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Among the oldest strategy video games, the Civilization series still remains popular among strategy game players across the gaming world. The first Civilization title was released in 1991 and a number of titles have followed due to the series’ loyal fan base. The credit for producing this famed strategy game goes to Sid Meier, an American video game designer and developer.

Civilization is a turn-based strategy game where a player has to build up cities (or units) to guide the growth of a civilization. In this game, the computer also plays the game. Points are earned from the number of cities or units completed. The Civilization games are interesting in that they allow a player to choose from different technologies and use them to enhance their cities to achieve a better “happiness” rating. The game also allows a player to exchange a technology with the computer by signing a treaty. The game is won when one of the players manages to declare victory using the conquest option. Some other interesting methods of winning are also available to the players. The basic game pattern is similar for all the titles in the series, though Civilization III offers the option of winning by domination (when a player is able to amass the majority of land mass within their territory). Other interesting ways of winning are through the diplomacy option or the culture option.

Following the success of Civilization II and Civilization III , Civilization IV was launched in 2005. This title gained huge popularity and subsequently was followed by two expansion packs: Civilization IV: Warlords and Civilization: Beyond the Sword . Warlords was released in 2006 and Beyond the Sword was released in 2007.

The immense popularity of the series can be gauged by the fact that various expansion packs for all the titles have been released and all have been well received by the gaming world. Other than the expansion packs sold separately, compilation packs for all the titles are available. Each compilation pack comprises of the respective title along with their expansion packs. The Civilization series is still a favourite with strategy game lovers because of the thrill it provides. Owing to the success of the Civilization series, the publishers of the game, Activision, have announced the release of the next title, Civilization Revolution , and the date of release has been scheduled for 2008.