The best of the series. It has an amazingly beautiful setting in ancient China, which is definetely an unusual choice in the genre but a refreshing one. The game offers many glimpses into Chinese history and culture and is an overall gem. The graphics held up surprisingly well and it is a joy to lose yourself in the incredibly detailed buildings, streets and gardens. I still play this game from time to time and I am glad that now I don't have to worry about losing or damaging the CD anymore. Great!
My current copy of CIV IV just stopped working and because of the DRM I can't get it to run again. I was desolated, on the brink of despair! On the verge of giving up hope, GOG rushes in to save the day! The game itself is marvellous. There is a legitimate debate to be had whether CIV III or CIV IV is the best title in the series, but luckily, since they are now both here on GOG, you will be able to make up your own mind. Sweet.
This is so incredibly bad you won't believe it's from the ame studio that brought you the Gothic series. The story telling has terrible pacing, the narration is bad, unnatural dialogues, there is literally nothing to like here. When you play it feels more like a bad port of a bad console game and your immersion is constantly disrupted. If you open a chest, the screen goes black as you enter an inventory screen as if you had to be taken out of the game world so that you wouldn't be distracted or whatever. Another thing: Not too far off into the game after a dialogue you are supposed to walk approximately 30 metres down to the beach. Not too much of a hassle one would assume but the game deems it necessary to teleport you. Any immersion is instantly wrecked as you ask yourself: With whom in mind was this game made that it doesn't think the player can find the beach downstairs? Everything feels forced and unnatural. The game evokes the same feeling that you get when watching a bad movie with actors who can't act: Everything is slightly off but you can't exactly put you finger on what it is that throws you off except that the entire thing overall lacks craftsmanship.
