Civ V is the portrayal of ambition, but if you've played the previous title I don't know if it serves its purpose.
- You may focus on scientific research and become the first civilization to launch a spaceship – Space Race Victory.
- If you win support from other civilizations and city states (being acknowledged as a world leader) you may achieve Diplomatic Victory.
- You may complete the Utopia project, by filling five out of the ten policy trees, which improve your empire in several ways (from increasing your population's happiness to instantly welcome a Great Person in your capital city) and therefore winning you a Cultural Victory.
- For the most aggressive players, Military Victory is the best option; you can always attempt World Domination but this condition has been simplified comparing to the previous titles: instead of destroying every civilization you achieve victory if you are able to be the last player controlling their original capital city.
Civilization V presents many differences from the previous titles, which may be received as let-downs for most die-hard Civ fans. In the first place, the level of difficulty from the gaming interface itself was lowed. The interface was simplified in order to easily achieve younger and newer players, which was received as a huge let down for most fans who found the difficulty factor one of the most exciting features in the game. Civilization's old religious system was replaced by the Social Policies and th Technology Tree is much more simple, offering no challenge in choosing certain technologies in despite of blocking or being enabled to use others.
One of the biggest let-downs was the music, which had an incredible quality in the previous title (featuring Baba Yetu, one of the most famous songs in Strategy games), and which was also simplified in this game, being composed of individual sounds and instruments instead of the big score that characterized each civilization previously.
Civilization V is a great game for average gamers and gamers who are new to the strategy world but can be a real turn down on most hard core fans, who will probably prefer to keep on playing the last title.