Civilization 5
You’ve probably heard it’s out. Came out a month and a half ago. Well, I didn’t get it. See, my plan was, I was going to wait until they got some of the bugs out of it, since, come on; it’s a PC game, of course it’s buggy. Also I figured, hey, I have a lot on my plate right now, and so I’ll play some of these other games instead and wait for the bugs and the price to get a little sweeter, hey?
Turns out that was also a good plan, since, as a professional gamer, I scored a completely free copy anyhow. So, hey, it turns out all these years of swearing at video games on the internet paid off after all!
Nah, I’m bullshitting you. I won it in a contest. Nobody gives me free games for the trash I write. But still: free game! Free collector’s edition, even, which comes with a hardcover art book, a behind-the-scenes DVD, a two-disc soundtrack, and five pewter miniatures. In other words: crazy things. In other words: junk. So what I’m saying is: unless you are positively composed entirely of money, I’d get the regular edition instead, since the collector’s edition comes at a really really steep premium
The game itself is ridiculous. Wondering why my NL Gold Glove writeup didn’t make it online yesterday, when the Gold Gloves were announced? Yeah, that’s why. I decided I’d play "a few turns" of Civilization 5 and then do other things. Then it was goddamn midnight. Here’s a brief list of things I did not get done because I played Civilization 5 instead:
• NL Gold Gloves
• Taking a shower
• Getting to bed early
• Playing several other games I’m in the middle of and meant to finish before starting Civilization 5
• Writing
And here’s a brief list of the things my wife did not get done because she played Civilization 5 all day today, which I warned her would happen if she got involved with it:
• Her goddamn cookies
Yes. I noticed.
So far, I really really like it. I’d say it’s a good deal more fun than 3 or 4. Is it more fun than Civ 2, the previous best game of all time? Too soon to tell. I love the streamlining of happiness into a global resource rather than a thing you need to micromanage per-city. Policy trees are super fun, even if they are tinged with a really intense crazy statist bias (what would be a good commerce policy? I know: protectionism! Nothing says "we believe in commerce" quite like refusal to trade!), but, come on — it’s Civilization.
Combat is more fun than it’s been in a while, what with units earning XP and gaining talents and shit. Also it’s nice that you don’t have to waste time and resources fortifying a phalanx in every single city you ever build, since cities now have combat strength built right into them (you can still garrison a unit — one unit — if you choose). The only thing I don’t like about the new combat model is that only one unit can occupy a given square at a time, which is a huge pain in the ass if you’re moving a unit from one end of the empire to the other and don’t want to have to swerve off the road, but you have a garrisoned unit in a city somewhere.
In other news, they changed roads so the optimal strategy isn’t "put roads absolutely everywhere" anymore.
So it’s really really good. You should get it. The boxed version uses Steamworks for authentication, too, which is awesome — not only is Steamworks less ass than SecuROM or whatever bullshit to begin with, but it also means that, once you’ve registered the game, you have a Steam copy and never need to find the disc or the serial number again. So you can buy the box to get the bitchin’ fold-out tech tree and still get all the benefits of having the Steam version. Including HACHIEVES.
And also the Giant Death Robot, which is the best military unit of all time.
