Civilizations V - Preview

Sid Meier's award winning tactical empire managing video game franchise Civilizations is getting its fifth sequel! The game is largely known for its innovation and perfect use of various managing elements such as economy, research and battling. These are just some of the core elements that make the game so addictive. Civilizations is a sandbox game where the player starts off as a group of settlers randomly or historically put on the map.

Civilizations V's new features may be a shock to players, but again look as a massive improvement.

The first noticeable change is the upgraded graphics. In my opinion there was no need to upgrade graphics since Civilizations was never really a game that was expected to have great eye candy. Its focus was always more on the complexity of game play, but I guess a graphics improvement wouldn't hurt.

The playing grid has been changed to a hexagrid, allowing a more versatile game play. However it seems that there is no unit stacking anymore. I feel that this is a bit extreme of a change. If they made a small amount of units, for example 2-3, we could have them in a grid that would probably be better and more familiar to the original. A bombardment system is also introduced as a “new” feature. However, it's not really new since it has been used in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri but could be interesting if used in a hexagrid.

What is interesting is a slow paced multilayer system that could last for months. It's an option that lets us play over e-mails. This is great for a quick game during a 10 minute break. There are no details if you can limit the length of the turn so that you don't need to wait days for a reply but my guess is that it will be possible. This system does not exclude the known hot seat or online multiplayer.

The game is scheduled to be released somewhere in fall of 2010. System specs are still unknown but I am guessing that they will be higher then Civ 4 due to more complex graphics and AI.

You can check out the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2EDj8yfMoQ