Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

What is Civilization V ?

Civilization V is a turn – based strategy game , in which your focus is building up your selected nation into a superpower. The game does not have a campaign , but it features a great array of custom maps and scenarios in wich the player can control different nations , for example the russians or the aztecs . There are 5 ways to win a game of Civilization 5 . Domination victory , cultural victory , science victory , diplomatic victory or points victory . The domination victory is achieved by holding the last original capital city , the cultural one is by researching the Utopia project , the science one involves launching the first space ship , the diplomatic one winning the United Nations vote and the points one is by having the highest score in the year 2050.

Each civilization is lead by a great leader from history, and gets a few special benefits and units, so its' important to consider what type of victory you're out to achieve before setting your nationality. For example the Germans have powerfull units like the Panzer tank and tend to go for a domination victory while the Persians tend to go for a Cultural or Diplomatic victory.

Players can further customize their game by selecting for example the starting age or the planet's climate.

The interface is very user-friendly helping the player making his decisions fast , allowing him more time to spend on strategizing rather than selecting an unit.

The fact that there is no more espionage or religion might be a bad news for old civ players. But do not be freightened .The game still runs smoothly and offers a great experience.Also, religion for example will come back in the expansion Civilization 5 : Gods and Kings , but that's a story for another time.

Unlike its predecesors , in Civilization 5 the combat grid is hexagonal and you cannot stack military units in the same hexagon. This forces players to take a more tactical route instead of just massing armies into a square. Honestly i like it since the combat feels more like a game of chess than a game of having more units than your opponent . Also ranged units can now fire over other units , implying a even more tactical strategy.

Another feature new to the Civilization series is the addition of city states . City-states are single city nations that players can either make allies of, ignore, or attack and take over. Gaining the favour of this city states gives you certain benefits , from culture to units , but I ultimately found them quite boring because of the limited interactions you can have with them.

The advisors also make a return , but you won't use them to often , except the automation of units or that little icons that represent their suggestions.

The graphics are rather good and the soundtrack fits the game perfectly.

But every game has it's flaws. The aggressive AI who usually tends to push you towards a domination victory while you aspire at a diplomatic one. The huge loading times when there are a lot of players or the you have played for quite some time , problem that may occur even on high spec computers . The absence of certain features like religion and espionage.Glitches that appear while playing the multiplayer like the unresponsive buttons. The auto-exploration , wich sometimes makes your units go into City-states territories.

All of those , unfortunately prevent the game from reaching it's true potential.

I would say that Civilization V is one of the best strategy games of 2010 , that will suck you in for countless hours. I consider that every strategy enthusiast should acquire this game because he will have a blast.

Closing statements

Statement : Even though it has it's flaws , I consider that this is one of those games that everyone should check out.


8 out of 10

+Great Combat

+Vast worlds

+Easy to learn and get sucked in

-Too Aggressive AI

-Multiplayer Glitches