Civilization V – Innovation or Evolution

The Civilisation series is one of the longest (before anyone complains it’s NOT the longest) running set of games ever made, with somewhere in the region of 11 versions if you include the expansions, spread out from 1991 to 2012. This has given the developers plenty of opportunities to expand the game from what it was to something truly brilliant.  However, this hasn’t happened. Civ 5 feels very much like the original did back in the early 90s.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do very much enjoy the game and it’s a must play for any turn based game fanatic; it is however lacking in the innovation side of things.  This game has brilliant graphics, lovely music (albeit repetitive), and lots, upon lots of gaming potential – especially if you purchase the small and cheap DLCs (although those DLCs do add up if you buy them all).

This game though has very few elements that are new to the franchise. This game to me is a re-make of the original game with a few new elements.  I have come to expect innovation in sequels, I want to experience something new, something extra that I haven’t had before.  However, this game really feels like an evolution of the original game with a face lift and a few extra bits to the mechanics (for example, the old idea that roads are free).

This game comes from a company that has been in the games industry for a very long time now and should know better than to give us something like this game. Now I know Civ 5 is probably going to be classified as a success, but I do feel like they’re just coasting on old ideas and old concepts.

So, if you want a bit of the old with better graphics then definitely get Civ 5. However, if you want something new, or at least some kind of innovation then you might want to save the money.   Of course this game could simply be the groundwork for the innovating expansion packs which seems to be how the franchise works, but that’s for another day and another article.