Civilization 5 Makes Me Miss Other Genres

civilization 5

Over the past weekend, Steam had a sale where Civilization 5 was on offer for seventeen dollars. At that price, you would have to have a very good reason not to pick that up. I tried Civilization 4 on my laptop a while ago, but I never really got into it. After hearing all sorts of great things about the game from when it released last year, I decided to tuck in and seen what it had to show.

I played a few games over the weekend and I have to say that Civ 5 is quite addicting. Once I got a hang of the mechanics and how everything gelled together, I was really digging the nation building aspects and avoiding combat whenever I could. The Barbarians can’t be avoided, but other Civilizations will parley with you peacefully if you’re not too aggressive (small City-States, on the other had, will hate you unanimously if you go around conquering them willy-nilly).

The first game I played like this was Rise of Nations, a real-time game (Civ is played in turns, if you didn’t know) that was as much about building a strong country as it was building a strong army. Civilization is a little bit more focused on the cultural aspects, but it made me miss the hours I spent playing RoN all the same.

Since so much of what I’m playing these days are shooters, Civilization 5 and Bastion were a great one-two punch combo of different genre hotness. It’s nice to play a game where the main objective isn’t “kill all the dudes” and it kind of makes me wish I had bought it earlier.

Did anyone else grab Civilization 5 during the sale? Have you been playing it since release? What do you think of it?

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mitch@gamersushi.com Twitter: @mi7ch Gamertag: Lubeius PSN ID: Lubeius SteamID: Mister_L Origin/EA:Lube182 Currently Playing: PUBG, Rainbow 6: Siege, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Total War: Warhammer 2

6 thoughts on “Civilization 5 Makes Me Miss Other Genres”

  1. I’ve never played it but I’ve watched some of my friends play it. I hear it’s a really innovative and strategic game. One of my friends spent days on that game.
    For my strategic fix, I play the Total War series which also has a turn based nation building part as one half, and the other half as real time battles whenever units engage each other. Total War sticks to one time period, however, like Shogun taking place in feudal Japan, Empire taking place around the time the Europeans landed in America, and Napoleon taking place in the time of… Napoleon. The two franchises are very different and similar to each other and both make a great escape from the shooters we see today.

  2. Yeah, I am a HUUUUGGGEEEEE Total War nut. Rome Total War is my second favortie game of all time, right after Counter Strike Source

  3. yeah, I picked it up in the sale, had a go over the weekend, haven’t really got into it all that much though, found the tutorial lacking in actually telling you anything about the turn based aspect and how it all worked.

    I think after I figure it all out, it could get quite fun though

  4. I bought Civilization V shortly after it’s launch, and I’ve had a blast every time I’ve played it. When I need a break from all the shooters I will play Civ. V, it’s a really nice change of pace. My brother also bought the game on the Steam sale, and even though Civ. really shines a a single-player game, we’re going to give multiplayer a shot, I’m really looking forward to our game. I will definitely agree with you that the game can be addicting, and as many have said before “just one more turn” can easily keep you going for hours upon hours. Civilization V is the best Civilization game I’ve played, they really got the combat perfect in this one, and all the policies and victory conditions feel really balanced. Civilization V is one of my all-time favorite games, I’ll always keep coming back to play it.

  5. Hi, a LTRFTP here.

    I actually pre-ordered Civ 5 since I’m a huge fan of the series (I own all but the original title). But, I’ve really not had a chance to play it much. From what I can tell though, the ai is much better than it was in Civ IV. I could never get other nations to declare war on each other, which I think was one of the more fun strategies of the earlier games. I also like a lot of the things that they added to this game (ranged combat, city-states, barbarian camps, natural wonders). They all add in a small way that doesn’t undermine the strategy aspect of the game.

    I’ve also got to say that multiplayer is my favorite game mode. You and a friend playing on a team while skyping. I’ve spent many nights doing that with my friend. Mostly because we always have to restart the game. Word of warning, never ask your friend what level of barbarian activity he wants, especially when you know the answer will always be “RAGING BARBARIANS!!!!”.

  6. I’ve been playing this game on and off for the last year. It’s time consuming, but highly addictive.

    Make sure to set a whole day aside if you’re playing with friends. And yes, Raging Barbarians can be aggravating.

    I found the game is all fun, except when someone feels they’ve been cheated out of a World Wonder they’ve spent 5 turns building, only to have it snaked by someone else (ME!).

    The best tactic is to have 3 cities: 1 Coastal, 1 near a Mountain, 1 surrounded by Hills/Forests. The coastal city for the Great Lighthouse and Colossus, the city by a mountain for Machu Picchu, and the forested/hilly city for high production to quickly build all other Wonders.

    New insult for the guys who have too many World Wonders: Wonder Whore.

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