Review by: Troy Goodfellow

For all of its problems – and there are some big ones – the new Civilization passes the test that Meier and Microprose set back in 1991. There will be many sleepless nights and many rage quits inspired by Napoleon being an unreasonable jerk. There is math and planning and lots to debate over which strategies are viable and when you should build that first settler. Though you can imagine this game being released and not being called Civilization – it is that dramatic a departure from the traditional design – it is a more than worthy heir to the name.

This is still a tile centered game. Settle on a tile, control the surrounding tiles, move troops across tiles and so on. You still move from the Stone Age to the Future through the power of science, but at a much more labored pace than in the most recent Civ games; your swords are no longer obsolete just as you approach enemy cities.

Though a lot of the early commentary on Civ 5 focused on the hex grid (two more sides on a tile for twice the fun!) and what this does to the military game, changing the look of the map proves to be one of the least radical changes. Though Civ plays much more like a wargame now, this has less to do with the hexes and more to do with the speed and range of units. Standard foot troops can move two tiles instead of one, meaning that long distance campaigns are more viable and interesting. Ranged units with a line of sight can target enemies two or even three tiles away. With each tile restricted to a single unit, you need to plan your offensive a little more carefully than you had in the two most recent versions, where a killer stack with some strong defensive units would suffice.

The military game is, in fact, the most fully fleshed out part of the new design. In pre-release interviews, lead designer Jon Shafer paid homage to the classic Panzer General and you can see some of that influence. Units are not necessarily eliminated by a fight and can retreat to fight another day. The idea of experience and upgrades carries over from Civ 4 but with less sense of specializing your units for, say, city attacks or forest defense.

That depth, alas, seems to be reserved for the human player. The computer opponents are ill equipped for the military side of things. They will build enough of a force to cause a panic and seize a few cities but not back that up with any reserves or master plan. Where Civ 4 had an AI that could land invasion forces across the seas, the new transport-free units are sent pell mell over the ocean to be intercepted by ships a tech level behind.