When Sid Meier created the Civilization franchise in 1991 he probably did not know what a cult following his franchise would have almost 20 years later. It is now 2010 and Civilization 5 has released worldwide. The 2K Games published turn based strategy game has set out to make some fresh changes to the franchise, the most obvious one being the move to hexes which changes movement and visuals while leaving the main structure intact.
The other, less known but very significant change is Jon Shafer’s taking over of the the reins from Sid Meier who is now merely overseeing the development. Shafer is a young game designer who joined Fireaxis in 2005 after his extensive work in the mod community of Civilization which ultimately landed him the job at the studio.
Civilization 5 is the latest entry into a franchise which is a pure turn based strategy game leading players from prehistoric times all the way through the modern era, going into the future. In order to ‘win’ a game of Civ 5 players will need to complete one of several victory conditions. Research, diplomacy, expansion, economic development, government and military conquest are the options at hand while going the military route has proven to be the most likely path to success in my playthroughs. I was able to completely dominate the world by using my upgraded military units combined with research, allowing for combat superiority before I reached any of the other stages in the late game. There were however, moments where Siam or Germany would have my civilization at the brink of destruction when I had focused on research and science rather than military strength in the beginning. Walking this narrow path early on makes for exciting turns and led to domination in the later stages as I traded my early vulnerability for technological advances in the late game. Tanks vs Samurai turns out to be not much of a contest.
Maps are procedurally generated and randomly allocate resources which are fundamental to do well in Civilization. Not having iron or oil for example will seriously endanger a civilization’s well being and force the player to engage in peace treaties or trade valuable resources. All this is not new to a Civ regular but might sound daunting to players who are new to Civilization. A very clever and subtly integrated team of advisors help players understand the intuitive way of how to play the game. Gone are the days of advisors popping up all the time giving pointless advice. If I wanted to see what my team of advisors had in mind I simply accessed the less intrusive menu followed by short and helpful tips which I could follow or disregard. There are many small touches improving Civilization 5’s playability, like hovering the mouse over an item or unit to get a definition, status or the alert guiding players to which unit needs a new action.
As mentioned before, hexes are now dominating the layout of the maps in Civilization 5. The squares of old are gone and a new and smoother way to travel has made the maps look more aesthetically pleasing and travel more direct. The other significant new addition to Civ 5 are the City States whom players will either have to cater to by providing gift’s of gold, ally with and protect from larger nations or simply attack and wipe them of the map. The city states often became an inconvenience rather than a true challenge and I decided to just leave them alone until I needed the resources which led to me rolling out a few military units. While taking over cities and city states will allow for faster expansion and more resources it will also decrease happiness significantly which is fundamental to growth and success in Civilization. If players chose to annex a city rather than burning it down or creating a puppet, which increases happiness but does not allow players to chose production, it is smarter to annex the city and build or buy a courthouse to reduce the unwanted unhappiness while allowing for control.
It becomes very important to manage cities properly. The general rule I used to being successful in Civ 5 is to specialize cities. Having a city of military, one for science and research and one for specific vehicle production is much more effective than having six cities doing a mix of the three. Also, the often mention happiness is critical as it allows for faster expansion, production and advances in science which produces a ‘great person’ allowing for a golden age. A golden age leads to more gold and production per turn, vital elements to the game.
I have played many, many hours of Civilization 5, ‘Just one more Turn’ is the tagline of the game and countless sleepless nights can be the judge for how true it is. Fireaxis has done a very impressive job of creating a great Civ game that feels different and improved over its predecessors which seemed to be the definitive version. No small feat. There are only a few negative things to mention after my time with Civilization 5. The introduction of hexes proves to work and is visually pleasing but is not an incredible game changer; city states might need a bit more effect on the overall game’s outcome rather than being an inconvenience and depth was traded for improved ease of use and streamlining of an incredibly deep franchise which could be argued as a loss to the series. All in all Civ 5 is sure to make any turn based strategy game nut a sleep deprived zombie as it is well crafted and keeps players coming back for another turn. And another. If you have never played a Civilization game before for whatever reason, this one is the best point of entry into one of the best franchises in the genre.
Score: 9 / 10
Civilization 5 was developed by Fireaxis and published by 2K Games for the PC on September 21st. A copy of the PC version was provided to us by 2K Games for reviewing purposes.
