I am now 26 years old and while I buy lots of games I can only afford to spend a few hours a month playing them. I first played this game back in 1994 when I was 7 years old and I had completed it on Viceroy (the hardest setting) by the times I was 8. I was and am facsinated by the brutal effieciency required to get ahead and this game still monopolizes many of my limited gaming hours. You have to constantly balance so many aspects: managing relations with Indians, decimating European foes, getting a trade empire established and ultimately combining every aspect to fight the single most relentless force I have EVER encountered in any game. Everytime you start this game you can decide a new path for your Colonies. From deciding which goods to focus on trading, to peacfully engraciate yourself with the natives or to systematically wipe them out and whether you are going to focus on 1 super city of spread a number of colonies across a trade network. This is the my personal favourite game of all time. The music gets me excited and the feeling I get when I am able to recruit my first blue coated veteran soldier in each game is second to to none! I would recommend this game to anyone that has the patience to sit through a playthrough of long civ building games.
