Civ5 Reviews Roundup

[Thunderfall]

Civilization V is coming out tomorrow and it's been getting some pretty impressive scores from major gaming sites and magazines. On GameRankings.com, the average score for the game is 93.79% so far (based on 7 reviews). This is slightly higher than the average rating of 93.24% for Civ4.

• IGN - 9/10
• Computer & Video Games UK - 9.3/10
• Gametrailers - 9.4/10
• Game Informer - 9.75/10
• Gaming Nexus - A
  PC Gamer (October 2010) - 9.3/10
• The Escapist: 5/5
• Joystiq: 5/5
• Destructoid: 9.5/10
• Wired: 8/10
• Shacknews
• G4 TV: 5/5

Link to video.

[gametrailers]704828[/gametrailers]

Let's see if Civ5 can maintain the momentum and continue to get great reviews for the next few weeks!

>> Join the discussions on our forums!

 

[ICNP]

Of course, none of the reviews cover the topics that most people are scared silly about. Everyone knows the gameplay is probably going to be good, the track record is amazing for the Civilization team. The problems that no reviewer really talks about are:

-How much stuff from the modding community will be allowed uploaded?
-What other DLC is going to get pushed out, shortly after release?
-And whether the key commands work? (Of course, I think theMeInTeam is the only one who cares about this)

 

[Rudimentos]

First of all: It sucks so hard to live in Europe right now. On the other hand, this gives me time to finish my paper until Friday, I really have to, otherwise I will probably never finish it.

Second: As I read through some of the reviews, I noticed that besides the overall really good impression, most of the critic is focused on the missing religion or government system. I was disappointed about that too in the first place, but after I thought about the reasons, I think it will definitely enhance the diplomatic system and the specialization of the different strategies.

Third: I think it is really hard to test a game like Civilization, since the real depth on the game mechanics will only reveal to yourself after hundreds of hours played. So comments like "it always ended in a domination win because the AI attacked me while I was heading for the utopia project" doesn't really mean anything as long as the reviewer doesn't have enough experience with the game to optimize his strategy. Furthermore, it would be a shame if the AI would idly stand by while you are heading towards the culture victory.

Fourth and last: Can somebody invent a time machine so that I can skip the week to Friday and play the game (with my paper finished) endlessly on the weekend?

 

[Nekator]

Of course, none of the reviews cover the topics that most people are scared silly about. Everyone knows the gameplay is probably going to be good, the track record is amazing for the Civilization team. The problems that no reviewer really talks about are:

-How much stuff from the modding community will be allowed uploaded?
-What other DLC is going to get pushed out, shortly after release?
-And whether the key commands work? (Of course, I think theMeInTeam is the only one who cares about this)

True... alone how this is still a secret makes me sure, that we will have some more dissapointments coming (i mean come on.. three world styles??? still no word about modding new civs?).

For gameplay regards the IGN review is rather honest... it tells that the game was much more "casualized" like i feared it would become (no religions, less government) and that the city states are a boring excuse for all the things cut out from Civ IV. Only that the "action" is better than ever... wow... that´s surely the reason i play Civ ..
I wonder why they give still such a good Rating...

 

[Zhahz]

IMO the dude who did the IGN review is clueless. As stated, you kinda need to play the game to speak about it. 1.5 games or so worth of playing and not even knowing enough to defend yourself doesn't make you look good in a review. Anyone who's been paying attention here has heard the AI won't just sit idle and let you cruise to peaceful victory. It's good to hear about the AI delivering on that.

I'm not that much into mods so the lack of news on that isn't a big deal. CVC will still be here. Xml is Xml. We already know that they don't even know when the SDK will be available.

 

[Liquidated]

Not sure why anyone would expect modding or arcane game mechanics to be the focus on any release day review. A few of those reviews were having issues just trying to describe game play, I mean the ign guy was a joke...

"The AI is simply far too aggressive once they're on your borders, and no amount of gifts or other concessions would keep them from deciding to attack me."

Anyway, give the game over to CFC's denizens for a day or two and one will learn fast enough about their pet issues.

Overall, my favorite of those reviews were joystiq's for the '3 types of gamers' approach and the vet centric gaming nexus writeup. Though to be fair, after a few, I stopped reading them in complete detail.

Cheers!
-Liquidated

 

[Oatse]

oh high score reviews this game is gonna be awful since 2k bought all those reviews up with bribes

:cut: :emo: :slitmywrists:

 

[craig123]

True... alone how this is still a secret makes me sure, that we will have some more dissapointments coming (i mean come on.. three world styles??? still no word about modding new civs?).

For gameplay regards the IGN review is rather honest... it tells that the game was much more "casualized" like i feared it would become (no religions, less government) and that the city states are a boring excuse for all the things cut out from Civ IV. Only that the "action" is better than ever... wow... that´s surely the reason i play Civ ..
I wonder why they give still such a good Rating...

You can't please some people can you? They remove religion (to improve diplomacy) - you say it has been simplified. They replace civics with (more interesting) social policies - you say there's less government. They add a new feature, city states (which sound awesome) - you say it's a boring excuse. They improve the weakest part of the series, combat - you say combat doesn't matter.

Oh, and there aren't just three world styles:

Those who've preloaded the game via Steam can see the map scripts in the game files:

Map Scripts:
Archipelago.lua
Continents.lua
Earth_Duel.Civ5Map
Earth_Huge.Civ5Map
Earth_Large.Civ5Map
Earth_Small.Civ5Map
Earth_Standard.Civ5Map
Earth_Tiny.Civ5Map
Four_Corners.lua
Fractal.lua
Great_Plains.lua
Highlands.lua
Ice_Age.lua
InlandSea.lua
Lakes.lua
North_vs_South.lua
Oval.lua
Pangaea.lua
SmallContinents.lua
Terra.lua
TinyIslands.lua
West_vs_East.lua

 

[Nekator]

You can't please some people can you? They remove religion (to improve diplomacy) - you say it has been simplified. They replace civics with (more interesting) social policies - you say there's less government. They add a new feature, city states (which sound awesome) - you say it's a boring excuse. They improve the weakest part of the series, combat - you say combat doesn't matter.

Oh, and there aren't just three world styles:

Where did i say combat doesn´t matter? Please quote that, otherwise it´s simply not true.. or do you mean, caus i say i don´t want an "action" game, i think combat doesnt matter? That would be an interesting interpretation...

To be honest, i´m not sure if the new way of combat will be an improvement, but we will see this.

For the rest... you make it rather easy, to excuse the many things cut out of the game.. well good for you. Others are maybe a bit more critic about such things.

 

[craig123]

Where did i say combat doesn´t matter? Please quote that, otherwise it´s simply not true.. or do you mean, caus i say i don´t want an "action" game, i think combat doesnt matter? That would be an interesting interpretation...

Here; maybe I misinterpreted?

[...]the "action" is better than ever... wow... that´s surely the reason i play Civ ..

To be honest, i´m not sure if the new way of combat will be an improvement, but we will see this.

For the rest... you make it rather easy, to excuse the many things cut out of the game.. well good for you. Others are maybe a bit more critic about such things.

Civilization has always followed the formula of one-third new, one-third old, and one-third improved. You're focusing on what has been removed and conclude the game has been simplified. Meanwhile, I choose to focus on the new features (combat, city-states, social policies, etc.) and, until I get to play the game, I'm willing to give Firaxis the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Catapult]

Regarding the IGN review what happened to Steve Butts? He has been reviewing strategy games for them for years and I trust his judgment. Who knows how much experience the new person has with TBS games?