I’m buried in Civilization V, too buried to list all the changes (Go read their website for all the changes), and hooked in a way I haven’t been since I first met Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri. Not only is it the best Civilization ever (AC above gives it some competition.  it’s an almost perfect educational tool (for concepts rather than hard facts) one that smart of the brighter kids out there will love it.

Civ1-4 were overwhelming at times, managing an empire, keeping the treacherous at bay and to add to all this there was a combat system that encouraged units, stacks of units and more. War in those games, could be hell and take longer than the real wars of the time period you’re in, The change is simple. Every player is limited as to how big his army can grow, depending on how many hexes you have access to, helps limit that 10 tank stack vs. your stack of 20 Riflemen. This makes short and long wars faster pace, and it teaches you to focus on making sure your melee units are in front and ranged units in the back.

There’s a lot more I could say but I want to encourage parents to pick up the game. It has been found by researchers to benefit children and it’s easy to see why. The game helps kids understand how long our basic city state-Empire was, who were the key players and what technology changed the world. Not much of it is accurate – this is a game – but a renewed or kindled interest in history can trigger interest well beyond the the compute and into the class room.

The game is brutally hard and filled with different tools and modifiers. So of course the manual is a .pdf. Civ deserves a fat manual, one you can read while playing and 2k really dropped the ball here.

Still mastering Civ has become a tradition to almost 20 years of gamers. It’s better than ever, really hard to stop playing (there’s a reason NOT to give this to your kids) and easy to recommend. Based on the difficulty and complexity I’d say 12+, but a younger wunderkind can do it too.  I’m not speaking of a kid’s age so much as I’m speaking of ability. The game is rated E-10 and I wouldn’t go much younger than that.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my Persian Empire is sitting there waiting for the shock and awe I’m about to unleash

Tags: Game Reviews