(Yet again, here is the “Intern”)
Will and I, in Day 2 of Monstervine’s E3 coverage, got a behind-closed-doors first look of Sid Meier’s Civilization V. This game is a sequel to Civilization IV and follows the same gameplay system and turn-based strategy, though it adds depth to the series with new innovative features after the expansion pack. Within the game there lies the same enjoyable experience of placing historical world leaders such as Napoleon into international conflict, though with select differences.
The first obvious difference compared to previous installments to fans of the series is the improved graphical engine, as demonstrated by drastic improvements to the landscapes (forested areas, lush plains, etc). In addition to the detailed environments are improvements to the tile system that places cities and units in outlined hexagonal portions of the overworld. With these new innovations the player now has an array of strategies available for army deployment, allowing for more complex gameplay. The tiles are set up one at a time across the world when deploying units, where range units become more significant in indirect combat and units may hold critical places in the landscape to tie down invaders.
In terms of city developments, city planning is eased with the options of seeing production and banking options to customize your empire. Production and infrastructure are now more specialized, so nation building becomes less tedious and more flexible. The new tile system comes into play where city building is constructed one tile at a time, leading to more complexity. With new expansive cities, technology trees and mods make the game more accessible to the player when making critical decisions.
To compliment these new developments the AI of rival world leaders are significantly enhanced to adapt to the complexity of the turn-based strategy system. AI are now more flexible and adaptable to the actions of the player. Whether the player allies with or turns against a rival world leader, the latter will give the varied response you would see if you were playing against another player. These enhanced AI are further developed with new animations that are introduced when the player conducts an action involving their nation, and are fully voice acted in the language of origin (Napoleon speaks French, Montezuma speaks Nahuatl, etc). In terms of diplomacy, the player could win their campaign based on an assortment of circumstances. Whether befriending or conquering a state, maintaining foreign relations is central to victory, though when choosing the latter there are the options of either annexing the conquered state or instilling a puppet government and will impact the temperament of world leaders. 18 civilizations are available, and the player may set the aggression level for leaders for victory.
Though the game has become more competitive, there is the add-on of the notification system that notifies the player of new discoveries without interruption to gameplay. This acts as a tutorial so as to ease the introduction of strategy to new players and familiarize veteran gamers to the new design changes. This game does not revolutionize gameplay, though it does innovate.
Civilization V is available for PC and will be available on September 21.
