Welcome Back My Son. I’ve Missed You… Mike’s Take on Civilization V
For those of you who’ve paid attention to the PC gaming world, the “mature” strategy game of the decade has come out. This one does not involve space marines, but rather mech warriors. Instead of zerglings, you have… the French. Civilization V is the PC game many of us have been looking forward to for some time. I had said earlier that this would be the year that the Persians and the Protoss would bring folks back around to PC gaming once again. (Well… those who weren’t playing Halo: Reach.) I, myself, was using this game as an excuse to get back in to PC gaming.
So far, I’ve been enjoying the heck out of the game. Obviously, there have been some big changes in this installment of the Civilization series from the previous ones (the hex system being one of them). Part of the enjoyment has come with using these changes. First off, Civ V seems busier than previous installments of the game. You find yourself striving to achieve all aspects of the game at once. From pushing culture out in order to unlock new policies, to figuring out which City-State holds the best chances to helping you achieve victory – the game presents a constant array of challenges on every turn, and not just whether or not your significant other will leave you if you just play one more damn turn.
One of the biggest changes (and something that took me some time to get used to) is the inability to stack units. In previous Civilization installments, I used to implore the strategy of stacking multiple units in the same square around cities, and bombard them with about 20+ units. That method won’t cut the mustard this time around, as that is not allowed. Instead, I’ve been trying to figure out a way around this; whether it be to produce like a mad man or whatnot.
Another interesting change is the way diplomacy works. There are two players at hand: city-states and other civilizations. City-States can be used as pawns in the game. Civilizations also have a variety of options that previous Civ’s did not. There are pacts of cooperation, pacts of protection’ etc. There are even diplomatic options that allow you to cooperatively work on developing technologies together. All more interesting aspects thrown in that make Civilization V a truly different game from those before it.
If I have to complain about one thing, as minor as it may be, are the civilizations that they choose. I’m not sure why this upset me so much, as many of your favorites, including the damn French, return. Yet, the game is lacking the Celts and the Zulu, who happened to be two of my favorite under-dog Civs to play as. Instead they have been replaced with the Siam and the Songhai. Um… the who? Sorry, but if you have a basketball team named after you, or Mos Def mentions you in a song, you certainly deserve to be in Civilization V. No disrespect to the great and powerful… er… Ramkhamhaeng?
Civilization V is the real deal. This game made me buy a whole new computer, and hell, I hate buying myself new stuff! I’ve enjoyed everything about it so far, and I recommend if you are going to buy yourself a PC game this year, make it this one (generic sounding, I know). All of the great nerdiness of history, combined with the geekyness of turn-based-strategy, make this one hell of a game.