Sid Meir is one of the most famous game developers of all times. Beloved by millions of fans and possessing a sterling reputation he has gambled it all to pursue a radical new gaming concept.
SYKE!
He's taken a path often traveled and rolling out another version of civilization. Installment number 5 boasts a bevy of improvments such as a greatly enhanced graphics engine that makes bullying lesser civilizations all the more enjoyable. A few new twists have been added to intrigue veteran players as well, but the emphasis seems to be on attracting new fans.
The interface is clean and intuitive the best the series has ever offered. The advisors are also in a more prominent position and they actually give decent advice. The complaints of the game having a difficult learning curve should melt away now with these two important improvements making it easier to get a good footing early on.
The addition of city states is the most noticeable new feature. At first they seem like merely a sideshow to the big picture of the game. Given time though they prove to be an interesting new addition. By allying with them you gain access to all of their resources. In addition to the material wealth you may also receive military units or other small forms of tribute depending on the city states type.
There are several ways to achieve an alliance with city-states but the most straight forward is completing the missions they offer. Usually the only objective to a civ game is total victory. These objective based missions add flavor to the game but are often not worth the effort to complete.
The most important role they play in the game is adding flavor to diplomacy with major nations. Go on the warpath against them and they will band together against you. Relations with major nations will also deteriorate possibly leading war.
Also of note are changes in the combat system, the stacking system has been abandoned. One unit per tile is now back, this makes strategic locations on the map more important than ever. Cities now defend themselves without the need for garrisioning troops inside of them. Buildings contribute directly to city strength and they now have the menacing ability to bombard enemies from a far.
The great peoples system has been revamped as well, they no longer contribute to a cities population directly instead they create tile improvements. This diminishes their usefulness as a tradeoff must now be made as opposed to civ 4 where they stacked endlessly. Government types have also been replaced with a new system that lets you choose an assortment of benefits instead of a particular political system.
A few glarring ommissions from this edition are auto managed cities and using culture as a means for expansion. The game also comes with an AI that could best be described as needing improvement. In a game which has been around as long as this the AI should be near perfect.
Many of the new additions to civ 5 are just adaptations of developments made by the player based modding community. If you've never been exposed to any of these mods then you will experience a refreshing change of pace.
Some mods are even better than the official content. Civ 4 owners should try Fall From Heaven II a mod so good Firaxis even tapped the developer for input on Civ 5!
With such extremely good content organically sprouting out in the wild, new releases of Civilization can be forgiven for being less than visionary. Quite frankly I am more excited about the potential for new developers to create content for this release than the actual game itself.
While it still retains it's addictive qualities and is the most easily approachable civ game to date veteran players may not be impressed by the new changes. The lackluster AI and the intense micromanagement introduced from the omission of auto manage features may turn some people off.
Sid Meir has created yet another iteration of a game which basically can't be improved upon only slightly altered. Quite frankly the franchise doesn't really need the help of Firaxis to accomplish the goal of tweaking gameplay. I would like to have seen more resources invested into making the AI more formidable and the diplomatic and economic systems more complex. Things that are harder to make mods for are what the series needs. Graphic are nice but it's what's under the hood that matters most to the diehard fans.
Civ is now following the tried and true pattern of sequels and addons. I can't help but feel bitter, Sid Meir is a hack, an imitation of himself. If all he can do is rest on his laurels and rehash his old games then it's time we forget him. There is however room for redemption, he could stop strip mining the pockets of the fans and create something new and brilliant. But if he must keep ressurrecting his previous works then why not take a risk and revamp his most dismal failure. A game called Alpha Centauri this was the true successor of Civiliatization.
In the end Mr. Meir is free to produce whatever he likes but don't expect any kinder reviews for the release of civ 6. It's time critics are a bit more critical rather than bending over backwards and licking their private parts every time one of the once great game designers throws us a partially gnawed bone.
