Civilization V is the fifth historical turned based strategy game in the
Civilization series. Five years after the previous title, it seems that
not much has changed.
Civilization games have always been very good turn based strategy games,
which distinguished themselves from other game by brilliant interface.
This last game is no different and offer a great experience throughout
but doesn't seem to be a lot different from it's predecessor.
As in previous games, controlling a nation through history can be a lot
of fun and very rewarding for strategy games fans, but for others the
game seems to be only difficult or frustrating. The game doesn't do
newcomers any favors, and for those who haven't played Civilization
games before, the learning curve may be a little steep. Civ 4 players
should feel right at home with the game's new interface, only slightly
changed from the previous installment, but having enough new small
touches to make the experience feel fresh.
As the game begins, you may choose the nation you wish to play as, and
the map you wish to play on. There are dozens of past civilizations,
including the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians but also North America, France
or Turkey and many others. The map's layout and size may differ from
islands to continents, for 2 or 20 players, and can also be the a good
copy of Earth.
When beginning the game you will have to use your Settlers to create
your first city and begin researching and expanding your new empire. As
in past games, the research system is very deep. You begin with farming
and cropping, the discovery of the wheel, horse riding and so on until
you reach the more recent days with research like telegram, economy and
nuclear science. The system hasn't changed a lot but once again it
manages to have quite an effect on the way the game progresses and the
way the player reaches better technology. Researching will lead to other
possible future researches which depend on the original research you
have made. This makes the game feel very deep and makes every
playthrough a different experience.
Of course, these researches take time, more exactly they take turns.
While a minor research may take 4-5 turns, a major one may take up to 10
turns to complete. This makes the choice-making a lot more difficult
and changes the game dramatically. The system works very well and the
implementation is good. Building and army won't be very easy, as will
conquering an other state. This game takes time and for a guaranteed
win, one must first research and battle after. The variety of buildings,
wonders or troops is impressive. After reaching a certain period in
time, the choices of building is quite huge. There are many troops to be
made, each one with different stats and use.
One thing that fans of the series will notice is the fact that the AI
seems to be more aggressive than before. Other states will come to war
with you very soon, they will be annoyed if you build cities close to
theirs and will attack you for not signing treaties with them. The AI
will often demand treaties, or sometimes even help in clearing some
rebel forts. The interaction with other states seems to be better thane
ever before and this thanks to the great interface the game has.
After a while spent in the game, it's really hard to let go. After a few
hours building and researching until a certain period in time is
reached, letting go is difficult. The game becomes addictive after a
while and this is the exact thing that previous games have done, and
Civilization 5 does it better than ever before.
Visually the game looks pretty good, but doesn't seem to have taken the
bar pretty high. The game doesn't look a lot different from Civilization
4 and that may be a problem for the players who spent hundreds of hour
with that game, wanting a new experience with this new game. The
interface is very good and slick. The game keeps a pretty steady
frame-rate but even on a high end PC the game occasionally crashes after
saving. This may be fixed with a later patch.
The game keeps the feel of past game with it's sound design. The game's
classical soundtrack and it's voiceover for numerous activities and
information in the game is outstanding. The game has quite a serious
feel to it and the sound design helps a lot in achieving this.
Even if the game hasn't changed a lot it can still be a lot of fun for
those looking for a serious, deep and very rewarding strategy turned
based game. Unfortunately the game's lack of change over previous titles
may make fans of the series to have second thoughts about game. It's
still a very solid game and shouldn't be missed by true fans.
