Sid Meier's Civilization V

This was a game I had been looking forward to for some time, the demo only made it look better, plus the reviews have all been glowing.

The problem with this, as with many PC games is that it seems what would have previously been a beta testing phase has now become a job for those consumers who foolishly buy such a game on or close to release date.

The single player side of things looks pretty good, many improvements in game mechanics and unit design over Civ IV. Where the game really lacks polish is the multiplayer side of things. Now I should add that I love Civ IV multiplayer, it is by far the more tactical way to play the Civilization series. Regrettably 2k and Firaxis seem to have missed the reasons why people play the franchise as all unit animations have been turned off in the multiplayer mode and cannot be turned back on. What this effectively means is that rather than your units marching into battle they teleport from one tile to the next. Combat is even worse as it is resolved as a numbers game. Thus, the animations that featured in Civ III multiplayer have been removed. This seems like a huge step backwards and I find it ruins the multiplayer experience, who wants to be able to use ranged units if you don't see the arrows flying and the individual units falling to your blows? Sure some people may like to speed up the game by turning these off but the fact that this is not an option is a major shortfall.

The second problem with multiplayer is that not only is it not engaging it is extremely unstable with game crashes frequent and often requiring a full reboot.

Another key problem appears to be the developers understanding of the issues and willingness to resolve them. For example every time you open the game the intro movie attempts to play in its entirety (about 5 minutes long). Then if you try and close it by pressing enter it waits 30 seconds and the screen flickers before opening the game (how this escaped testers only adds credence to the theory that the poor mugs who buy the first copies of the game are in fact the testers). The solution 2K proposes, rewrite the opening sequence by actually going into the games files and changing the code. In my mind this is in no way good enough for a new product.

This covers only a portion of my disappointment for this game. Sure if you only want single player I'm sure you will enjoy it a great deal, however if like me you love to sneak in and attack your friends you want to see your units moving and be able to play for more than five minutes without the game crashing.

Either way wait for a few weeks to see if the problems are resolved.

Overall rating

Single Player 4/5
Multiplayer 1/5

Civilization V looks like a great game and a good step forward for the series. The changes to Civilization IV include:

• Only one unit per tile.
• Each resource only provides one unit. For example, if your civ controlled one iron resource, you would be able to maintain 1 swordsman.
• Massive graphical overhaul.
• Improved Diplomacy.
• Hexagonal tiles, replacing the square tiles from previous games in the series.
• Cities expand more realistically, favouring fertile tiles over desert, and cities can also defend themselves without the need for a defensive unit.

Sid Meier's Civili­zation is the poster child of the “just one more turn” game. Many nights have been lost as players say “oh, it's only 1:00am, I can have one more turn”.

This version is no different.

The great things about previous versions have been left alone. Research, exploration, diplomacy, wonders – they are all there.

What is added is a better map (hexes are just better than squares), better city maintenance (cities can work hexes further away that before), simpler information on-screen about resources and resource use., city-states (computer controlled cities that you can bribe or conquer – often they are petty and vindictive) and far better combat.

You can not have multiple military units in the same hex. Ranged units however can bombard enemies more than one hex away. This means you have to accompany melee units with ranged units. No more stacks of tanks. This means that attacking a city on a penninsula is really difficult.

If you like these sorts of games then you already own Civilization V. If you want to get into this sort of gaming then you need to buy this game. Just be prepared to see tens of hours of your life dissappear.

Like most games in the Civ series this release has set a good base to build on. Not as polished or as good as it could be, but the groundwork has been laid for a solid game once some patches and expansions come out. Not to say that it is not a good game without them though