"It's time I told the world of your sins." - proclamation of denouncement, once a game

Sid Meier's Civilization V is the latest game developed by Firaxis of the main Civilization series and one of the best examples of the 4X genre. Since release, many DLC have been released, but most attention goes to 2 expansion packs, Gods & Kings and Brave New World, each adding much needed content to the somewhat lacking base game.

* Gameplay

Similar to the previous titles in the series, V gives you the leading role of a civilization starting in 4000 BC with a Settler to found your first city and a military unit. From there, you must guide your civilization to glory using diplomacy, war, culture, trade, religion, science and espionage. Each civilization is based on a real world culture and appropriate advantages, unique units, buildings and so on. The goal of each game is to emerge supreme in one of 4 victory conditions: Diplomacy, Domination, Culture and Science. If neither is fulfilled by the year 2050, a Time victory is given to the civilization with most points. Opposing you are, depending on choice, from 1 to 15 rival civilizations with fairly decent AI, regardless of difficulty, although they sometimes make questionable choices. Strategy and tactics are thus important, whether is it in city placement, unit position or expanding cultural options. In each game, several resources have to be taken care of:

• Gold (pays for the upkeep, instant building, as bribe in diplomacy)
  
• Happiness (prevents revolts and enables Golden Ages)
  
• Strategic resources (allows powerful units and buildings)
  
• Culture (for Social Policies that give empire-wide boosts, further expanded with Ideologies)

All of this leads to many hours spent in intricate detail planning of synergies. And of course, if you ever get stuck on a question, the ingame Civilopedia is a vast source of information laced with many sarcastic remarks.

* Expansions, scenarios and custom content

As mentioned, many DLC have been released for V, ranging from new civilizations, maps, scenarios and game overhauls (Gods & Kings and Brave New World). Personally, I believe having both expansions and new civilizations adding content are a must for anyone looking to invest a significant amount of time in the game, although the map packs are fairly redundant and can be downloaded for free from the Steam Workshop. There are also many scenarios based on historic events, with many changes from a regular game and there are also many mods for download, ranging from simple UI changes to adding completely new content and civilizations (often fictional).

* Closing comments

Sid Meier’s Civilization V is an excellent game which offers many hours of enjoyable gameplay, but I recommend having most DLC’s as the base game is lacking in content. However, prices are rather high, thus it is best to wait for a sale. The game also offers at least 4 hours of beautiful made-for-the-game soundtrack. A must-have game for anyone who has an interest in history, strategy and micromanagement and a lot better than Beyond Earth.

[i]"It's time I told the world of your sins." - proclamation of denouncement, once a game [/i] Sid Meier's Civilization V is the latest game developed by Firaxis of the main Civilization series and one of the best examples of the 4X genre. Since release, many DLC have been released, but most attention goes to 2 expansion packs, Gods & Kings and Brave New World, each adding much needed content to the somewhat lacking base game. * Gameplay Similar to the previous titles in the series, V gives you the leading role of a civilization starting in 4000 BC with a Settler to found your first city and a military unit. From there, you must guide your civilization to glory using diplomacy, war, culture, trade, religion, science and espionage. Each civilization is based on a real world culture and appropriate advantages, unique units, buildings and so on. The goal of each game is to emerge supreme in one of 4 victory conditions: Diplomacy, Domination, Culture and Science. If neither is fulfilled by the year 2050, a Time victory is given to the civilization with most points. Opposing you are, depending on choice, from 1 to 15 rival civilizations with fairly decent AI, regardless of difficulty, although they sometimes make questionable choices. Strategy and tactics are thus important, whether is it in city placement, unit position or expanding cultural options. In each game, several resources have to be taken care of: [list] [*] Gold (pays for the upkeep, instant building, as bribe in diplomacy) [*] Happiness (prevents revolts and enables Golden Ages) [*] Strategic resources (allows powerful units and buildings) [*] Culture (for Social Policies that give empire-wide boosts, further expanded with Ideologies) [/list] All of this leads to many hours spent in intricate detail planning of synergies. And of course, if you ever get stuck on a question, the ingame Civilopedia is a vast source of information laced with many sarcastic remarks. * Expansions, scenarios and custom content As mentioned, many DLC have been released for V, ranging from new civilizations, maps, scenarios and game overhauls (Gods & Kings and Brave New World). Personally, I believe having both expansions and new civilizations adding content are a must for anyone looking to invest a significant amount of time in the game, although the map packs are fairly redundant and can be downloaded for free from the Steam Workshop. There are also many scenarios based on historic events, with many changes from a regular game and there are also many mods for download, ranging from simple UI changes to adding completely new content and civilizations (often fictional). * Closing comments Sid Meier’s Civilization V is an excellent game which offers many hours of enjoyable gameplay, but I recommend having most DLC’s as the base game is lacking in content. However, prices are rather high, thus it is best to wait for a sale. The game also offers at least 4 hours of beautiful made-for-the-game soundtrack. A must-have game for anyone who has an interest in history, strategy and micromanagement and a lot better than Beyond Earth.