
There's a new resource called Faith, as well as new buildings and wonders. One is that religion makes a comeback-while He was a big deal in previous editions of Civ, God took a break from Civ V until now. However, there are a ton of new things for fans to enjoy. Best of all, none of the accessibility of the core Civ V experience has been sacrificed. You choose everything about the way your civilization develops-from what kind of technology it will focus on to what kinds of relationships it will develop with other nations to how it will go about exploring (and probably conquering) the world. From the very first decisions you make, there's never a dull moment, you never feel overwhelmed by the plethora of options available to you, and you always feel like the society you're creating is yours.

This is still a game that swiftly draws you in and doesn't let you go until the match is over. And if you've never played Civ V, Gods and Kings is a great introduction to the game, though it requires the original Civ V to play.įortunately, Gods and Kings doesn't try to fix anything that isn't broken. If you're just a casual Civ fan who hasn't played in a while, you might not notice the additions right away, but they'll improve your experience all the same. If you think Civ V is missing the depth of the earlier games, Gods and Kings will give you what you want. Bottom line: If you've been sitting in front of Civilization V for two years straight and want a change of pace, Gods and Kings is worth your $30. But it turned out that a lot of what I was experiencing was completely new-it's just so well-implemented that a casual fan who's taken a two-year break won't notice it.Īll told, Gods and Kings adds twenty-seven units, thirteen buildings, nine wonders, nine playable civilizations, a religion system, espionage, and a variety of other twists-and it makes you feel right at home. In fact, I hardly noticed the changes at first. I was eager to jump back into the fray, but I was a little worried that I'd feel overwhelmed and out of practice.
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So I put it away after a week or two, and I didn't return until Cheat Code Central asked me to review the new expansion, Gods and Kings. However, I'm not the type of gamer who gets truly obsessed. I spent hours building societies from the ground up, and I loved the hexagon-based combat system, the graphics, and the way the game shepherds newcomers through the motions of governing. I don't know how they did it, but Firaxis came up with a solution that should make everyone happy.įor my part, I was one of the people who loved Civilization V when it came out in 2010 ( see my review here). And yet its accessibility made it deeply unpopular among some Civ IV devotees, meaning that an expansion could win some old fans back to the fold. The original Civ V is an amazing game, meaning there's a lot that Firaxis could screw up. This gets even harder when you're dealing with a game like Civilization V. And even this is hard for developers to do right in this genre if they don't change enough, they leave consumers feeling ripped off, but if they change too much, they can upset the balance of the game. Most of their "expansions" end up being just tweaks, with new factions and units and some gameplay adjustments. Since the games are basically sandboxes and usually don't have a pre-set story, there isn't an easy way to add new content. The new matches don't model history to the degree that, say, a game from Paradox Interactive might, but they're a lot of fun and educational to boot.For Civilization games and their ilk, expansions are tough to pull off. These are the fall of Rome, a Victorian steampunk scenario, and a religion-themed match set during the Renaissance. They're not so distinct that the gameplay fundamentally changes when you play as a different society, but the minor variations can mean life or death in a close situation.įinally, Civ fans who love playing out historical scenarios will find a few more to choose from. Each of these societies comes with a few unique abilities and units. There are also some new civilzations: the Netherlands, the Maya, Carthage, Byzantium, the Huns, Austria, Ethiopia, and Sweden. City-states can now be religious and mercantile in nature. There are now naval units with melee abilities, for example, and the combat has been slowed down. The developers were careful to fix numerous problems that the Civ V community pointed out.

Drug Reference, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Violenceįurther, a few seemingly small adjustments were made that will add extra depth to the gameplay.
