Civilization is, beyond a doubt, the ultimate empire-building game. What other game combines the Pyramids, Elvis and nuclear warfare? Beginning over 6,000 years ago as the various tribes of humanity are creating the first cities and reaching all the way into the near future where humanity sends its first colonists to Alpha Centauri, Civilization gave gamers a playground as big as all of human history. Gamers were instantly hooked once they found themselves in charge of an entire civilization's destiny, from the creation of the wheel to the discovery of fusion power. Though this sort of scale seems normal these days, Civilization was the first strategy game that popularized the 4X model -- explore, expand, exploit and exterminate.

Players had a variety of strategies available to them. Would you decide to develop as an economic powerhouse, in hopes of dominating your rivals through finance? Maybe you'd rely on your nation's industrial capacity or military might to overwhelm your opponents. You might even have relied on scientific supremacy or astute diplomacy to gain a less direct edge on your neighbors. The best thing about Civilization is that it required players to balance all these strategies while at the same time rewarding focused attention on one strategy over the others.

The wonderful balance and variety among these strategies combined with the historical setting make Civilization one of the most addictive games we've ever played. No other game represents the "just one more turn" addiction better than Civilization, and it's simply impossible to overestimate the staggering amount of sleep, work, and school we've all missed out on thanks to this early Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley classic. Though other games have vastly expanded and refined the core principles of the 4X genre, they all owe their inspiration to this one.