Sid Meier's Civilization V

 PC
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2963 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,247 out of 2963
  2. Mixed: 454 out of 2963
  3. Negative: 262 out of 2963
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  1. Crimson9
    Jul 28, 2023
    6
    The decision to remove unit stacking is absolutely genius and makes the civ franchise 100 times better.

    With Vox Populi this game becomes a 7 or an 8. Without it the AI is bad and the game is unbalanced and simple so 6.
  2. Hyperfailure
    Nov 27, 2022
    7
    (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
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  3. Jollyolfun
    Nov 18, 2022
    6
    i played this for roughly 4 hours in one sitting and then quit but it was pretty dope
  4. Wrathzo
    Mar 21, 2022
    6
    Sid Meier's Civilization V is a 4X video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games. In Civilization V, the player leads a civilization from prehistoric times into the future on a procedurally generated map, attempting to achieve one of a number of different victory conditions through research, exploration, diplomacy, expansion, economic development, government and militarySid Meier's Civilization V is a 4X video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games. In Civilization V, the player leads a civilization from prehistoric times into the future on a procedurally generated map, attempting to achieve one of a number of different victory conditions through research, exploration, diplomacy, expansion, economic development, government and military conquest. The game is based on an entirely new game engine with hexagonal tiles instead of the square tiles of earlier games in the series. Many elements from Civilization IV and its expansion packs have been removed or changed, such as religion and espionage (although these were reintroduced in its subsequent expansions). The combat system has been overhauled, by removing stacking of military units and enabling cities to defend themselves by firing directly on nearby enemies. In addition, the maps contain computer-controlled city-states and non-player characters that are available for trade, diplomacy and conquest. A civilization's borders also expand one tile at a time, favoring more productive tiles, and roads now have a maintenance cost, making them much less common. The game features community, modding, and multiplayer elements.… Expand
  5. KTheSlayer
    Jun 18, 2021
    7
    The upgraded 4'th Civ. A lot of new mechanics, some of which are not that great
  6. KevLooney
    May 12, 2021
    7
    The game is inaccessible. I had at one point felt flow while playing though.
  7. kezzyhko
    Jan 9, 2021
    7
    ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍
  8. BobbyTarantino
    Aug 15, 2020
    7
    a man goes to the doctor. says he's depressed. he says life seems harsh and cruel. says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. the doctor says "the treatment is simple. the great clown pagliacci is in town tonight. go and see him, that should pick you up." the man bursts into tears. he says "but doctor... i am pagliacci."
  9. Sean-M
    Jul 23, 2020
    7
    This is a nice game, but comparing to CIV IV, it is not as good. 8 out of 10.
  10. EsteticBomzh
    Jun 23, 2020
    7
    Люблю эту игру из-за тех воспоминаний, которые она дарит, когда я о ней вспоминаю.
  11. Svetlendrius
    Jun 19, 2020
    7
    A good strategy for playing a party, with many varieties of victory, good dls, but a poor device for online games. Chilli game. Of the minuses, a long one, they never played out to the end.
  12. Wiebe
    Feb 27, 2020
    5
    Too much like the old games, but then without the previous DLCs, bad AI, easy to game, showing its age
  13. HaloFever
    Nov 22, 2019
    7
    This review is for Civ V complete, with the Gods & Kings and Brave New World expansions. The "vanilla" game is a stripped down version that offers very little game play. Fortunately for you, the game is so old that the complete edition is super cheap.

    Civ V is a delicacy. The game is missing core features from old civ games but adds a lot of great features for fans of strategy games.    This review is for Civ V complete, with the Gods & Kings and Brave New World expansions. The "vanilla" game is a stripped down version that offers very little game play. Fortunately for you, the game is so old that the complete edition is super cheap.

    Civ V is a delicacy. The game is missing core features from old civ games but adds a lot of great features for fans of strategy games. The good: the hex based strategic combat feels smart for the first time in civ history. No more stacking units to take a city or facing a stack of doom from the computer. You can win wars by playing smart. The bad: the game rewards only a few styles of play and does not offer a risk-reward for player choices.

    On that bad part, the game punishes the player for building an empire. Ever new city increases unhappiness to the point that any amount of cities greater than 4 leads to happiness problems in the early game. Conquering enemy cities generates even more unhappiness, and many a campaign of conquest ended with a peace treaty because of it. The notion of happiness if fine, but the execution is terrible. The result is that most players stick with civilizations that reward small empires.

    More on the bad. While some choices are essential, such as choosing to focus on a few cities to preserve happiness, others are inconsequential. For example, you can choose the Patronage social policy tree to lower the cost of gold needed to bribe city states. Or you can choose a policy tree that increases you gold earnings. Later on, you can choose the Freedom ideology to increase the generation of great people by 25%. Or you can choose Order and to increase the generation of great people by 25%. None of these choices have a drawback. Choosing Patronage will not hamper you ability to generate money or increase science. The same goes for Rationalism, which increases science with no extra cost to your civilization in happiness, culture, or gold generation. Every choice you make is a winner, which makes the choices extremely boring.

    A little side note on city states: you can buy their allegiance or do some very gamified quests to gain their allegiance. There is little nuance, and for the most part, the city states do little to enhance the game. For the most part, I used the city states as shields in the early game and then as a source of votes in the late game for a diplomatic victory. Overall, though, I think they clutter the map and are a sink for gold in the diplomatic game. I often half the number of city states or leave them out of the game entirely.

    Civ V has a great mod support from the community. If you are on PC. On Mac, you have access to many mods, but not the most game changing mods that fix all of the problems I mentioned above. On PC, you want to go with the Steam version (even though I find it bothersome to have to launch Steam to play a game) and find the Vox Populi mod. I would have preferred if the developer opened up the game to tweaking by the user as old civ games did. (For example, I edited some text files in Civ II to increase gold per turn so I wouldn't have to bother moving caravans. Fortunately Civ V automates caravans.) At least the mods add some life to the game. Mult-player still works and people do play it. Head over to the Civ V reddit page if you are looking to find people still playing.

    I would love to score this game higher as Civ is my favorite game series of all time (though I hated, hated, Civ III). Maybe if I would love the game more if had a PC instead of a Mac, and ran the Vox Populi mod. But I don't, and after hundreds of hours of gameplay, I can safely say this game has much less to offer than it seems, which is kind of sad.    … Expand
  14. Broyax
    Aug 9, 2019
    5
    J'ai passé pas mal d'heures sur ce Civ 5 avec les deux principales extensions et tous les **** à-côtés qui rajoutent un paquet de concurrents dans cette course à l'échalote mondiale (j'avais pris la Complete Edition à la faveur d'une solderie chez le gros).

    On apprécie l'interface bien pratique ma foi, de même que les jolis graphismes (pour un Civilization...) et on gère tout ça assez    J'ai passé pas mal d'heures sur ce Civ 5 avec les deux principales extensions et tous les **** à-côtés qui rajoutent un paquet de concurrents dans cette course à l'échalote mondiale (j'avais pris la Complete Edition à la faveur d'une solderie chez le gros).

    On apprécie l'interface bien pratique ma foi, de même que les jolis graphismes (pour un Civilization...) et on gère tout ça assez tranquillou... puis, on commence un tantinet à se faire chier... oui un petit peu quand même. On peste sur les villes ennemies qui sont devenues quasiment imprenables... si on peut plus guerroyer à son aise, alors à quoi bon finalement ?

    L'extension qui apporte la religion est particulièrement hermétique en ce qui concerne ses possibliités et ses unités et plus globalement, le jeu laisse l'impression éminemment désagréable de pédaler dans la semoule : privé de possibilités guerrières, on vivote et on s'échine à micro-gérer, micro-optimiser afin de viser l'une des autres conditions de victoire.

    Le jeu principal reste pourtant bien fait et s'avère plutôt plaisant mais en définitive un brin usant et répétitif sur le long terme.    … Expand
  15. Schism78
    Nov 27, 2018
    7
    It is an entertaining, a little addictive, but it can be boring once you have won a couple of games because by then the game will be easy for you.
    At first glance it seems a complex game and full of options, but once you get to know it it can become boring and simple.
    AI is one of the worst aspects, because it is very predictable and often irrational. You can not trust anyone because if    It is an entertaining, a little addictive, but it can be boring once you have won a couple of games because by then the game will be easy for you.
    At first glance it seems a complex game and full of options, but once you get to know it it can become boring and simple.
    AI is one of the worst aspects, because it is very predictable and often irrational.
    You can not trust anyone because if you neglect your army, it is very likely that they will betray you and declare war on you even though you have had a good relationship with that civilization.
    Sometimes they make you deal with unfair and meaningless trades.
    For all this, winning by conquest is the most entertaining and satisfying way to play because in the victories for culture or science is boring and you know that you will win after the industrial age since literally not much to do besides produce buildings and wait many turns to reach the limit year to win.
    The AI ​​is so incompetent as to do something to overcome the game. If your borders are on the other side of the map of another civilization with more power, it is likely that you declare war but can not do anything because it is on the other side of the map, and in the end it will make you sign a peace treaty with a Couple of luxury resources or a free city for you. That is why after those of more difficulty modes than "Normal" they put advantages to the AI, any player minimally experienced can win a game.    … Expand
  16. hiltong55
    Jul 16, 2018
    7
    Before I start my ramble I would like to say that only played the base game and from what I hear the game was greatly improved with DLC. My personal taste for turn-based strategy was shaped by the Total War series so naturally, I have that bias so take my opinion for what it is.

    With all that being said I can tell you that Civ V definitely has that one more turn, addictive nature to it.    Before I start my ramble I would like to say that only played the base game and from what I hear the game was greatly improved with DLC. My personal taste for turn-based strategy was shaped by the Total War series so naturally, I have that bias so take my opinion for what it is.

    With all that being said I can tell you that Civ V definitely has that one more turn, addictive nature to it. I actually really enjoyed the beginning moments of the game as you are trying to discover new blocks and getting into small battles with barbarians. This element of discovery and not knowing what is around you gives the game a sense of wonder. Building and expanding your nation is pretty easy to figure out without many handholdy tutorials in your face. You can find what you need to learn in the menu fairly easily. The technology upgrade system has a lot of different choices and is surprisingly detailed. The combat is kind of dull and simulation-based but that was to be expected. I was just hoping for some varied animations and creativity.

    The game for me really started to show its flaws around mid-game as I was discovering other nations. I quickly started to realize that the diplomacy system is not in anyway detailed or functional enough for what I would expect out of a civilization game. Trading seemed overly simplistic. If the nation likes you they will trade, if they don't they won't. From the very beginning, I was very confused as to what the winning conditions were and equally confused as to who I should be attacking and who I should be allying with (this just may be my lack of experience with this specific game).

    Overall I guess I can say I enjoyed the game but was disappointed with the overall mechanics of the AI. I would say to the developers that if this is the style of turn-based strategy that you are going to present you really need to focus on the depth and detail of your diplomacy. Also, just be a little more clear on what I should be focusing on to achieve victory. Good game 7/10.    … Expand
  17. Kbek
    May 15, 2018
    5
    I have been playing Civ since the first one, logged my share of hours on the second and third title also.

    Civ 5 has nothing more to offer in my opinion. It's not a bad game. Someone that never played Civ can discover the franchise and think it's a very good game but as the fifth of the serie, it does not offer enough to deserve more than a 5/10 in my opinion. Good game taken out of    I have been playing Civ since the first one, logged my share of hours on the second and third title also.

    Civ 5 has nothing more to offer in my opinion. It's not a bad game. Someone that never played Civ can discover the franchise and think it's a very good game but as the fifth of the serie, it does not offer enough to deserve more than a 5/10 in my opinion.

    Good game taken out of context but if you are going to push a franchise to it's 5th, 6th, etc.. game, you will get tired along the way. Anyway, for fans that were here since the beggining. Maybe they don't care about us and are aiming at the new players.    … Expand
  18. auditbadger
    Jul 30, 2017
    7
    I think that this is truly a unique game and I would recommend that if you are a fan of this type of genre then I think you should give this game a try.
  19. hassall
    May 14, 2017
    5
    This game is fun when you play it with friends but if you play it on your own it can get boring . Happiness is hard to understand, the units look all the same, and the game is slow.
  20. VoxMare
    Mar 15, 2017
    7
    Настоятельно рекомендую к покупке. В общем-то, я не знаю чего можно написать о Циве такого, все знают, что такое Цива, но выделю моменты, которые мне НЕ понравились.

    1. Боевые действия невыгодны. Может я неправильно воюю, но куда проще нафармить злата и подружиться со всеми взятками и уступками, чем тратить деньги на армию, время не перекидывание войск и вообще все осуждают войну. Мой    Настоятельно рекомендую к покупке. В общем-то, я не знаю чего можно написать о Циве такого, все знают, что такое Цива, но выделю моменты, которые мне НЕ понравились.

    1. Боевые действия невыгодны.
    Может я неправильно воюю, но куда проще нафармить злата и подружиться со всеми взятками и уступками, чем тратить деньги на армию, время не перекидывание войск и вообще все осуждают войну. Мой милитарист негодуетЪ

    2. Убрали статистику в конце игры, а ту, что оставили, порезали до примитива и это весьма плохо!

    3. Дипломатия здесь сводится к тому, кто больше заплатит. Можно, например, подкупить все города-государства на выборах ООН и победить в дипломатической победе, даже если вы будете страной-изгоем. Да и вообще, вся дипломатия тут -- один сплошной недостаток.

    4. Долгие загрузки. Игра довольна стара и почему она так долго грузится -- мне не понятно.

    5. Стратегический режим слишком громоздок, а некоторые значки неинформативны. В 6 с этим, вроде как, получше будет.

    6. Шпионаж бесполезен(времени на воровство технологии нужно столько, что к тому моменту вы уже на 10 технологий вперед уйдете), а зачем нужна религия -- я так и не понял, ее единственная польза -- в закупках за очки веры. А, ну и возможность создать веру в Бога-Императора радует.

    Если говорить в целом, то 4 часть мне нравилась больше. Может со временем, я смогу снова запустить Циву5 и наконец-то распробую ее сполна и тогда начну ее любить, но пока что 4 лучше. Но это не значит, что пятую часть нужно проигнорировать -- в пятой части много интересных фишек, как то новая система войск или "артефактов", которая позволяет создать страну-"курорт". А учитывая низкую цену игры -- то сомнений быть не должно, надо поиграть.    … Expand
  21. NP-complete
    Oct 25, 2016
    7
    The game is fun because it's a Civilization game, but I disprove many of the additions from Civilization IV. Changing your government to adapt your gameplay to the situation is never recommended because of the number of perks you'll lose (why did devs think civics are permanent perks? Politics do not work as RPGs), and the one-unit-per-tile rule is the source of absurd traffic jams. Also,The game is fun because it's a Civilization game, but I disprove many of the additions from Civilization IV. Changing your government to adapt your gameplay to the situation is never recommended because of the number of perks you'll lose (why did devs think civics are permanent perks? Politics do not work as RPGs), and the one-unit-per-tile rule is the source of absurd traffic jams. Also, I don't know why city-states cannot eventually become normal empires. I definitely prefer Civilization IV.… Expand
  22. godunow
    Sep 19, 2016
    7
    Great game, most of the changes (unstacking, switch to hexes) turned out good.

    Maybe policy system was bit better in Civ 4, and I will miss Leonard Nimoy saying "Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know what leads you forward and what holds you back and choose the path that leads to wisdom."
  23. TsukasaHiiragi
    Oct 9, 2015
    7
    Civilization V is the the best Civ game to date and its my favorite in the series, however that being said, there are some highly negative aspects to the game, and that is mainly because the A.I is programmed to cheat at higher difficulty settings instead of being programmed to adapt to player strategies, and this has been a problem since the very first Civilization games and hasn'tCivilization V is the the best Civ game to date and its my favorite in the series, however that being said, there are some highly negative aspects to the game, and that is mainly because the A.I is programmed to cheat at higher difficulty settings instead of being programmed to adapt to player strategies, and this has been a problem since the very first Civilization games and hasn't really improved that much - okay, at least the AI doesn't spawn/teleport nukes next to your cities in this one....but still....

    I'd really hope to see a really decent AI in a future game, something that is a challenge to the player, but without getting insane bonuses, or spawning instant units or more or less breaking the rules that the player is forced to follow - such as having extremely large armies whilst ignoring caps, happiness and upkeep or instantly building wonders when you have 1 or 2 turns left on building them yourself.

    Playing at higher difficulty settings the cheating starts to become obvious and heavily lets the game down - we've all witnessed it, there isn't any denying it. Even Firaxas themselves have openly admitted it that is just easier to program AI with bonuses and 'unseen' abilities working in the background to give the player more challenging gameplay, this is fine when its hidden and not openly obvious, and that is where Civilization V fails the most, because it is that obvious.

    Sid Meier//Firaxas - I openly dare you to create a proper adaptable AI for Civilization VI without resorting to these cheap AI tricks of the trade. Give us something that can best Civilization V -

    For new players to 4X games - Civilization V is the best of the best, but just be warned on its infamous AI.

    + Best turn-based strategy
    + Best in class 4X
    + Classic and loved franchise
    + High replayability

    - Poor AI
    - AI cheats at high difficulty settings    … Expand
  24. jeanphilt
    May 27, 2015
    6
    Background :
    I bought the complete edition with all DLCs on the Humble Bundle store for about 15$. Younger, I played similar games a little but I've not played any since years. I played the default game mode using all default settings (difficulty beginner). Usually I rarely rush a game but this game feels more like work than entertainment so I rushed it like I would rush finishing a task    Background :
    I bought the complete edition with all DLCs on the Humble Bundle store for about 15$. Younger, I played similar games a little but I've not played any since years. I played the default game mode using all default settings (difficulty beginner). Usually I rarely rush a game but this game feels more like work than entertainment so I rushed it like I would rush finishing a task and it took me 2 days (16 hours) to finish the game.

    Review :
    I'm pretty new to Civilization so obviously I don't review it like a fan would. Personally, I think that they should change the default settings to make the game simpler/shorter and more fast paced. Despite the in-game tips provided, the complexity felt overwhelming. I know you can somehow change the settings but I would like the default settings to be more "user-friendly". I'm a programmer and I hardly see how a casual gamer can start being interested in this game, except a kid with tons of hours in front of him. Personally, I would prefer a game where the focus is more on the war and less on culture/religion/faith/science/happiness.    … Expand
  25. Jumbles69
    Apr 14, 2015
    6
    CIV1 was the best game ever made! Until CIV2, then CIV3 and CIV4 (however I miss my throne room and palace from the earlier iterations.
    CIV5 looks great, however lacks the single biggest facet of realism, that all the previous iterations provided. Distance. There are so many different civilizations on our planet and they are brilliantly diverse. By allowing every nation to travel across    CIV1 was the best game ever made! Until CIV2, then CIV3 and CIV4 (however I miss my throne room and palace from the earlier iterations.
    CIV5 looks great, however lacks the single biggest facet of realism, that all the previous iterations provided. Distance. There are so many different civilizations on our planet and they are brilliantly diverse. By allowing every nation to travel across water in Civ5, so early and so easily in the game, there is no diversity. Everyone grows and learns at the same rate.
    The early Mayans were one of the most advanced cultures on the planet and then the Greeks and romans, further down the tracks the English where it was said the sun never set on the empire.
    All of these were achievable in all earlier versions of the game. Now, you cannot, in any way provide the single greatest part of being human, diversity. In CIV5 its everyone, at the same technological level (or ridiculously close to it), for eternity. No religious path, no progressive path and no dark ages.
    While the game is pretty, has nice no stacking dynamics and makes even the fastest system chug under its behemoth of calculation, there is no way to be any different to any one else.
    I've clocked hundreds of hours playing each version of Civilization, though after 40 playing this, I wish I'd never bought it. I've tried so hard to enjoy it, but once you've played it once, nothing ever changes    … Expand
  26. BrightShadowA
    Nov 19, 2014
    5
    Let's be clear, I've been a fan of this franchise for a very long time now. I am a great fan of strategy games and relish playing against others. This game, despite being fascinating at first (It's a big change from civilization 4, whether that's a good thing or not will be discussed later in the comment) but very quickly, the only thrill you'll recieve from civilization 5 is from mods andLet's be clear, I've been a fan of this franchise for a very long time now. I am a great fan of strategy games and relish playing against others. This game, despite being fascinating at first (It's a big change from civilization 4, whether that's a good thing or not will be discussed later in the comment) but very quickly, the only thrill you'll recieve from civilization 5 is from mods and multiplayer.

    Multiplayer is fun, I've poured more than one thousand hours into it and quite enjoyed it. But it's sub par, and there is an extreme lack of innovation. Most reviewers usually review the single player game, and since that's the case I'll cover that segment first. Single player get's boring quick, the AI doesn't become much smarter in later difficulties and just cheats with higher perks. The game is unbalanced as hell and you can basically win any war against the AI no matter what difficulty or scenario. In the base game, there is no religion, no spying and relatively boring social policies (By the way, some of it is just poor thinking, there is absolutely NO reason why you don't grab some then the other). The game, at a glance is fun and quite friendly to new unexperienced players, but if your looking for a decent game as a down to heart civilization fan you will be disappointed.

    The DLC mongering is terrible, there are so many DLCs (some even demanding you pay 5$ for one civilization) Regrettebly, if you want to play with religion, tourism, spies, and so on you need pay over 60$! Don't even get me started by the "map packs" which are for some reason client side when it comes to multiplayer(Yes, if the host has a generation configuration that the players don't have, you can't play the game... It's not like the maps offer any new content that would make those who don't have the DLC incompatible)
    Diplomacy is shortsided, it's not much better then civilization 4, but there should be more innovation on civilization 5's part. City states can be useful in singleplayer, but sometimes actually get in the way of expansion. Speaking of which, I love the new city bombardment and health, but the health is way too overpowered. In late games units can't even touch a city, even when the city is completely surrounded.
    Now on to multiplayer; the multiplayer is basically what you should play for, the AI is blunt and uninteresting but even the multiplayer experience has it's own flaws. For one thing, when playing against others does the inbalances in the game show, some civilizations are overpowered, you can win early game wars by spamming ranged units (Yeah, warrior versus archer. Archer wins!) which completely defies strategic logic. Some resort to what we players call "turtling" and "wonder hoarding (the less vulgar version of the term) to address those who sit on their corner of the map with 1-2 cities and take all the wonders (Buildings that can only be built once in the world that give large bonuses) and beeline technologies. In the end, the people who just turtle and hit next turn win over those who actually try to play the game. Granted, turtling can be done legitimately (With none of the exploits or anything) but most don't really care about everyone else's game. There are many glitches, one that hasn't been fixed launch until AFTER their "Sid Meier's Beyond Earth" is released. The particular glitch I'm talking about was the "trade glitch" were people can basically demand and accept anything from another player (Pretty much everything they had) without the other player even having a say in the whole matter. That's just one of many glitches that Fireaxis appearently doesn't care about, as they fix that ONE glitch after the next game has been released (Thanks Fireaxis). The community on multiplayer, though some are legit, are mostly trolls, kids who are drawn by the increased simplicity, exploiters and those who will quit on a minutes notice. City states are abused, exploits are used... and I almost forgot... no MULTIPLAYER MOD SUPPORT. This angers me because independent modders have been able to do this unofficially, Firaxis has done this in the past and since mods fix and enhance the game it seems insane that they don't allow us multiplayer users to play with mods without a third party program. Even with DLCs (You pay more then double the price for original game for these) multiplayer and singleplayer is below average. Now, let me remind you, I love this game and I have played multiplayer vigorously but I am tired of the DLC mongering, the catering to simplicity, the lack of innovation, none of these problems EVER being addressed. I rarely ever finish a multiplayer game because people crash left and right late game (and sometimes early game), sometimes games freeze up randomly and other times the game crashes when one person experiences difficulty. To sum up, this game is not worth buying without mods or the overpriced and numerous DLCs. If you are new to the franchise I recommend you buy previous titles first.    … Expand
  27. ully
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    This game is alright. It lacks the complexity of the full Civ V with all DLC. This means it will improve with DLC which will be really expensive so thanks 2K
  28. Dozmo
    Oct 14, 2014
    6
    Oh dear. While the graphics have improved, many core gameplay elements have been changed from prior versions of the Civ series, and not typically for the better. For example, you can now only put one unit on each tile - which makes moving your army a massive chore compared to previous games. City-states also require a lot more micromanagement than previous games where you dealt only withOh dear. While the graphics have improved, many core gameplay elements have been changed from prior versions of the Civ series, and not typically for the better. For example, you can now only put one unit on each tile - which makes moving your army a massive chore compared to previous games. City-states also require a lot more micromanagement than previous games where you dealt only with the big empires. All in all, it feels like the game has been dumbed down, with too much focus on graphics over gameplay, relative to the previous titles in the series. If you haven't played strategy games before, you can try it. If you have, though, you're better off with Civ 4, or one of the older games in the series.… Expand
  29. pierrem
    Sep 28, 2014
    6
    This game series needs some work. They seem to try to do the same game over and over, and this one gets boring quickly. Not much to tell against it, it is clearly not bad, but it is not fun either. Hex & no stack is a good feature (for combat units, for others it is not), but otherwise, what changed since the first of the series? 6 is a bit harsh, but punishes the lack of improvements &This game series needs some work. They seem to try to do the same game over and over, and this one gets boring quickly. Not much to tell against it, it is clearly not bad, but it is not fun either. Hex & no stack is a good feature (for combat units, for others it is not), but otherwise, what changed since the first of the series? 6 is a bit harsh, but punishes the lack of improvements & the DLC politics.… Expand
  30. XenonGTX
    Sep 9, 2014
    7
    It feels rushed. A lot of hardware compatability issues. Over all a unique experience. Great mods and scripts available. Features many civs and map choices. Pushes your CPU to the limit though.
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best PC Game of 2010
5
#5 Most Discussed PC Game of 2010
3
#3 Most Shared PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 70 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 70
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 70
  3. Negative: 0 out of 70
  1. Thunderbolt
    Apr 3, 2011
    90
    Despite my gripe with the animations in multiplayer, Civilization V is the perfect entry for the series' debut in the current generation of gaming.
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  2. games(TM)
    Jan 20, 2011
    80
    We're just a little bit disappointed that this Civ evolution isn't as polished as we'd expected. [Issue#102, p.108]
  3. Eurogamer Spain
    Jan 15, 2011
    80
    An old franchise that knows who to evolve to adapt to modern times. Its latest new ideas might not be perfect, but serve the purpose of making the game even more interesting.
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