Lived up to the hype
I was not a huge fan of the turn-based isometric Civilization series of old. Civilization III was a good game that I played once or twice, but it never had enough to really make me strive for just one more turn. The Civilization games are empire building turn-based strategy games, although that may not sound very interesting, Civilization IV took a massive step forward for the franchise and the genre; it's is not just a game, it's an addiction.
After following its development, Civilization IV is probably one of the best games that exceeded all of my expectations. The game has undergone the change from 2D to 3D majestically enough along with a sleek blue user interface that I have grown to love.
Civilization IV, however, provides so many options that it can be overwhelming at times. Before a game can even be started, there are so many choices to make regarding what kind of world to play in, what empire to play, what leader to play, the difficulty, and the game length. All of these options provide different gameplay experiences.
To me however, after playing it so many times, so many different ways, I still love it and play it every so often to this day.