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So here I sit, another night well past midnight, and all I can think about is how I could have played my last game of Civilization V better.  Sure, I could be sleeping, or eating or even spending some quality time with my wife, but no, I spend my waking hours trying to figure out a more fool proof strategy to take out the enemy and save Philadelphia from siege.  Oh yes, this new Civilization is that good, and yes, it leads to a lot more nights chanting the Sid Meier mantra, “just one more turn”.

The look and feel of this Civilization has changed quite a bit from the last iteration of the game.  It seems that the Fireaxis team has learned a few things after their foray into the console landscape and they have taken a lot of those lessons into the PC world.  This new Civilization is a lot easier to manage and navigate, and looks to be designed so that neophytes as well as seasoned pros can be up and running in the matter of minutes.  This is a huge breakthrough for a Civ title, as in the past, people I know have always been hesitant to try a game or two because the game just looks so imposing.  Not anymore however.

It is not just the ease of use that brings Civilization V so far along from the fourth entry in the series.  Little touches like using symbols for each type of adviser and marking upgrades with those symbols, quickly identifying which upgrade works best for each branch of your government.  Or the little ticker bar at the top of the screen that tells you at a quick glance how much money you have, money each round, science points, policy points and happiness of my civilization.  Even jumping into a city gives you a quick breakdown on production rates, buildings in the city and even the option to expand your empire with cash by buying nearby tiles.

All of these tweaks mean nothing if the game plays like garbage.  Thankfully, Civilization V is an absolute joy to play.  Moving around the map works just as well in the past, although you now have a hexagon grid to work with vs. the standard square grid that we have used in the past.  Now at first, I was upset, because a hex grid cuts down on the number of angles you can move to by two, but it does allow for a far more diverse amount of terrain.  I also love the idea that you cannot stack a grid full of troops, because the game now allows only one troop per hex.  No more rolling up on someone, only to find out they have twenty units stacked on one square.

Combat is far more tactical this time around as well.  Things like elevation, rivers, streams, fortifications, and more factor into your success and failure in battle.  Along with all the other little interface tweaks that have come along with the game, you can now get a statistical feel for how well you will do in battle right off the bat, as the game will give a scorecard breakdown of any possible combat before you initiate it.  This has saved me more times than I can count, as I can find out how disastrous an encounter will be before I try to initiate on it.

Looking at combat is an absolute joy in Civilization V, as the graphics engine has been reworked from the ground up, and is presented in stunning DX10 and DX11 depending on what your graphic card will support.  Watching the clouds roll overhead, or the actions of your troops as they run into battle, it all looks fantastic.  You can zoom in to the point of seeing the finite details of buildings and troops, or zoom all the way out to a world map view to get a better feel for the lay of the land.  The graphics do tend to chug down a bit when a lot of information is happening on the main map, but it never hurts the game.  It is flat out a gorgeous game, and could become a showpiece for how well DX11 can look in a game.

Another new item that should be of interest to new players is the social policies that can be unlocked during the course of a game.  Social policies are mini skill trees that can be unlocked as you earn culture points.  There are several different social policies that you can purchase as the game moves through the ages.  These policies normally have four to six different items that can be unlocked.  For instance, you could unlock the Liberty branch and one of the policies in the Liberty branch reduces the amount of food a new city needs to grow.  Another might reduce the cost of gaining new social policies.  And some just help with defense or offensive bonuses to troops.  Fill up six of these policy branches over the course of a game, and you can unlock the Utopia project which would allow for a Social Policy win, an extremely difficult path, but immensely rewarding for the player that can pull it off.

Civilization is fully integrated with Steamworks, and includes some 100+ achievements that can be unlocked as well as the ability to sync your saves with Steamcloud so you can access them from any location.  It sounds nice, but Steamcloud saves have been temperamental on at least one of the machines that I have tested the game on.  The initial load seems to be fine, but head down the road about 50 turns, and when I go back to save, it seems to be a one in four chance that the game will crash to desktop.

As a matter of fact, crashing to desktop was a fairly routine issue from the initial launch of Civilization V.  This was a game that had been highly anticipated by many PC gamers, and the fact that it was shipped in a somewhat unstable state is rather disappointing.  Sure, the Fireaxis team was quick to patch up the game during the first few days, but DX10/11 support seemed to be where most of the issues were cropping up.  If you switched to DX9 during those early days, the game played just fine for the most part.  It is most likely a developer still getting use to new technology, but it was rather upsetting to have a game go for 100 rounds and then have the game crash.  I also hate the idea of local saves, autosaves and Steamcloud saves all being in separate locations.  If I want Steamcloud, I have to select it, but then I have to change to the Autosave button if I want those saves.  It is a confusing mess, and overall, a complete disappointment in regards to the launch quality of the game.

With all of that said, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you skipped out on Civlization V.  This new Civ offers so many new interface changes, game enhancements and pure enjoyment that it is a must have, even if you might of picked up Civ IV during one of the many recent sales on Steam.  I tried to go back and it is such a distinct difference from the previous games in the series.  From tech trees, to social policies to far smoother combat, Civilization V is a must have for any strategy gamer, and for that matter, any gamer that just wants a fun gaming experience.  Civilization V gets 4.5 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.
Check out Civilization V and other PC reviews at Test Freaks