There’s something about civilisation games, where you pit your wits against the computer and see who can create the mightiest empire, that strikes a chord with us. Up till now though, the two main choices for this type of game has been either the excellent Civilisation, which has great gameplay but not much in the way of immersive real time graphics, or Microsoft’s Age of Empires, both of which are commercial products which cost money. Not any more.