The best Civ game so far. Excellent balance and great multiplayer. The AI does cheat on the higher difficulty levels, that's no different from any other Civ game from 1 onward. Anything below Prince should be fine. Agressiveness is key, there's only so much land to go around.

Civ 3 is better. Civ 4 has several flaws. They miss Empires like the Portuguese Empire etc and choose to promote the 'American Empire' etc. Its a game made for the 'masses' lacking the depth previous titles had. The AI is awful. Basically Ai will berserk without any sense of strategy and using overpowered versions of the units the player can have 'cheating' in order to look competitive trying to hide the simplicity of it. If you like Civ series, stay with civ 3 complete bundle etc.. much better.

Very good game ,much improved on Civ 3 , great graphics and superb longevity .A must for all civ fans !!