Extreme Tech Review (5. Aug 2010)

[EmpireOfCats]

Extreme Tech has a review out (sorry if this was posted before, couldn't find it):

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2367392,00.asp

Well worth the read. Unfortunately, two of my greatest fears are confirmed: First, there is no OS X version in the works, and second (and far, far worse):

Civilization V's more visceral feel and design make it play more like a wargame than a wide-ranging socio-political simulator.​

That is what I was most afraid of. The review makes it very clear that this is a "dumbed down" version, though they are too polite to put it that way. Now I know I'm not going to buy it when it comes out: I don't want another war simulator. I think they really, really need to make that demo good to get my interest back.

 

[Tylerryan79]

I havent seen this yet, thanks Im going to give it a read.

Edit: This is so much better detailed than the Ign preview, it makes Ign's seem like a joke.

 

[Oerdin]

Those system requirements mean I'll need a new computer.

 

[seasnake]

I thought the System Requirements wouldn't be that demanding

 

[StStutter]

Mmm, the conclusion didn't sound that great. But every other part did.

I don't mind the advance to more of a wargame, but I'm a little nervous by his description of the game as painting "with broader brush strokes" now compared to the intricacies from before.

Those system requirements are ridiculous. There's no way thats what the minimum requirements will be. Thats higher than pretty much any other game I've ever seen.

 

[Provost Martin]

Lots of new screenshots in this one, including the end game. Unfortunately they're tinier than tiny.

 

[bjbrains]

There are some interesting things that he says.
We love the king days are back if you supply a city with a demanded luxury resource
Research treaties are said to work differently- not a multiplier, but instead give each civ a 'random tech'
"Our contact at 2K tells us that the technology tree is still being tweaked and polished—"

 

[Schuesseled]

oooooooh nice pictures of the start up menu, map type, map size, difficulty level and game pace.

But where the devil is the option to choose the climate

 

[bjbrains]

oooooooh nice pictures of the start up menu, map type, map size, difficulty level and game pace.

But where the devil is the option to choose the climate

He says that those options are in the advanced setup menu.

 

[Arkangelus]

Those are probably the highest requirements I've ever seen, but it does say reccomended, not minimum. I'd assume that that's reccomended for the highest settlings - possible as its not yet optimised, the review sample that's been sent out to the tech sites only has max options, with no scaling. Beta versions of games often have much, much higher requirements than the full ones do, with limited settings to scale them.

Also, 6GB of RAM, quad-core, HD5870... and the game STILL choked at high levels? That's worrying, with that kind of hardware running it, even unoptimised, I'd expect it to easily blitz it.

 

[Disgustipated]

how can they have a review when the game is not out yet?

 

[mantis2007]

Those are recommended specs, not requirements. And yeah they're surprisingly high-end, especially for a civ game. This game means business!

 

[V. Soma]

Interesting article...

I say, it's better wait with criticism and saying this version of civ favors war to the peaceful ways.

Soooo much depends on BALANCE...

BTW, war is important part of the game, anyways, yes.

 

[luchofeio]

civ is all abaut war
wwoooot

 

[AriochIV]

how can they have a review when the game is not out yet?

Exactly. They make clear this is a preview of a demonstration build that's missing key features, and not a review of the final game.

Yay for new screenshots.

 

[IroquoisPlisken]

how can they have a review when the game is not out yet?

It's a preview, not a review. "Civilization V: A First Look".

Those recommended specs seem ridiculously high, even for recommended. Hopefully it's just because the game hasn't been optimized yet, as was said. Still worrying, though.

I also was happy with the preview until that last page. "A much leaner, easier-to-learn Civilization that paints in broad strokes rather than fine details", no corruption or pollution, "more like a wargame than a wide-ranging socio-political simulator" and "a more generalized approach, yet another step away from Civilization IV's multifaceted (and occasionally maddeing) approach to managing your empires" all worry me.

 

[V. Soma]

PC requirements: those MUST be for the highest settings all the way...

So far Firaxis told us this will VERY scalable...
so I imagine you can tune it to your liking...

 

[Gre_Magus]

oooooooh nice pictures of the start up menu, map type, map size, difficulty level and game pace.

But where the devil is the option to choose the climate

The previewer wrote, "Though if you want fine-grain control over the other civilizations you'll be battling and specific features of the planet such as its age, temperature, and average rainfall, you can click the Advanced Setup button to access those options."

So my guess the option is under "Advanced Setup".

 

[Oerdin]

I thought the System Requirements wouldn't be that demanding

Hopefully they'll optimize it more before release.

 

[Gre_Magus]

Here's proof that battles do have random results... "This isn't always 100 percent accurate—on a couple of occasions, we saw bloody defeats in what we were led to expect would be decisive victories—"