Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition is nice appetizer for Civilization V

Author's Rating:

Pros: All three Civ IV releases are included, patches and all.  Colonization also included.

Cons: Colonization is a bit...difficult.

The Bottom Line: 
If you haven't bought the Civ IV series, this is a convenient alternative to purchasing four separate games.

Author's Review
 Because Sid Meier's Civilization IV:  The Complete Edition is an "anthology" which contains the "core" game, two expansion packs and the stand-alone game Colonization, this article is more of an overview rather than a comprehensive review about each of the four games. 

For information on Sid Meier's Civilization IV and its two expansion packs, I refer you to the following Epinions reviews:

Sid Meier's Civilization IV

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

A more complete review of Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is in the works.

On September 1, 2010, 2K Games (aka Take Two Games) and Firaxis will release Sid Meier's Civilization V, the newest installment of one of the most popular strategy simulation series ever published.

Ever since Sid Meier, co-founder of the late and lamented MicroProse Software game company, created the original Civilization in 1991, millions of gamers have been addicted to his simulation of world history and taken the game's famous challenge to "build an empire that will stand the test of time."

If the popularity of Sid Meier's Civilization IV is any guide, Civilization V doubtlessly will equal or even outperform its predecessor both in sales and as a gaming experience.

Now, while it's true that most Civilization fans either own or have played the existing Civ IV series - including the stand-alone update to the lesser-known Colonization, I'm sure that there are gamers who have no previous experience with any edition of Civilization.  These folks might want to get their feet wet - so to speak - in Sid's "god game extraordinaire" before the new version comes out in the fall.

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition

If you have never played Sid Meier's Civilization IV or its two expansion packs, they're still available (in different versions, depending on when they were released)  separately, as is the oddly-named Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization, which sounds like another expansion pack title but is a separate stand-alone game which uses the Civ game engine.

Of course, the prices of each game vary depend on which edition you can get and which seller you choose to buy it from, but you still would end up buying three (or four) separate sets of either CD- or DVD-ROM disks.

Thus, if this option is unappealing for any reason, you can always opt for buying the four-games-in-one DVD-ROM disk collection Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition.

The fourth major edition  of Civilization IV and its expansion packs owe much of  their updated design and interface to Sid Meier's space-themed Alpha Centauri.   Most features of the Graphic User's Interface of Alpha Centauri were first adapted for Civilization III when Sid Meier founded Firaxis Games and returned to the franchise he created for his first software company, the late and lamented MicroProse.

Now, the basic concepts of the original Civ are present in this 21st Century upgrade. Players still must build an empire up from one solitary city, then expand outward by founding new cities, creating internal lines of communication, foreign and domestic trade routes, building (and upgrading) armed forces, and dealing with other Civilization leaders (controled by either other human players or AI ones).

As in all the versions of Civ that I've owned, players still start the game with a Settler (to build your first city with, of course), but now they have either a Scout or Warrior as a companion. The latter units can be sent to explore the terra incognita of the mapboard (there's an "Explore" command option that automates this function). Players also, as in most versions of the game, start their first turn in the year 4,000 BC with two randomly chosen Civilization advances from which they then advance up the Tech Tree till they "discover" Future Technologies at the end game stage in the Space Age era.

Key Features (From the Civilization IV Website)

Civilization IV

The Strategy Classic - Includes the multiple game of the year award-winner that started the series. Rule throughout time and create your legacy in this landmark game.
3D Living World - Detailed environments where animals roam and smoke billows from small huts, set in a vibrant and colorful world.

Innovative Features - Great People, Holy Cities, missionaries, variable game scales, new land, sea and air units, and loads of new civics.

Civilization IV: Warlords

New Leaders & Civilizations - More of history's greatest military leaders including Shaka, Wang Kon and Augustus Caesar, plus six all-new civilizations.
Warlord Unit - Utilize a great new person unit - the Warlord. Change the course of history through military might.
New Scenarios - Eight new scenarios including Alexander's Conquests, the Rise of Rome, Genghis Khan and more.

Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

The Biggest Civ Expansion Ever - A massive increase of 10 civilizations, 64 buildings, 11 scenarios, 5 wonders, 6 technologies, corporations, brand new espionage system and expanded trade routes.
Scenarios - Expect the World: 11 additional scenarios include settling new worlds in Final Frontier, battling zombies in Afterworld, conquering medieval Western Europe in Charlemagne and more.
Unstoppable Corporations - Found your own corporation and spreads its influence as another tool to gain control over the world.

Colonization

Classic Game Design - The strategy classic Colonization is rebuilt with beautifully improved visuals, while retaining the famous addictive gameplay and endless fun that are synonymous with Sid Meier games.
Establish a New Nation - Play as the English, Spanish, French or Dutch and journey to a brave new world in search of freedom from your oppressive homeland.
Multiplayer Offers Tons of Replay - Compete with friends from all over the world via the Internet and Play by E-mail modes or compete locally via the Hotseat and LAN modes, offering endless ways to conquer the New World.

Other features:  In response to complaints from gamers who groused about certain intellectual property protection features, this is a DRM-free edition, touted on the game packaging as "The complete Civ IV experience with no Digital Rights Management limitations."

Requirements:

Operating System:  Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Processor: 1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent

RAM: 512 Megabytes RAM

Video: DirectX 9.0c compatible 64 MB video card with Shader 1.1 Support or better

Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible

DVD-ROM: 4x DVD-ROM drive or faster

Hard Drive Space: 3.8 Gigabytes of free hard drive space

Other: Internet connection required for online play
 
My Take: I bought this "omnibus version" of Sid Meier's Civilization IV solely because I wanted to install the four games included in it in my new laptop.  I figured that it would save me some time if I had the three Civilization IV games, as well as Sid Meier's Civilization IV; Colonization, on one DVD-ROM rather than have to install four separate programs from CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs.

Obviously, in this hurry-hurry world of ours, this one DVD-ROM installation method is much more convenient.  Installation takes slightly less than five minutes from start to finish, and perhaps it would take less if you do not install Colonization.

Of course, because the Take Two/Firaxis team was assigned to work on the upcoming (as of May 2009, when this edition was released) Civilization V, all of the patches and updates to Sid Meier's Civilization IV and its two expansion packs were included here.

As I have remarked in my Civilization IV reviews, the graphics - rendered in three dimensions and lushly detaiiled.the 2005-2007 installments of the franchise are "eye-poppingly beautiful."  Units in combat are fully animated, and cities, villages and terrain are all lovingly depicted in "living color."

The games also have have an amazing aural palette:  "Not only are there action sounds - units marching make a tramp-tramp noise, while catapults have a spring-and-release sound that is followed by a stony-sounding crash - but there are ambient sounds as well. For instance, in the modern era, if a player listens closely enough, the sounds of cars blowing their horns and other ‘metropolitan city' noises can be heard."   

The soundtrack also features music from various eras and cultures and voiceovers by actor Leonard Nimoy and (in a tutorial and a few Civilization Advances in Beyond the Sword) Sid Meier.

My least favorite feature is the inclusion of Colonization.  I had always wanted to try it out ever since the original version of that game came out in 1994, but so far I have been vexed by its difficult game play and the inherent limitations of its scenario. 

Sure, it's kind of cool trying to replicate the almost-three-centuries-long period of European "discovery and colonization" of the New World, but the fact that there doesn't seem to be a realistic map of the Americas anywhere is vexing.  Randomly-generated worlds are great once you know the lay of the land, but I was expecting a more realistic and historically-accurate depiction of the world circa 1492 and beyond. 

Another vexing feature of Colonization is that you have to do a great deal of micromanagement.   Now, if you have a lot of spare time on your hands and like all sorts of detail work (assigning colonists to be farmers, do trades with Native American tribes and so on), Colonization is right up your alley. 

But having been spoiled rotten by the automation of many management tasks in Civ IV, I find that Colonization requires more "hands-on" leadership and attention to detail than I'm able or willing to provide.

As a result of feeling as though I'm in over my head with Colonization, I rarely play it.  Of course, every time I do try it I learn new things about game play and make some progress in the learning curve,  but I have yet to figure out how to start a rebellion against the Mother Country, much less fight against its armies and navies.

Another thing that turns me off about Colonization is that it requires more video resources than its Civilization IV cousins.  It will run on the requirements listed here, but before you play the game you need to go to the Options menu (after the intro movie) and set the Graphics level to Low Quality.  If you don't, you'll only be able to watch the intro movie and the Start Game screen; once you get past those the game will close down ; the default settings assume you have more video resources than you actually have.

Final thoughts: If you already have the four games contained in Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition and all the patches to them, you can pretty much pass on this game unless you want a DRM-free version or a back-up copy in case you lose one of the original disks. 

If you're not a die-hard fan of Civ but don't want to miss out on the eventual love-fest for Civilization V, this is the best and more economical way to get into Civilization.  It might not have all the bells and whistles of the new game, to be sure, but it's been my experience that the designers always stick to the 1991 original's basic concepts while improving the look, sound and city management stuff.