Civilization V: The Best of the Series?

Over the years, Sid Meier's critically acclaimed Civilization series has earned a solid reputation as some of the most challenging, yet addictive strategy games on the market. Fans who have been following the series can rejoice, knowing that Civilization V is just as enjoyable a game-play experience as the previous games in the series. For those who have not yet experienced Civilization, Civ V makes it a breeze for new players to learn the basics and jump into the fray.

Like its predecessors, Civ V is a turn based strategy game in which the player chooses a civilization and plays through different historical eras. The player's goal is to create an empire that can withstand the test of time and ultimately fulfill one of several victory conditions. Each game aspect is deep and allows the player many options toward victory, whether it be through complete military domination, scientific advancement, cultural influence or simply surviving for 500 turns. There are 18 different civilizations to choose from, each with their own unique leader, ability and special units, each providing the player with a distinct advantage that can affect how to go about playing the game. Combat is one of the most improved aspects of the game. Veteran players will immediately notice that the game no longer uses square but rather hexagonal tiles. In addition, no longer are players able to stack multiple units on a single tile. Due to these two modifications, players must pay more attention to unit positioning, strengths and weaknesses rather than simply attacking in large numbers.

The culture system has also been revamped. The civics system from Civ IV has been modified into a system called "social policy." The system works relatively well; players earn a new point to spend on policy after accumulating a certain amount of culture points, but some players will be disappointed that religion has been done away with.

The visuals are a vast improvement over the previous Civilization titles. In addition to the improved textures and environment details, the game interface has been streamlined to provide all sorts of useful information and to be more accessible to new players. The game can also be paused at any time to access the Civilopedia, a comprehensive, in-game encyclopedia to answer any questions a player may have. All of these resources make Civ V the most accessible title in the series yet.

Though most aspects of Civ V are overwhelmingly positive, there are a few negatives that need to be pointed out. The game's AI is somewhat flawed. On harder difficulties in particular, AI civilizations on your borders will be very aggressive, often attacking for no reason. Unlike Civ IV,this one doesn't give the player indications as to their diplomatic standing with the AI civilizations.

City-states are introduced as a new game-play element. These small, "mini-civilizations" are initially unaligned but can ally themselves with or, conversely, wage war against other players. The degree to which the player is able interact with the city-states is much more limited as opposed to interactions with other civilizations.

Despite a few small nuisances, Civ V is arguably the best title in the series. It provides an unmatched, strategic experience as well as near infinite amount of replays due to the random map generator and the user modes that will eventually hit the Internet. A must have for any strategy fan.