Civilization V

The Civilization series of games has been around since 1991, and are loosely related to a board game of the same name.  In the game, the player is one of several world leaders at the dawn of history.  With only a settler and an accompanying unit, the player settles their first city and begins to develop their nation.  Because of the intense variability in the games, the Civ series is remember as engaging and often addictive ("just... one... more... turn...").

Civ V is the latest iteration of the series which has seen itself develop in new and interesting ways.  Civ IV in particular introduced the notion of religion as a gameplay mechanic that - while, at times, unrealistic - added depth into gameplay.  The fourth game also introduced culture as a methodology of expanding ones' borders and influencing a neighboring city to join your robust country than another leader's lackluster one.

The full review is after the jump...

Civ VI will hopefully feature octogon-based maps.

Culture (and to a lesser extent, religion) still exist in Civ V, but the real gameplay tweak that will make the game really stand out from the others is the movement from a compass-ordinal map system (any unit can, from their starting position, move east, west, north, south, northeast, northwest, southeast, or southwest) to a hexagon map system.  Additionally (and, in my opinion, favorably), units can no longer "stack" onto a given tile, creating what were known colloquially as "stacks of death."  These new mechanics alone make the game far more enjoyable than Civ IV, where I may be peacefully be building temples in hopes of a cultural victory only to have Caesar march across my borders with eighty mounted knights to ravage my Egyptian countryside.

Because the game features CGI renditions of famous world leaders (and in Civ V, accomplishes adding voice dialogue and not causing my computer to seize up every time I wanted to trade resources), there is a little part of you that wants to recount world history and how this leader might react to you building up a patrol of rifleman on their border.  However, the AI is more influenced by the world and the player's operations than historic resemblance.  So, if you start your budding civilization next to Gandhi and you're sitting on the only source of uranium, there's no guarantee that Mahatma is just going to sit on his hands and smile at you.

I'm sorry I leveled London, Liz.  Can we still be friends?

Not to harp on the voice acting, but Civ V was the first in the series to make me feel a little bad for annihilating another country's grasp on the planet.  After being eliminated, each leader shares a special animation and dialogue with you about how you've done them in.  All languages are authentic, so I only understood Elizabeth's concession speech after our grueling century long naval battle.  And as she finished, she turned her head in defeat and I felt a moment of pity before razing London and continuing on the warpath towards Japan.

Of course, because the game is based on randomness, the replay value is close to infinite.  On harder difficulties, every turn and every move counts a great deal, and the game offers some achievements to challenge you to do things differently, usually adding a nice nod to the real life civilization the challenge is tailored to (for example, winning a cultural victory with less than three cities as Gandhi earns you the Bollywood achievement).

Winning comes in five flavors: military conquest (capturing the capital city of all other civilizations), space race (constructing a space ship first), diplomatic victory (being voted world leader through a popularity contest at the U.N.), cultural victory, and the highest score in year 2050.


The new "Policy Tree."

The cultural victory relies on the game's new "Policy Trees" which replace the "Civic" concept from Civ IV.  Each tree grants bonuses that can be purchased through culture points you accrue.  Not all policies can be adopted, as some are mutually exclusive (Freedom and Autocracy, for example).  Completing 5 full policy trees allows the player to build a special world wonder which triggers victory.

All in all, I am loving this new Civ.  A steal of a grab on Steam Summer Sale, it has returned the $25 I paid for it over and over again.  If you're looking for a game that you start playing and then realize six hours have gone by ... Civilization V is the game for you.

Civilization: The Board Game is actually available for purchase too - interestingly enough...