Primordial soup

I generally try to saddle up the review horse from the front and therefore usually start with the forefathers of a series before working my way through to the successors. With Sid Meier’s Civilziation deliberately broke with this tradition, simply because I wanted to talk about a really good soundtrack in the case of the 6th game. But because everything should be in order here, let's jump back to 1991, when the first Sid Meier’s Civilization was released. Since my personal release date wasn't until 1992, I can't say anything about the content. Nevertheless, I recommend taking a look at the screenshots - there's something magical about Stalin at paint level alone.

The score

The soundtrack to the game was created by Jeff Briggs, who worked as a game developer at MicroProse on the very first installment of the series and a few of its successors. The fact that Briggs' expertise probably lies more in the field of design becomes clear even if you disregard the technical limitations of the MIDI format. The music is below average, even below average if you want to put it crudely. Since I don't want to be too harsh, I'll stick with below average. While Introduction, Part IJeffery L. Briggs2 and Introduction, Part IIJeffery L. Briggs3 still create a Zelda-esque atmosphere with their flute and ascending notes, the rest of the composition is somewhere between uninspired and irrelevant.

Other entries in the Sid Meier's Civilization -series

Soundtrack

Sid Meier's Civilization (1991)

Soundtrack

Sid Meier's Civilization VI (2016)

So lässt The Shining PathJeffery L. Briggs2 als Theme für die Chinesen unter Mao Tse Tung allerhöchstens Lust auf Hähnchen süß-sauer aufkommen, während man bei Mongol HordeJeffery L. Briggs2 weniger vor heranstürmenden Reitern sonder eher den sich ständig wiederholenden Drums Deckung sucht. Generell sind Briggs Eigenkreationen maximal zweckmäßig und umreißen das gesellschaftliche Feld der jeweiligen Zivilisation grob. Für ein Spiel von damals vermutlich zeitgemäß, ist es für heutige Hörer eher ein Quell von Qual statt Qualität. Da hilft es auch nicht, dass ein paar klassische Kompositionen von Johann Sebastian Bach (Goldberg Variations: Variatio 4. a 1 Clav.Johann Sebastian Bach3), William Steffe (Battle Hymn of the RepublicWilliam Steffe3) und Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (La MarseillaiseClaude Joseph Rouget de Lisle3) ihren Weg in die MIDI-Welt gefunden haben. Wer richtig gute Musik wünscht, muss noch ein paar Iterationen der Civ-series.