I shall not compare this to other Civ games, for two reasons. One: each civ game brings different things to the genre, and two: I have not played the other Civ games to make a fair comparison. However, I feel I can say that Civilization V is an exceptional game. I have not yet achieved the great heights of completing the game on Deity difficulty, but what I have played of it makes me want to sink more and more time into it, to perfect my strategies and eventually take on the game at its hardest.

I will warn anyone planning to buy this game, though, it is a massive time sink.You will look at a clock, play some Civ, look back, and wonder where 3 hours have gone.