Product Details
 | Sid Meier's Civilization V |
| List Price: | $49.99 |
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Product Description
Sid Meier's Civilization V is the fifth offering in the multi-award winning Civilization strategy game series featuring the famous "just one more turn" addictive gameplay that has made it one of the greates game series of all time. In Civilization V players strive to become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age, waging war, conducting diplomacy, discovering new technologies, going head to head with some of history's greates leaders and building the most powerful empire the world has ever known.Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #146 in Video Games
- Brand: 2K Games
- Model: 318177
- Released on: 2010-09-21
- ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
- Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP
- Format: DVD-ROM
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .30 pounds
Features
- Successful diplomacy will depend on players carefully managing relationships with other leaders, trading items and land, plying them with gold, and deciding if they are friend or foe
- Expanded visuals and immersive audio invite would-be kings to take up the reigns of power and forge a mighty empire. Civilization V offers a limitless variety of vast, realistic and diverse landscapes for players
- An intuitive interface eases both new players and Civ veterans into the game. Guided by a set of trusted advisors who will explain game functionality and provide counsel for significant decisions
- The addition of ranged bombardment allows players to fire weapons from behind the front lines, challenging players to develop clever new strategies to guarantee victory on the battlefield
- Write your own epic story each time you play. Choose one of eighteen historical civilizations to lead from the stone-age to the space age on your quest to build the world's most powerful empire
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Product
Description
Sid Meier's
Civilization V is the fifth offering in the multi-award winning Civilization
turn-based PC strategy game series. As with earlier installments in the
series, Civilization V features the famous "just one more
turn" addictive gameplay that has made it one of the greatest game
series of all time. In addition to this it also features improved
diplomacy, unprecedented modding tools and functionality, new ranged
combat over a hex oriented board rather than squares, an in-game
community hub facilitating improved online play and more.
Other
RequirementsInitial installation requires one-time
Internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations
required (included with the game) include Steam Client, Microsoft Visual
C++2008 Runtime Libraries and Microsoft DirectX.
18 civilizations to choose from.
View larger.
Now
fire from behind enemy lines.
View larger.
New hex
oriented expansion tiles.
View larger.
Diplomacy and
large-scale battles.
View larger.
Familiar
deep advice system.
View larger.
A Legendary Franchise Reborn
With over nine million units sold worldwide, and unprecedented critical acclaim from fans and press around the world, Sid Meier's Civilization is recognized as one of the greatest strategy franchises of all-time. Now, Firaxis Games will take this incredibly fun and addictive strategy game to unprecedented heights by adding new ways to play and win; new tools to manage and expand your civilization; extensive modding capabilities; and intensely competitive multiplayer options. Civilization V comes to life in a beautifully detailed, living world that will elevate the gameplay experience to a whole new level making it a must-have for gamers around the globe. In Civilization V, players strive to become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age, waging war, conducting diplomacy, discovering new technologies, going head-to-head with some of history's greatest leaders and building the most powerful empire the world has ever known.Playable Civilizations
Civilization V features 18 playable civilizations chosen from every corner of the globe and from pivotal points in history. Each of these features a charismatic and historic leader who speaks in his/her native tongue, while their forces possess special abilities and units. The culture of each civilization will evolve, with players unlocking and adopting social policies over time, which bring benefits and improvements appropriate to the stage of civilization achieved to that point. Playable civilizations include:
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Key Game Features
- Believable World - More than just a strategy game -- the expanded visuals and immersive audio invite would-be kings to take up the reigns of power and forge a mighty empire. Civilization V offers a limitless variety of vast, realistic and diverse landscapes for players to explore, battle over and claim as their own.
- Inviting Presentation - An intuitive interface eases both new players and Civ veterans into the game. Guided by a set of trusted advisors who will explain game functionality and provide counsel for significant decisions, even first-time players will be confident in the choices they make.
- Huge Battles - Combat is more exciting and engaging than ever before. Wars between empires feel massive with armies spreading across the landscape. The addition of ranged bombardment allows players to fire weapons from behind the front lines, challenging players to develop clever new strategies to guarantee victory on the battlefield.
- Live History - Write your own epic story each time you play. Choose one of eighteen historical civilizations to lead from the stone-age to the space age on your quest to build the world's most powerful empire.
- Improved Diplomacy - Negotiate with some of history's most cunning rulers, each with a well-crafted plan for victory. Successful diplomacy will depend on players carefully managing relationships with other leaders, trading items and land, plying them with gold, and deciding if they are friend or foe. City States will present a new diplomatic battleground on which the major powers of the world will vie for supremacy.
- In-Game Community Hub - Compete with Civ players from all over the globe via the Internet, offering endless ways to rule the world. The game itself now serves as the hub of community activity, featuring the ability to share scenarios, compare scores, brag about achievements and visit one of the thriving Civ fansites without leaving the game. It's now easier than ever for players to become involved in the global Civ Community.
- Modability - With unprecedented modding tools, players will have unlimited options for modifying Civilization V any way they like.
- New Hex-Oriented Play Spaces - New play area orientation into hex spaces, rather than traditional squares, offers new challenges in game area exploration and expansion.
System Requirements
| Minimum: | Recommended: | |
| OS: | Windows XP SP3/ Windows Vista SP2/ Windows 7 | Windows Vista SP2/ Windows 7 |
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.0 GHz | 1.8 GHz Quad Core CPU |
| RAM: | 2 GB RAM | 4 GB RAM |
| Disc Drive: | Required for disc-based installation | |
| Hard Drive: | 8 GB or more | |
| Video Card: | 256 MB ATI HD2600 XT or better, 256 MB nVidia 7900 GS or better, or Core i3 or better integrated graphics | 512 MB ATI 4800 series or better, 512 MB nVidia 9800 series or better |
| Sound Card: | DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card | |
| DirectX: | DirectX version 9.0c | DirectX version 11 |
Customer Reviews
One step forward, two steps back
As a longtime fan of the
series, I unfortunately have to say that Civ5 has been vastly overrated
by professional reviewers. That's probably because the game looks great
and the real flaws don't start to show up until after a few hours of
play.
There are certain things I really like about this game.
City states were a great addition and make the game a lot more
interesting. Being able to purchase land is awesome and realistic.
Easier rushbuying is a lot of fun and doesn't unbalance the game.
The
new combat system is pretty goofy (for example, archers are a ranged
unit but riflemen are not). It's a bit more fun than the old "stacks of
doom," but I see reviewers praising the new combat system as "more
streamlined" when it is definitely not. Moving an old stack of doom
required 2 clicks (click on SOD, click on destination). Now you need to
do the same thing 5-10 times as much to move an army.
The new
Civic talent tree offers more customization of specific traits, which is
fun to plan around. However you can't swap civics to match a change in
strategy in-game (eg. teching up at the beginning of the game and then
turning to a warlike theocracy once you realize you're likely to lose
the space race). This is disappointing. Overall, when Civ5's civics are
compared to Civ4 its a wash.
In-between-turn load times suck. On a
normal size map in the modern age, I was sitting and watching the
hourglass for an average of 15 seconds in between each turn--even when I
wasn't watching animations of enemy moves. I'd blame my computer but it
runs pretty much every other game at high settings without a hint of a
problem.
Music is poor, particularly the asian themed music which
sounds like a bad parody of its genre.
It's hard to believe they
wasted time animating leaders and making them talk in their own
languages. It doesn't add anything to the game and some of their voices
(Queen Elizabeth) actually detract from it by being annoying.
The
lack of science/gold/culture sliders takes away a lot of customization
potential that was fun to tinker with in previous Civ games. This became
painfully apparent when going for a cultural victory. A cultural
victory doesn't require the last 25% of the tech tree, but you can't
stop researching until you run out of money. And in the meantime,
because you're still researching new tech, your puppet states are
building more and more new buildings and costing you more money. And
when you run out of money you can't do a LOT of things, like rush-build
or more importantly buy luxury resources and establish good relations
with city states that provide culture. Basically you lose the ability to
do the things that make the game fun. This is especially frustrating
when it have been so easily solved with the old-school sliders, which
were never that difficult to manage in the first place.
Civ5
reminds me of Civ3, in that it attempts to add a couple of new game
concepts and surprisingly flops at aspects in which its predecessor
excelled. Overall, it's an interesting but ultimately flawed game that
doesn't hold a candle to its predecessor and will most likely be
remembered as one of the weaker chapters of a great series.
Like watching paint dry...
Just to give this review some
perspective, I've been playing the various iterations of Civ for a
very, very long time. I remember playing the original like it was
yesterday. Beavis and Butthead on the TV, Nirvana on the radio, and me
on my Packard Bell. I spent hours in my mom's basement, wasting away
from rickets while the normal kids were soaking up the sunlight, going
out on dates, playing sports, and leading generally normal, productive
lives. Civ 1 really messed up my life...but in a completely awesome way.
I
mean, I couldn't get enough. Doubly so with Civ 2. The things you could
do with that game. It had...personality. I remember little stuff, like
the different architectural styles, that gave the game such an immersive
quality. I remember how every time I played, the world had its own
story, and how things would seem to take on a life of their own. The
endless war with the Mongols, my alliance with the Germans, butting
heads with Caesar. I learned more about history there than I ever did in
school. It was fantastic. I didn't even play to win most of the time. I
was a fifteen year-old kid in a sandbox.
I got older, and Civ
grew with me. I spend endless hours on 3 and 4, balancing game
commitments and my real life. When Civ 5 was announced, I didn't
hesitate. I bought it immediately.
In short, it didn't take me
long before I realized that this new Civ was nothing like the Civ of
old. I've never played Revolutions, but I've heard there is a lot of
overlap. I don't know. What I do know is that this game is boring.
Really, really boring. Never have I clicked the "next turn" button like I
have here. Maybe it's because it takes forever to build anything...so
long, in fact, that it's easier just to hoard gold and buy things. Maybe
it's because expansion and/or conquest isn't really encouraged. The
seemingly massive happiness hit just makes it unreasonable. So I sit
there, just watching the world slowly go by.
And how slow it
is...the loading screen between turns has become my nemesis. I've turned
the "superb" graphics down to their lowest setting, just to speed
things up, and to keep things from jumping from one side of the world to
the other every time I scroll my mouse. Just to be clear, I have a
computer that can run all the latest shooters, yet cannot run a
turn-based strategy game aimed at a mass audience.
The AI is dumb
and unfinished. If my dog had fingers, he could win on prince at least.
I don't consider myself the smartest strategist, but I have never lost a
war in Civ 5. Ever. I started on warlord, then prince, then king.
Onward and upward I went, until I quickly realized that the AI wasn't
getting smarter. It was just cheating. This was acceptable 15 years ago,
not now.
Why is Gandhi determined to kill me? After 2000 years
of good relations, he wants to kill me. Not a biggie, mind you, because
all he does is park archers next to my swordsmen, where I can promptly
slaughter them. After I defeat his army (without taking any cities), he
offers me all of his resources, all of his gold, and all of his cities
(except for his capital, of course). He just gives up. I take him up on
his offer, because I am obviously smarter than him. But that means my
happiness tanks, my production stops, and my steady income stream is now
in the red. Whatever. I still have 3 swordsmen and 2 archers. I can
conquer the world with that. Screw culture.
Did I mention the
music? Man, it's boring. No more period specific soundtrack, tribal or
classical. Just the turn-based equivalent of elevator music. I'm sure
the graphics are the bees-knees, but with me playing on the lowest
graphics setting, I will never know. City-states, which were made out to
be a big deal, are not. They ask for stuff, you give it to them (or
not). They give you stuff (or not). That is the extent of the city-state
strategy. Boring.
Actually, the city-state thing reminds me of a
problem I have that extends beyond the poor quality of this game.
Professional reviews. Why did every professional game review outlet give
Civ 5 high marks. 9/10. A+. Really? Every review I've seen has been the
same. "It has hexes!" "It has city-states!" "One unit per tile!"
"Ranged combat!" "Beautiful graphics!" I even saw reviews gushing over
how cool the opening sequence was (you know, the one you can't skip).
For
one, I am tired of seeing the old man in the hut every time I load up. I
find it oddly fishy that no "professional" reviewer has brought up the
bugginess; the fact that you need an internet connection; the fact that
you need Steam; the fact that the AI stinks; etc, etc, etc. Just hexes
and city-states. Either they were told to write a good review by the
"powers that be," or they spent a total of 3 hours playing before
writing their reviews. Either way, I will never trust a professional
review source ever again.
I gave this game 2 stars, because I
believe it still has the potential to be good. After a few expansions,
some mods, a Rhys and Fall, a Fall From Heaven. Yeah, it could be good.
I've played around 60 hours, and still see a spark of genius here. But
it will take an awful lot of work. Right now, it's like watching paint
dry.
Very Different From Previous
Iterations of Civilization
I received my copy today and
just started my first game a few hours ago. I decided to pause it and
write my first review on Amazon to share my initial impressions. Let me
start off by stating this Civilization is COMPLETELY different from
previous versions of Civilization. While this may be problematic for
purists, I'm enjoying the game far more than I thought I would. There's
definitely a learning curve, as the gameplay differs quite a bit from
its predecessors (The Civilopedia is going to be your new best friend).
With previous versions, only some of the basics changed (i.e., changes
in basic gameplay dynamics or the inclusions and Exclusions of
technologies, units, wonders, etc). With this version, quite a bit has
changed, making it very dissimilar to previous versions. Civilization 4
and 5 are VASTLY different games. I'd suggest trying the DEMO FIRST
before you buy, as the changes may appeal to some and really push away
others.
SOME OF WHAT'S DIFFERENT:
- Like every previous
version, the graphics have been overhauled and improved. In my opinion,
the graphics are absolutely BEAUTIFUL! (Just a quick note: I'm using an
overclocked DirectX 11 capable card, so I'm able to use the High detail
options along with DirectX 11 with no problem whatsoever, so keep that
in mind if you have a system that doesn't have DX11 or a lower than the
minimum specifications graphics card, as that will probably make your
experience of the graphics differ from mine.)
- Hexagons instead
of squares, which allow for more movement and attack options, necessary
due to the change in combat and the removal of stackable units. This
really doesn't affect the gameplay much, in my opinion it's a minor
change that was necessary for this particular version.
- The
inclusion of City-States is fantastic, but do require management to
sustain the relationships you've developed with them. They can either be
fantastic allies (that share resources or units), or a permanent enemy
that wants nothing more than to see you wiped off the face of the planet
(there's actually a couple of levels in between but those are the two
extremes). In my opinion this adds some much needed variety as I've
always felt limited by the set number of civilizations in previous
versions. Once you've encountered all the other Civs in previous games
(generally early on in the game), and developed strategies on how to
deal with them, you can implement your strategies, change them slightly
as needed and plan your diplomatic long game. With City-States, however,
the discovery of a new one can force you to rethink your strategy as
they may have access to a resource you desperately need or even be a
problematic roadblock if they dislike you and are permanently at war
with you. Their inclusion definitely adds a dimension to the diplomatic
game. You can't micromanage the City-States, but if you want their help
you have to maintain positive relations with them. This is accomplished
mostly by furnishing them with gold and units, or even completing
missions given by the City-State (i.e., destroy this barbarian
encampment for us, or build a road for us, etc.)
- I was a bit
worried about the combat system when I heard Civ 5 didn't allow unit
stacking. However, in my opinion, the changes to combat are mostly
positive. I like that you can't stack units as it requires more thought
on how you're going to attack. If you encounter a city that is
strategically placed to block off all access except for one hexagon,
you're going to find yourself having to funnel your troops through the
choke point, placing you at a major strategic disadvantage. In previous
versions you could stack a dozen units and overtake the city despite
such a bottleneck. In this version you will be required to push units
through, and if one is destroyed, you'll have to use movement points to
move the unit behind it into position to attack, this means that city
placement and unit placement now have greater importance and require
more thought. Archers, also, can't just go barreling into a city and
shoot up the place... well, they can, but you can't overtake the city
with a ranged unit. Instead they function much more effectively as a
backup to melee units, making placement 2 hexagons away to bombard while
your melee units attack the garrisoned units a much better strategy.
For the most part, I think the change in combat is the best change so
far.
- You can now buy land around your city to force expansion
instead of waiting for your borders to expand on their own, I rather
like this as now I can seize up some of those resources that are just
outside of my borders instead of having to wait for my borders to grow.
-
They've also included Natural Wonders (like the Great Mesa, and other
natural formations) which add bonuses to cities built near them.
-
How state policies are handled are also very different. Instead of
researching a technology to unlock specific policies, you now have to
spend culture points to unlock policies (that have different benefits)
on an RPG-like policy tree that is under an overall ideology (which is
unlocked by research). Some policies can be implemented at the same
time, while others are mutually exclusive. I haven't played enough to
know how this will affect the overall game, but so far it's interesting.
-
The exclusion of religion is a major problem with this game, in my
opinion. Historically, in both real life and in Civilization religion
has been a major factor in both forming early alliances and in the
starting of wars. In the early game, especially, I can feel the absence
of state religions in my diplomatic options. I hope they include it in a
future expansion pack.
- The exclusion of some of the
civilizations and leaders from previous versions bothers me as I did
have some favorites. However, if I'm not mistaken, I think there's some
DLC's coming that will add additional civilizations, and we will most
likely see additional civilizations in future expansions.
-
CORRECTION: As Rob points out in the comments section there are
additional map options beyond the Random, Continents Archiepelago and
Earth options available in the basic screen. These can be found in the
Advanced menu during the Pre-Game setup, thanks Rob! That helps quite a
bit :)
(Original Release Day Comment: Limited map choices is
also, in my opinion, a mistake. There are only a few options, such as
Random, Continents, Archipelago, and Earth. I miss the variety available
in previous entries.)
- Now... here's one of the most
interesting changes. The addition of an in-game modification browser
that downloads and auto-installs any mod you select from the browser.
Civilization has always had a thriving mod community, but by integrating
the new mod browser, people who wouldn't otherwise know to go to mod
sites, now have access to the mods in-game. Some of the mods already
available include unlocking the Celtic Civilization as well as
additional map types. They do include a warning saying that these
modifications are not created by Firaxis and may contain viruses (a
necessary disclaimer, of course), so pay close attention to the details
and if it gives you a link check the source. Just use caution and care
when downloading as you would with anything. In my opinion, though, this
is a fantastic change. Yes, mods were available before, but this makes
it easier than ever to find, install and use; they are broken down into
category if you're looking for a specific type of mod.
- Steam...
Controversial I know. I'm not a big fan, myself, but that's just my
personal preference. To be honest, while it's not my favorite system in
the world, it's not really a deal breaker for me either. However, I
think their use of steam is mostly for the benefit of the multiplayer
experience (I mean besides the obvious copy protection reasons).
However, I never really use multiplayer so I can't really comment on the
pros and cons of the multiplayer. Apparently, your saved games are put
on the Steam Cloud, I'm not entirely sure what that entails but I'm sure
someone will elaborate eventually.
I'm giving this 4 out of 5
stars. I think this version has quite a bit of potential, but I think
we'll have to wait for some of the expansions to see that potential
fully realized. However, I've also felt that way about previous
versions. For example, I didn't feel that Civilization 4 really came
into its own until Beyond the Sword was released (just my opinion, of
course). Will I stop playing Civilization 4? No. I think both games are
different enough that they can stand on their own and provide different
gaming experiences. Though, for the most part I'm pretty satisfied with
the new version (though, some of the new aspects still feel a bit clunky
and aren't as streamlined as they could be, but like I mentioned above
that might change in future expansions). It's different and I'm going to
have to get used to it, but so far I'm enjoying the game.
Keep
in mind, my first game is still going, and I'm still pretty early into
the game, but these are my initial impressions and I do hope they help
anyone who is curious about what's different with this version. Happy
World Domination everyone!
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UPDATE: 8 hours into the
game, encountered my first game-breaking bug during one of the
diplomatic screen animations and lost a lot of my progress. You may want
to wait for the first set of patches as others have suggested, or
remember to save often as the autosave has been a bit buggy for me.
PATCH
RELEASE: First Patch to address crash issues released on Sept. 28th.
Hopefully that will take care of some of the crashing issues. It came
faster than I expected, but we'll have to wait and see if the issues are
mostly fixed or not.
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ANOTHER UPDATE: While it's
still fun, I'm starting to find myself questioning whether or not this
has the same level of replayability as Civilization 4 for me (at least
the Vanilla unmodded version of 5, but then again I guess that's what
mods are for, but I do expect the vanilla version to at least hold my
interest for a while). I'll know better in a few weeks (after finding
the difficulty level and settings that appeal the most to me). Maybe
it's getting used to the new interface, but I find my interest lagging a
little (though I am still enjoying it, but probably not as much as 4)
in a way that it never did with other Civilizations. I would like to
drop the fun rating down a star for the time being, but Amazon doesn't
seem to be letting me. Again, just a personal opinion, maybe after a few
more games I'll have a better idea, but at the moment I'm just not sure
I'll play this version as much as I played 4, I guess only time will
tell.
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