Sid Meier's best games

Key things

• Sid Meier created a number of iconic games such as SimGolf and Colonization.
• Each game offers unique gameplay experiences such as building golf courses, colonizing new territories and fighting civil war battles.
• Sid Meier's Civilization series, especially Civilization 5, remains excellent with enhanced visuals, simplified gameplay, and patented 4X strategy elements.

There are many names in the world of gaming that are responsible for bringing fans some of the most beloved franchises of all time. Names like Tim Schafer, Hideo Kojima and of course Sid Meierthey are synonymous with many gamers and the moment they hear one of these names they know they can expect something worth checking out.

Sid Meier has lent his talents time and time again to create an extensive catalog of marvels – of which he is the most famous Civilization franchise. Many of these games are firmly rooted in turn-based affairs, but some of them require thinking on the spot and a lot of foresight to avoid potential failure.

1 Sid Meier's SimGolf

Golf course builder and simulator

Most golf games are in the sports genre or offered as an online browser mini-game that takes a few minutes to play. There are a small handful of sports games that use RPG mechanics and/or a turn-based formula SimGolf is one of the oldest among them.

Players can build holes in golf in the same way they would build a house Sims game — won't surprise like the original SimGolf was developed by Maxis. Golfers have different stats in which areas they shine and which can be outclassed.

2 Sid Meier's Colonization

Discovering the New World

• Developer: MicroProse Chapel Hill Studio
• Platforms: DOS, Amiga, Windows, Macintosh
• Release date: 1994

Colonization acted as the successor to one of Sid Meier's most famous franchises, Civilization. Players choose a different power to start with – England or France, for example. Players establish a colony in the New World and can interact with the native inhabitants of the continent.

Players will have to make many well-thought-out decisions as in any strategy game, such as establishing relationships and trade routes. The game would get a remake by Firaxis Games in the form of Civilization 4: Colonization.

3 Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

Successor to Alpha Centauri

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is an iconic game, but its age shows too much for the modern gamer. Enter Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth. This game is everything the fan is Civilization games could ask for entry in the space-focused genre.

The game includes almost all the features you would expect from a game Civilization game, but with a lot of unique differences that set it apart. Terrain inhabited by alien creatures can be deadly to humans, and players can experience a sense of wonder at what new experiences lie on the map.

4 Sid Meier's Gettysburg!

Civil War Reenactment

• Developer: Firaxis Games
• Platform: Microsoft Windows
• Release date: 14 October 1997

Sid Meier has offered a wide variety of different experiences with many different times of war throughout the ages. Gettysburg!as the title suggests, it revolves around the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. At the time, this style of play was a unique concept that didn't quite mesh with real-time strategy or real-time tactical games.

Formations are very important and being disorganized or rushing all your units into a frontal attack will most likely lead to failure. Instead, players will have to think like real Civil War generals and try to outmaneuver their enemies to get the best results. This makes it great for players looking for a very challenging and rewarding experience, especially on higher difficulty levels.

5 Sid Meier's Pirates!

Adventure on the high seas

Pirates are a topic that has seen an on-again-off-again surge in popularity. This can be seen across many genres. Sid Meier's Pirates! gives players plenty of options for how they want to experience their pirate-themed adventure in the game.

It features a plot where the player starts as a child of a rich family only to have everything ripped from him. The bulk of the game revolves around sailing on a pirate vessel, but there are plenty of smaller alternate gameplay elements for naval combat, sword fights, and navigating dialogue trees.

6 Sid Meier's Civilization 5

An ever-evolving classic

To this day, no game franchise is more famous than Sid Meier Civilization. The 4X genre is named for its focus on its core principles of exploration, expansion, exploitation, and extermination—with each word starting with an “ex” sound. With each new entry comes improved visuals, but also changes that can make or break its appeal to fans of the previous installment.

Civilization 4 it used square tiles and offered elaborate religious options for players to take advantage of. Both of these are removed from Civilization 5 — s Civ 5 using hexagonal tiles. Civilization 6 is more complicated than Civilization 5which can be intimidating for new players. Of all the games, Civilization 5 balances all the modern crunch fans could wish for Civilization game while keeping things streamlined and easier for all players.