My gaming nowadays is limited due to time, but more importantly, skill. The last game I tried playing online with people was F.E.A.R. and I was eaten alive. I do like the Doom games and prefer to play them as single player. Civilization has been an addiction of mine since Civilization 3. The game allows you to build a society from the bottom up. It rocked.
Civilization 4 came out and introduced a more detailed method to everything from religion to war to winning. If you enjoyed running an empire or a civilization it was the game for you. A large modding community popped up and everything was wonderful. Initial reports of a new Civilization version coming started circulating and before you knew it, it was released.
How much do I like the Civilization games? I took the day off it was released to play Civilization 5.
How much do I play Civilization 5 now? Never. The game completely destroyed the once and mighty Civilization franchise and left me behind. From time to time I still fire up Civilization 4 with the mods, but less and less have I been playing at all.
A Reddit thread popped up discussing what went wrong from the perspective of someone who was there. The account is riveting and really encapsulates the problems I’ve seen with Civilization 5.
Survive any disaster in your own home. Prepare now. A must for the coming problems in the world!
The problems I have with Civilization 5:
- 1 unit per tile. This is an interesting way to handle the stack of death that was in Civ 4, but later in the game it is just a horrendous way of fighting. You have to keep your entire land mass filled with your units in each hex. It brings the game to a complete stand still.
- City states. Really? This is the best the developers could do when it came to adding a twist to play. City states are single cities you can influence or tick off for various results. They add little value and the AI has a tough time dealing with them.
- Speaking of the AI … it is dumb. Civ 4′s AI had hit a stride where it could be semi-effective in all aspects of the game. Civ 5 is just dumb.
- Large worlds. I play Ramses on a huge map with a ton of other Civilizations. I have a decent PC, but the game crashes after a certain number of turns. This is unacceptable. It is a known bug, but with one swipe it has removed the pleasure of the game from me.
What really disturbs me about the game is the lack of any sort of fun at the end when you win. In Civ 4 there were cool animations, some music, etc. In Civ 5 you get a placard. No moving parts at all.
It is funny how a company can get into the wrong direction very quickly and commit to it. Civilization 5 is a trainwreck of a game.
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I agree.. Civ 5 is the worst… It angers me, they didn’t just make civ 4 improved. Like the formula civ 3, civ 2 and orginal civ adopted.. I will admit tinkering with older civ to make hotseat from hacks, however that is how civ got so good, listening to gamers… With more complex upgrades like in civ 5, updated graphics and deeper techs (upgrades in each tech sometimes available or something) I would be playing have enjoyed it.. I like some of the ideas but they were not throught through well.. Maybe it was thought, that the end product would seem more real to life. However, I loved civ for the game itself not the realism. (however I did feel like I take over the world everytime I play).