| Title | Gods & Kings adds gods and spies instead of fixing Civilization V |
| Author | Tom Chick |
| Posted in | Game reviews |
| When | June 18, 2012 |
This isn't really the place to revisit my unhappiness with Civilization V, but I'm sorry to discover the game hasn't gotten better a year and a half after I reviewed it..
Read the full articleI'm replaying the Total War games at the moment, and I think it's pretty depressing that those games actually pull off a much better diplomacy system.
If I want something from another nation, all I have to do is make it worth their while. In Civ V, it seems like everybody wants to humiliate me if I dare to try and cooperate on any level.
It's a shame. There's definitely a good game hiding in there somewhere, but 2/5 is spot on for what it is.
"Sometimes I wonder if Firaxis is playing their own game."
Civ V in a nutshell, sadly.
That is disappointing to hear the game isn't getting the improvements it needs to shine. I've put in a request to cancel my pre-order with steam, with 13 hours till it's released I should get my money back!
I might go back to playing Total War: Shogun 2 vanilla (Fall of the Samurai plays far to slowly for me.)
I won't place your decision on this reviewer, who clearly hates Civ V. There are many of us who cannot wait for the expansion pack to come out this week.
I meant "wouldn't place your decision..."
It's not like it's some sort of irrational hatred for the game. He gave reasons why he dislikes it.
I think those "many of us" should be left to speak for themselves. I have nothing against Firaxis, I've played every Civ since the first one, but I still think he's absolutely right.
You're obviously not one of the "many of us" then Peter.
"It’s like improved shaving technology that just keeps adding blades."
Really, Theodora is the leader for Byzantium? Her only claim to fame is her improbable marriage to Justinian and the advice she provided during the Nike Riots. If you want an unsung hero, as is supposedly Firaxis' mandate, why not pick Anastasius or Leo VI? Hell, how about Irene, who at least ruled independently and not as an appendage of her husband?
Anyway, it's disappointing but unsurprising that this expansion pack fails to impress. If the core game suffers from anemic and broken features, burying them in even more features via an expansion pack is not the way to fix things.
I don't think I want to. I believe in arguments, not numbers.
Saying that "many of us" share a certain point of view isn't actually saying anything.
I think it would be more constructive to simply explain why "you" think otherwise.
And the Empress Theodora also spoke to the following effect: "My opinion then is that the present time, above all others, is inopportune for flight, even though it bring safety. . . . For one who has been an emperor it is unendurable to be a fugitive. May I never be separated from this purple, and may I not live that day on which those who meet me shall not address me as mistress. If, now, it is your wish to save yourself, O Emperor, there is no difficulty. For we have much money, and there is the sea, here the boats. However consider whether it will not come about after you have been saved that you would gladly exchange that safety for death. For as for myself, I approve a certain ancient saying that royalty is a good burial-shroud."
(having said that, the avatar is terrible)
Egyptian Princess Di is looking hot, though. You gotta admit that.
Sometimes ready to combat your game reviews and defend my rocky relationships with my fractured new gaming loves....but you were so right about Civ 5
Tom has clearly stated what his problems with Civ V are and I found them valid when the game came out. That didn't stop me from buying Civ V and playing it for many hours.
However I am inferring that Tom was hoping for the Gods & Kings expansion to dig into the guts of Civ V and improve upon it, in the manner that Beyond the Sword did with Civ IV, giving the game a new life.
I take his short little review here to be that this hasn't happened. I feel that's enough information from me to base a buying decision on.
The diplomacy system that sets the standard for me these days is Sins of a Solar Empire. They really nailed the idea of diplomacy as a long-term systems-driven process of empires throwing their lot in with one another for mutual benefit. And they do it mainly by using spaceships. Really slick stuff.
Groan I really hoped that this expansion pack would really fix things and add more oomph. Unfortunately it sounds incredible tapioca. As long as the AI isnt very good then the game isn't very good single player. Civ 4 AI wasn't that great either, but because everything was so much simpler tactics wise it didn't need to be.
Although if the make an Alpha Centauri expansion that's good, then all is forgiven.
I don't want to go to Civ IV with the stacks of doom again, even if the game as a whole is good. I'm not a big space game fan, but Endless Space looks like it has promise from what I have read. The Total War series (while not really that close to Civ games) never held my attention through an entire campaign. It seems like if a player enjoys this type of game Civ V is the best game in town. Are there any good Civ V alternatives?
Nearly every review by you is an incredibly low score. Really does make me wonder if you do it because your site isn't very big and it gives you hits on metacritic. Anyway, I told them about this site and linked your various reviews (especially the 3-4 paragraph ones) and they said they will look into it. Because this is clearly underrating games to gain more populairty and publicity which is working.