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Aspyr Media has updated Civilization IV and the Civilization IV: Warlords expansion pack with brand new patches. One of the significant changes in Civilization IV is compatibility with Gamespy, an online game matching service, enabling Mac users to play against PC gamers. The Civilization IV: Warlords patch brings the Mac version with the most current PC version as well as fixing over 100 pesky bugs.

The patches bring Civilization IV to 1.61 Rev. B and Civilization IV Warlords to 1.0 Rev A. Both updates are available for immediate download and are recommended for all users.

Please follow the links below to download the patches from Macgamefiles.com, which is hosting the files.

MGF: Civilization IV

MGF: Civilization IV: Warlords

Aspyr Media

Civilization IV

Civilization IV: Warlords

Buy Civilization IV

Buy Civilization IV: Warlords

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Inside Mac Games has posted a review for Razer's Pro|Click v1.6 precision gaming mouse. Here's a clip from the review:

When you’re catering to Macintosh users, the first thing you have to take into account is that we take pride in the superior aesthetic quality of our machines. While the average PC gamer may be able to satisfy his or her artistic desires by cramming what appears to be the entire Las Vegas strip into a black box with a gigantic Plexiglas window, Macintosh users demand more, whether they’re slicing through Photoshop artwork, or filling another Strogg to the gills with hot lead. When it comes to design philosophy, Razer's mice can be described three ways: menacing, brightly lit, and ambidextrous. The drawback of such design is that ultimately, bringing a Razer mouse into a professional or corporate environment is akin to plopping a flaming baby down on your desk. People will notice.

IMG Review of the Razer Pro|Click v1.6

Pro|Click v1.6

Razer

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Apple has posted a feature on Prey, a groundbreaking first-person shooter that turns the genre upside-down with new gameplay features such as wall-walking and spirit-walking and next generation graphics.

“There were definitely a lot of ways in which we were inspired,” explains project lead Chris Rhinehart. “Of course, the classic sci-fi films, such as Aliens and The Matrix, inspired us, and we were also inspired by the writing of Joss Whedon — known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly — in the way he injects self-referencing humor.”

Rhinehart notes that Prey’s storyline is focused on “the theme of rediscovering and accepting one’s heritage,” an idea that constantly dogs Tommy as he explores The Sphere and discovers its dark secrets. Enisi teaches him about spirit walking, as well as how to battle through the Death Realm and return to his body. Both elements bring new wrinkles to typical first-person shooter gameplay, as do the gravity flipping and wall walking capabilities found on The Sphere.

Apple: Prey

Aspyr Media

Prey

Buy Prey

Macworld's Game Room has produced another review, this one focusing on Grubby Game's arcade action title, FizzBall. Players of all ages can take control of Professor Fizzwizzle's railroad car as he works to capture animals with the FizzBall forcefield. The Game Room gave FizzBall a perfect score of 5 out of 5 mice.

From the review:

The FizzBall itself is a spherical force field. The more animals and objects it picks up, the larger the FizzBall gets (shades of Katamari Damacy), accommodating larger and larger animals. So at first you may be limited to butterflies and fallen leaves, but soon you’ll grow your FizzBall large enough to grab sheep, horses, snow tigers and lots of other creatures. Your FizzBall launches from Professor Fizzwizzle’s railroad car, and you have to bounce it off the car whenever it reaches the bottom of the screen to capture more animals.

The goal of each level is to capture all the animals—a counter on the side shows you what you’ve rescued and how many critters you have to go. There are also obstacles you’ll need to either avoid—such as containers of toxic waste—or break open, such as fences. There are even special bonuses you can collect in the forms of crates and barrels. Some will imbue you with special powers, like the ability to capture your FizzBall temporarily, blast a laser beam to clear a path, or get a point multiplier. Others will give you more cash.

Macworld Game Room: Fizzball Review

FizzBall

Buy FizzBall

Pocket Gamer's latest review examines Royal Solitaire for Apple's iPod portable multimedia device. The game features ten solitaire variants and tracks a variety of statistics. Pocket Gamer gave Royal Solitaire a score of 6 out of 10.

Yet there are plenty of other ways to play solitaire, and EA Mobile has crammed ten of 'em into this iPod game. Step forward Aces Up, Beleaguered Castle, Canfield, FreeCell, Golf, Klondike, Peaks, Pyramid, Scorpion, and Yukon. I promise I haven't made any of them up.

In that sense, Royal Solitaire can be considered as an education: a primer in the wonderful world of solitaire variants that your Nan didn't teach you to play. Trouble is, does anyone want that enough to pay for it, especially given there's a version of basic solitaire preloaded on every iPod?

Another problem is that for each variant here, you're told the rules before playing on a screen that only shows three short lines of explanation at a time, forcing you to scroll forwards and backwards, which isn't great for taking them in. Once you start playing, you're on your own, short of using the Menu button to access the main help screens to check the rules again.

Pocket Gamer: Royal Solitaire Review

Apple: iPod Games

Apple

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