Change for the sake of change but it is good

My first brush with Civilization V was not a very good one. With the fifth installment of the series, it was choosen to shake up traditional game concepts and revise the way the game was played. As a result many interface options and controls are completely different in Civilzation V. Compared to Civ IV, it is very disappointing that the core game does not allow for multiple leaders per faction in order to mix up gameplay. Factions, and their single leaders, now possess a single perk that adjusts the rules for that faction (such as reducing production costs for the Americans) as opposed to the pair of traits that leaders traditionally brought to the table. The menus themselves are more cumbersome to navigate and unless you work your way through a set of sub menus, you won’t have the opportunity to create a new game with the features you llike. The game simply chooses for you!

However, once in the game things seem much better. Gone are the competing Civics and government types of earlier games. Now, instead, you pursue social policies that have no real drawbacks and simply continue to add perks and abilities to your control. This involves much less strategy and makes massive cultural development all the more tantalizing (particularly since cultural victory is achieved much easier in this game than in Civ IV). While this does seem to make things easier, it is also worth noting that production victory (via the space program) and military victory have also been streamlined. Most enjoyably, the UI is radically improved and provides substantial feedback. Rather than the high learning curve of previous games that often required hours studying the in-game encyclopedia or reading strategy guides on the Net, now the game itself tells you everything you need to know. If you want to build certain buildings or achieve certain goals, the in-game UI will tell you what you need to produce to attain what you want. The cluttered menus of the past are gone in-game and everything is laid out sensibly. The city screen in particular is much easier to use compared to the arcane and awkward management of Civ IV. In Civ V you will feel like each of your cities is worth something. Corruption, starvation, and other nuisances like public health are either nonexistant or so minor in nature as to not be particularly troublesome to all but the most dedicated of warmonger on the highest difficulty.

Overall the game is easier to play and it does have intriguing diversions, like city-states (minor Civs that you can become allies with and earn bonuses from) but seems to possess much less strategic depth than its predecessors. Nevertheless, the radically improved UI makes it much more enjoyable to play as a casual game. One thing I am disappointed by is that the CPU takes a long time to consider its moves. A Huge game in Civ V is almost unplayable whereas in Civ IV it ran without a hitch! Make sure you bring a good processor to the table if you plan to play very many massive games.

camitch3 about Civilization® V, v1.3.9