For those that have absolutely no clue about what Civilization V is all about (shame on you); Civilization V is a turn-based strategy game where you relive the ages as one of many world leaders to choose from, and the objective is to build cities and prosper, research new technologies, build more things and expand as the ages fly by. By the end of the game (which usually ends at year 2050AD) you must emerge victorious through one of several different ways, which include military dominance, the space race, utopian society or a pure diplomatic victory which is achieved through being the most consistent Civilization in all aspects. It’s a tough and usually very long journey when it comes to a game in Civilization V, but it’s pretty awesome the whole way through, primarily because there are just so many ways to approach the game. Want to be a super powerful military force? Go for it. Economically superior? Can be done. It’s the options available in Civilization V that give it so much life and it’s all a huge amount of fun too.
Montezuma probably started this.
Civilization V has changed a fair bit compared to the previous PC iteration, Civilization IV. Probably the biggest change we thought was the complete removal of religion. Religion in Civ IV made things quite interesting but it also felt a little out of place and unnecessary, so the removal of it does not impact the complexity or depth of Civ V by any means; in fact its removal has given way for the new additions such as Social Policies and City States which serve much greater purposes and are far more entertaining to play with.
Social Policies are a new addition and are basically ‘rewards’ for your Civilization once you exceed the targeted culture points at the time, and allow you to make your Civilization more specialised in certain areas such as fast expansion or military focus. They aid your style of play through allowing you to enhance certain aspects of your Civilization permanently. As an example, Honor policies greatly enhance your military units if you put your social points into that, so it’s great for people who like to play with a militaristic style. Some policies can’t be combined with other ones however, as they may oppose, so policies must be picked wisely as usually the path you choose must be committed to. It’s also possible to win a match through maxing out six total policies, so for the culturally strong civilizations, this is certainly an option.
I hope that's Montezuma being attacked.
The next major addition comes in the form of City States, which at the start of the game serve as neutral cities that are AI controlled and do their own thing in the world. However, they can prove to be major players throughout the course of the match, as allying with them can prove highly beneficial to your Civilization. Allying with them is done through gifting them gold and/or Units or doing minor side missions they offer, which in turn rewards you with trade resources they have on offer or, if they’re a militaristic society, war units to use. While not essential to your cause, City States can prove to aid you massively throughout the course of the game, but can also be a minor curse as time to time a side mission involves warring with other City States and/or Factions, which can cause rifts among the Civilizations and bigger problems than you might have thought. Careful thought and wise decision making is paramount to the success of your Civilization, and this applies to all areas in Civilization V.
Apart from these major additions, combat has now become much more entertaining and more tactical with the addition of non-stackable units and hexagonal tiles, and also some defensive changes in Cities and such. Units must now be positioned and used accordingly instead of just stacking and attacking, so there’s a lot more tactical flair and thought put into the positioning of units in combat. Defensively as well, Cities can now fight back without the aid of units, making it much more difficult to take Cities and this forces the player in planning out their attack and being clever rather than just applying an outright steam rolling. Units also take much longer to produce now compared to previous games, so each unit on the field is much more valuable and requires lots of care in battle, lest you be punished for poor tactical ability. It’s overall a much better system in place of the old combat system, and will certainly please the more tactical and militaristic players of Civilization out there.
George is a pretty cool guy. A lot better than Montezuma.
We’re going to be honest here though; probably the most noticeable and biggest improvement in Civilization V lies in its presentation value, because it is one hell of a pretty game. Though turn-based strategy isn’t exactly meant for looking great, Civilization V goes the extra step to look fantastic and perform well too. The user interface is phenomenal and extra easy to use, so playing the game and getting into it is simple and highly rewarding. The world and its inhabitants is all modelled in a gorgeous 3D style with great lighting and a noticeably evolving planet. Perhaps our favourite touch though is the diplomatic screens with World Leaders, which is now full-screen with a full 3D representation of the character, and they even speak their native tongue. Though it may seem like a minor thing to some, this tends to add a massive amount of immersion into the game as the authenticity is absolutely fantastic. Not to mention the game has a wonderfully composed soundtrack which adds a lot of atmosphere, and you’ve got yourself a really polished and gripping game.
In all honestly, it's really hard to fault Civilization V when it comes down to it, as the team at Firaxis just seem to know what they’re doing, and they do it really damn well. If anything, and this is being incredibly nitpicky, the game requires a lot of time to really get into and from time-to-time we feel the AI can be a little too aggressive, but these things are pretty much cosmetic (or personal; we hate Montezuma) in flaw. To put it really bluntly, Civilization V is just a really good, entertaining, addictive and highly polished game that only goes to show that Firaxis are masters of their craft and can somehow, with a bit of magic, evolve their franchise to even greater heights than before. Now back to killing Montezuma...
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