Similar to Civilization in ways, the game is more attuned to offer you a semi realistic (at scale) feel for what it was for a viceroy to have a new area colonized and upgraded. No wonder that it is set at the high tide after the Americas were discovered, allowing you to colonize all the new world and to bring forth your civilization to the helms of modernity that the game allows. Sid Meier's Colonization is a strategy game, combining base building with highly developed political options, civilization development and conquering of new worlds.