This addiction is called Civilization IV.
I suppose it's not too surprising. Although I was never a big player of military strategy games, such as Risk, when I was a kid, CivIV is basically a large scale game of the Sims. You've got to make money, keep everyone happy and healthy, increase your skills; it's just that you've got the possibility of war in this game. (I think war is what Wil felt was missing from the Sims.)
This new addiction is Wil's fault. He downloaded a demo for a new version of Civilization called Civilization Revolution, for the PS3. This is a scaled down version of the computer versions of Civ, which could take up to weeks to finish a game, depending on how many people were playing. This version allows you to sit down and play multiplayer games online with your friends, and finish the game in 2-3 hours. It's a turned based game, like a board game.
Civ: Revolutions is just so darn cute on the PS3, I watched Wil play a couple of times, and then when he went to work, I started the play. Blammo. Hooked. The demo only lasts 100 moves which is not much at all. I remembered seeing a demo for a Mac version somewhere, for CivIV, so I downloaded that. Blammo! Hooked again. I bought the game and we've been playing ever since.
When I play on my own, a game will last about 3.5 hours, easy to sneak in a game while Wil is at work. When Wil and I play together, I think a game averages 22 hours. And man, it is fun. There is pretty much nothing better in the world than getting all caught up in a great game with your sweetie. And eating snacks at the same time.
When I play by myself, I am the epitome of peace. War, what is it really good for? Nothing, I am trying to win a Cultural Victory. But when Wil and I play together, it's him and me against the world. And we've developed a bad habit of wiping everyone else off the planet and splitting it equally. In the beginning, I was blood thirsty. It was great fun to wipe out the bad tempered Aztecs, they were such a pain in the ass. Or the arrogant Russians. But, it's gotten a bit old. So we've upped the difficulty on this latest game. So it's not so easy to conquer the world. Currently, I am playing America, he is China.
The civs I like playing the best are: America (Roosevelt), Arabia, Russia (Catherine the Great) , Egypt and Spain (Queen Isabella). Honorable mention for India (Gandhi) as well. Will seems to stick with Mongolia or China. Note: I always rename the capital city to from the default Washington to Seattle, when I play America.
Oh, if you have PS3, you should buy the Civilization: Revolution. We could play together. I've already informed Evildeb I'm kicking her ass and taking her Great People.
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