Civilization 5
I'm not a long time fan of the Civilization series. I've dabbled in them in the past but they never caught my interest for various reasons. However, after playing the demo which made me purchase the game which in turn made me waste hours of my life, I am now, sadly, a huge Civ fan. In my quick review of the game I will not get into nitty-gritty detail since Ryan did a great job at explaining the core game, but I will explain the reasons why this one has turned me on to Civ and what changes were for the better.
Visuals
I hate to start my discussion with visuals, but this game looks and feels fantastic. The game world is more realistic looking but still keeps some of the charm of the past games. The over the top cartoony feel of the older games turned me off to the series, so having a more serious stroke of the brush is very much appreciated. They struck a great balance between promoting a light hearted casual look for previous fans but also attracting the hardcore adult gamer.
UI
The UI has changed significantly from the previous games but everything is still present under-the-hood. The options are tucked away under small tabs which allow the user to see more of their expansive country side without feeling like they are inundated with countless buttons, tabs, graphs, and widgets. With a quick click of the mouse, all the data that serious players need is provided but it isn't forced onto the screen like in the more daunting previous Civ games. I've heard from others that it takes some getting used to, however from someone with little experience in previous games I can say it is just a matter of "unlearning" the habits of the past because I quickly familiarized myself with the game within a hour or so without having to bust out the manual.
Balance
In the previous Civ games I did not like the disconnect between major advances in the game. I've seen it countless times were a band of archers would take out tanks. From a purely mathematical, board game point of view this is not a large deal because they are balancing build times, research time, gold costs, etc to create the health points and attack of each piece in the game. For me though, it is game breaking to see my industrial era mechanized armor explode into a huge fire ball when hit by stick with men in tin hats. Thankfully, this has all changed in Civ 5. Ever era has different units which are much stronger than the previous era and are practically invincible to their older unit's attacks. There will no longer be wooden frigates killing destroyers. Upgrading troops no longer feels like the same unit with a higher dice roll, they feel like a large leap forward in human technology and innovation which is how it should be.
Customization
Lastly, I will harp on the massive customization and mod support for the game. Civ 5 launches with a built in mod manager and community support directly tied into the game. There is a mod menu which connects the user to the Civ database where they can upload their mods or check out and install other's mods. It is very streamlined and great to use. Already there are many modifications on the database and surely there will be numerous more to come.
Wrapping It Together
Overall, the game is great and the changes they have made are for the better. There has been some flak from die-hard Civ fans but they usually have some beef with every iteration that comes out. They end up getting used to it and liking it more in the long run. However, I'm not posting this review for them, as they already have the game. But if you are new to the series or may have been turned off with previous Civ games, then give this one another try. Download the demo and watch 3 hours fly by.
