Sid Meier's Civilization V
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Average user rating from: 4 user(s)
Interesting
The game is different enough from the prior versions to be interesting to play. It is also similiar in play to the prior versions that you can play the game without referring much to the electronic manual. Downside - not ready for release. Regular and consistent lock-ups or crashes.
Like watching paint dry..
Just to give this review some perspective, I've been playing the various iterations of Civ for a very, very long time. I spend endless hours on 3 and 4, balancing game commitments and my real life. When Civ 5 was announced, I didn't hesitate. I bought it immediately.
In short, it didn't take me long before I realized that this new Civ was nothing like the Civ of old. I've never played Revolutions, but I've heard there is a lot of overlap. I don't know. What I do know is that this game is boring. Really, really boring. Never have I clicked the "next turn" button like I have here. Maybe it's because it takes forever to build anything...so long, in fact, that it's easier just to hoard gold and buy things. Maybe it's because expansion and/or conquest isn't really encouraged. The seemingly massive happiness hit just makes it unreasonable. So I sit there, just watching the world slowly go by.
A new CIV
All the detail is still there but you need to look for it rather than it being in your face; so you can run a very streamlined campaign without getting into the nitty-gritty of which tile will the city work on this turn if you want, or you can micromanage to your heart's desire. "Policies" being tied to culture is cool, and I look forward to getting further into the game. I've played one campaign so far, and found most of the streamlining helpful.
What a disappointment
The most beautiful and graphically rich Civ ever is the most boring and tiresome to play. So many features have been removed or dumbed down from the late, great Civ IV it's hard to know where to start. Gone are religions, espionage, tech trading, stacking, city defenses, spending sliders, and more. The unique powers of leaders and wonders have been watered down. New are all manner of boring and annoying features like AI-governed mini-civs called city-states, buying tiles to expand city zones and hexagon-shaped tiles.
Back to Civ IV.
