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. asfj
    Apr 18, 2014
    6
    Not replayable. Why? because, except for their leader appearances and city overviews, all civs are almost the same, same improvement, same policy, same research, same army... After knowing this fact, you will know how hollow this game is and no any desire to play the game again using other civs.
    In addition, the battle part is indeed the game's weakness, you have to control every army one    Not replayable. Why? because, except for their leader appearances and city overviews, all civs are almost the same, same improvement, same policy, same research, same army... After knowing this fact, you will know how hollow this game is and no any desire to play the game again using other civs.
    In addition, the battle part is indeed the game's weakness, you have to control every army one by one and see their laggy animations. When in later game, this is more disturbing so that I just gift most of them to city states.
    IMO, This game is about parameters balancing (you play with numbers), mainly food, culture, science, gold and fairy. you control them by actions, mainly building, diplomacy, research and policy. And you enjoy how wonderful values you can achieve.
    So, if you prefer more direct stimulation like graphics diversity in many RTS games, Civ is not for you. In graphics, Civ looks very repetitive. The difference between civs are distinct parameter enhancing.    … Expand
  2. Zahrada
    Feb 24, 2014
    6
    The original game is fun to play and it delivers what the modern iteration of Civ franchise should deliver. The biggest flaw are bugs and technical issues, which were resolved later. They were significant however. As time went, many things were fixed and added in the expansions, but the start wasn't smooth. If you want to play this game, I would therefore recommend getting it with theThe original game is fun to play and it delivers what the modern iteration of Civ franchise should deliver. The biggest flaw are bugs and technical issues, which were resolved later. They were significant however. As time went, many things were fixed and added in the expansions, but the start wasn't smooth. If you want to play this game, I would therefore recommend getting it with the expansion packs. As the original "vanilla" version, the game has many problems and my impressions were mixed in the beginning.… Expand
  3. Ecresis
    Jun 24, 2014
    6
    I play Civilization since the Civ II, and this is another great game. It is even more awesome with other human players, where diplomatics are involved.

    I would love to give it more points, but unfortunately, I'm sick of the DLC system. If we look at it without knowing there are DLC's (Gods and Kings, Brave New World) and out of context, we could say it's a 9/10. So if you're new to Civ,    I play Civilization since the Civ II, and this is another great game. It is even more awesome with other human players, where diplomatics are involved.

    I would love to give it more points, but unfortunately, I'm sick of the DLC system. If we look at it without knowing there are DLC's (Gods and Kings, Brave New World) and out of context, we could say it's a 9/10. So if you're new to Civ, it's worth your money. Now I highly recommend buying the full pack on Steam with the DLC's, which is now very cheap, because it adds so much to the game, that you can't go back to the normal one after that.

    There goes my negative point. Why the hell didn't they put those add-ons in the first place ? I know the answer is "money" but for Civ-addicts like me, this is an insult. I managed to get the extension for a minimum amount of money but Gods and Kings was over 30€ when it came out, this is ridiculous for a bunch of options that could have been put in the early game.

    The Civilization franchise has always been good, we enjoy the new combat system, not allowing you to stack 1 billion units like it was in Civ IV, we enjoy the new culture system (replaced in Brave New World). I miss the cultural expansion of your cities, sometimes swallowing other players cities if your culture was massive, but let's say they needed to make it different, it's not a bad thing.

    Conclusion : With the DLC's it's much better, if you buy it, buy it all, but try to get in on sale, because the full price is exaggerated.    … Expand
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. Jollyolfun
    Nov 18, 2022
    6
    i played this for roughly 4 hours in one sitting and then quit but it was pretty dope
  8. 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.
  9. bernlin2000
    Nov 14, 2012
    5
    Pretty disappointing: at release time, it felt like some of the features might not be finished, and the game overall felt pretty stripped down. I could tell this was not developed by someone who had a particular passion for the series, and who got caught up in shaking things up, forgetting to maintain some of that good complexity we had in Civ 4. The new, more tactical, combat was anPretty disappointing: at release time, it felt like some of the features might not be finished, and the game overall felt pretty stripped down. I could tell this was not developed by someone who had a particular passion for the series, and who got caught up in shaking things up, forgetting to maintain some of that good complexity we had in Civ 4. The new, more tactical, combat was an interesting idea...too bad the AI couldn't figure it out. I miss the old city management of Civ 4...it feels more bland and I feel like I have less control. Also, cities feel far more static than they use to: border expansion feels slower and is much less noticeable. Let's hope they can do a better job for the next iteration...I'll stick to Civ 4 until then.… Expand
  10. goshnya
    Sep 28, 2010
    5
    Unfortunately, this is yet another case of "let's release the game now, and patch it later." The AI is, frankly, incomplete, the game is unstable, and some selections in the options menu don't even work. This will undoubtedly become a great game once it's patched and the modders do their magic -- the same happened to Civ 4. However, even hardcore fans like me will be disappointed by theUnfortunately, this is yet another case of "let's release the game now, and patch it later." The AI is, frankly, incomplete, the game is unstable, and some selections in the options menu don't even work. This will undoubtedly become a great game once it's patched and the modders do their magic -- the same happened to Civ 4. However, even hardcore fans like me will be disappointed by the state the game is currently in.… Expand
  11. Shaddock
    Sep 23, 2010
    5
    If you have never played another Civilization game before or found the others too complex then this is for you. Other wise CIV V just takes away too many of the more detailed and nuanced parts from previous games, especially items such as religion that really added a lot more depth to the game. Also missing is the ability to see the your diplomatic ratings and relationships in order toIf you have never played another Civilization game before or found the others too complex then this is for you. Other wise CIV V just takes away too many of the more detailed and nuanced parts from previous games, especially items such as religion that really added a lot more depth to the game. Also missing is the ability to see the your diplomatic ratings and relationships in order to understand your neighbors. You can see current deal but have no sense of why or if the other civilizations like you or not. Also you cant make your own saves during multiplayer and need to rely on autosaves, and you have no other option other than simultaneous turns when playing multiplayer. This option when using the combat model simply does not work and feels more like an RTS or console game than what many of us have grown to love about CIV. If you have not played a CIV game before start here, if you own CIV IV stick with that.… Expand
  12. morpj
    Oct 6, 2010
    5
    After 32 hours of playing I have to put this game aside until the bugs are fixed. I am playing on a large map and I'm experiencing crashes when loading saved games, plus the game occasionally hangs while AI are taking their turns. I can't believe all the "professional" reviewers overlooked the bugs! It is all definitely worse in the modern age, when there is lots going on. The AI is alsoAfter 32 hours of playing I have to put this game aside until the bugs are fixed. I am playing on a large map and I'm experiencing crashes when loading saved games, plus the game occasionally hangs while AI are taking their turns. I can't believe all the "professional" reviewers overlooked the bugs! It is all definitely worse in the modern age, when there is lots going on. The AI is also very, very poor - diplomacy is broken, and the Persians just gifted me half their civilization (something like 20 cities) after I attacked with only 6 mediocre units. Very annoying.… Expand
  13. panbient
    Oct 6, 2010
    5
    All these 90+ reviews have me wondering if the reviewer ever made it past the Industrial age and into the endgame.

    Out of the box Civilization 5 is a disappointment, the endgame is bloated beyond words. On the lowest settings possible I still watch the world drawing in tile by tile (with a 1GB Radeon HD 4890) but I don't mind, it's a strategy title. What I do mind is the average 3    All these 90+ reviews have me wondering if the reviewer ever made it past the Industrial age and into the endgame.

    Out of the box Civilization 5 is a disappointment, the endgame is bloated beyond words. On the lowest settings possible I still watch the world drawing in tile by tile (with a 1GB Radeon HD 4890) but I don't mind, it's a strategy title. What I do mind is the average 3 minute wait between turns because the ONLY time you can turn off combat animations is if you happen to click the much smaller 'advanced options' button while setting up your game then scrolling down to find the check box.

    Diplomacy is a farce, for the past 4 titles it was always right there in clear view and easy to interpret. In a half dozen play throughs I have yet to figure out a way to find out how the other cultures feel about each other aside from noting Pacts of Secrecy they have with me. Even finding the 'Global Politics' requires you to poke down through 3 screens and yet there's no information about the other cultures besides how they relate to yours. The lack of detail and attention to diplomacy renders the AI 'personalities' at best minimal and on average completely non-existent. The worse though, is the victory. What a let down / slap in the face. After having to sit through the first 20-30 seconds of that intro animation every time I tried loading the game I expected a little something at the end. instead - a splash scree with 4 tabs - that's IT. There's more animation involved in transporting your spaceship parts to your Capital(some) than there is when you actually launch it (none at all).

    The first one if your victory image WHEE!!! the next are the global demographics, best and worse only, no actual way to view demographics by culture. Then you get your score, and the final tab is a player hall of fame. There's no graph or replay - elements that have been STANDARD since the original Civilization - NINETEEN YEARS AGO. It completely removes the players ability to see what else was happening in the world while they were establishing themselves at the start. Even with all that negativity this game is super fun and that's what makes the gripes even more disappointing. If this was a brand new game from some unknown developer it wouldn't get the critical praise this NAME is getting. As the 5th entry in one of the longest standing and most popular series made, shipping with these issues / expecting the mod community to finish up their title is just not cool. Maybe if the game would have actually shipped with a manual I'd be able to figure out where or why my gripes stem from, especially while waiting for my next turn, but they stripped that out too.

    Thankfully I still have Civ4 installed.    … Expand
  14. Ultimata
    Oct 13, 2010
    5
    Sid Meier has always prided himself on creating fun. This product is a noble effort to improve the Civ franchise, which has probably brough more fun into the world than any other, but ultimately it is an incomplete product. If you haven't played Civilization before, play Civ4, it's better, on balance. And, alas, more fun.

    Civilization V fixes most of the problems that plagued    Sid Meier has always prided himself on creating fun. This product is a noble effort to improve the Civ franchise, which has probably brough more fun into the world than any other, but ultimately it is an incomplete product. If you haven't played Civilization before, play Civ4, it's better, on balance. And, alas, more fun.

    Civilization V fixes most of the problems that plagued Civilization IV. Gone are the 'Stacks of Doom', outlawed by the '1 unit per tile' rule. Economies are again driven by the land, not by cottages or great people. Happiness has been consolidated to an economy-wide focus, rather than a city-centric focus, which saves time. Geographic constraints on city expansion have been relaxed. The largely pointless and annoying disease/nutrition system is gone. The combat system has been beefed up, with ranged units and squares replaced by hexes (why wasn't that part of Civ 1?). The need to check diplomacy every turn to trade techs efficiently has been replaced by a system of collaborative research agreements. And some entertainment has been added through single city states. These are all substantial leaps forward.

    The game fails because despite all of these improvements, I can attest after 80 hours of gameplay, it just isn't fun. The four fun-killers are:

    First, the focus has clearly moved towards military conquest. The AI declares war on you because it can - the United States wants to conquer Canada in CivVWorld. But the AI sucks at war. If you can build an army of 6 units you can hold off an infinite attack from an enemy civ. Build an army of 12 units and you can advance on 2 fronts, which is enough to win constant war against everyone. To be fair, Civ AI has ALWAYS made for a poor man's wargame, but that has never really been the point before (well maybe in Civ 3, but ...), rather the fun has come from building up the civ and watching it thrive. Which brings me to ...

    Second, foolish humans, such as my good self, have always enjoyed the Civ franchise because of the micro payoffs, the "just one more turns" ... This game shows all the hallmarks of squished or hurried design. Tech advances are greeted by quotes both less sage and delivered less compellingly than Leonard Nimoy's efforts in Civ IV. The tech payoffs are sometimes nonsensible - the technology of 'Telegraph' lets you build battleships, miltary based and Rio de Janeiro's Christo Redento. Stop. Most of the Great Wonders confer largely irrelevant advantages, which is perhaps why Firaxis got rid of the beautiful wonder movies and replaced them with inane pictures, so no more do you curse and punch the wall when some other civ beats you by 1 turn. And the rewards for victory ... well, I wouldn't want to spoil the disappointment for you. Game designers everywhere need to understand that if you play for 20+ hours to achieve some condition that they set, you expect some quid pro quo.

    Third, there are design flaws - things that clearly just don't work the way any sane person would make a game work. Such as the maritime city states that provide a quantum of food to each of your cities, no matter how many cities there are in your civilization. Or the 'bonus' resources you wish you didn't have so you could just build a farm. Or the fact that in 1820 you should still build cavalry spearman so you can upgrade them to knights, then rifle-armed cavalry, because the upgrade system is so cheap. Fourth, there are bugs. Lots of bugss. Suffice to say that when you've played a game for 20 hours pushing for a domination victory and then find you can't kill your last opponent because the 10 turn peace treaty you signed 200 turns ago is still in effect, you'll probably consign this game to the dustbin, as I did. I've know doubt these will be fixed in time. So wait before you buy.

    In summary, I see in this product noble efforts to improve on civ 4 that, on balance, failed. The game is less likely to keep me up until 4am pressing the 'Next turn' button than did Civ IV because I care less about my little baby civs then I used to, and find it more inane beating up on my supid enemies than in the past. Nice try Firaxis, but no good. Thumbs down.    … Expand
  15. Everyone
    Oct 18, 2010
    5
    Civ2 was amazing, Civ3 and Civ4? Amazing. Civ5? At first glance, it is equally amazing. But this feeling doesn't last. Previous Civ games kept their charm after hundreds of hours of investment. By your second time through a match of Civ5, you'll start feeling frustrated.

    The good: Graphics are great, especially the diplomat renderings. The sound effects are mostly the same as old civ    Civ2 was amazing, Civ3 and Civ4? Amazing. Civ5? At first glance, it is equally amazing. But this feeling doesn't last. Previous Civ games kept their charm after hundreds of hours of investment. By your second time through a match of Civ5, you'll start feeling frustrated.

    The good: Graphics are great, especially the diplomat renderings. The sound effects are mostly the same as old civ games, giving some nice nostalgic moments. The soundtrack list is huge. Combat is an enormous improvement over old games: the combination of hexagonal tiles, and no unit stacking makes it much more dynamic than previous Civ iterations. The bad: Simplification! Civs aren't action games. Civ players don't want action games. They want a cerebral experience that challenges them over and over again, each time they play. Firaxis has taken steps to streamline the experience that end up detracting from the game as a whole. Civ IV's religion and civic system is now a non-dynamic culture system, where you spend accumulated culture points for a once-off gameplay bonus. It is a step backwards. Diplomacy is terrible: the opaque system leaves you in the dark about what is going on. Want to enter a pact of secrecy? Uh, sure... I have no idea what that is!

    The ugly: The soundtrack! Civ4's soundtrack was a masterpiece. The choice to progress the time period of origin for music based on the age of your civilization lent a feeling of progression to the game, as you ushered your civilization from the ancient era, to the future era. In Civ5, the soundtrack is now based on the (real life) origin of your civilization, and further whether it is engaged in war or peace. While the song-list is enormous (possibly larger than Civ 4's), you'll find that if you play a mainly peaceful civilization, you listen to the same songs from 4000BC to 2050AD. The fact of the matter is this: after months of Civ4, I still loved the soundtrack. After a week of Civ5, the soundtrack had become repetetive to the point that I started muting it.

    The REALLY ugly: Remember how bad Civ4 used to tank your system when the AI was thinking during the later portions of the game? Remember how your computer would slow to a crawl for 20 seconds when you clicked 'next turn'? Civ5 is worse. By the 1800s, clicking 'next turn' becomes a dreaded thing: it means your computer will be out of commission for 30-60 seconds while the AI slogs through what it wants to do next. I find that post-1800AD, I typically spend more time reading stuff on my cell phone, or watching TV, than I do during my turns. It is bad enough that after playing through my first four or five full-length games, I had no desire at all to take another game into the later stages, as it was just tedious. Don't blame this on my system: it was built recently, and is more than capable.

    Add to this a large list of other bugs, such as(the camera wildly swinging around as the game auto-selects units available for action from across the map, even though it is already positioned directly over another such unit, and you have a game that wasn't ready for primetime. For the civilization series, 5 was a step forward, and multiple leaps backwards. If you have a hankering for a good game of civilization, fire up Civ4. You'll have a better time.

    On top of all of this is the single worst part of the game: the computer AI takes entirely too long to think on its turn. Civ4's early days had a similar problem, with the late-game turning into a slog-fest as clicking 'next turn' inevitably resulted in anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds of down-time during which your computer tanks to a crawl. By the end game, I typically find myself spending more time reading news on my cell phone than actually playing the game. As such, it got to the point where playing past 1800AD was more chore than fun. (Don't try to    … Expand
  16. DGDSN
    Oct 19, 2010
    5
    I have never played Civilization I, II, III, or IV.
    I decided to try the demo and I was hooked.
    However, after a few long games I think it is pretty apparent that the AI is severely lacking. AI players don't appear to be motivated by anything but expanding their territory and conquest. They don't appear to ever attempt a victory through, diplomacy, culture, or technology. The    I have never played Civilization I, II, III, or IV.
    I decided to try the demo and I was hooked.
    However, after a few long games I think it is pretty apparent that the AI is severely lacking.
    AI players don't appear to be motivated by anything but expanding their territory and conquest. They don't appear to ever attempt a victory through, diplomacy, culture, or technology. The leader/diplomacy screens look great and are fully voiced, but the AI doesn't seem to respond to diplomacy in any meaningful way.
    Basically, in single-player, any type of victory besides conquest, and any action besides building up your military is a waste of time.    … Expand
  17. rave_rd
    Mar 8, 2011
    5
    I have to say that this 5 is hard for me to give, mostly because I'm a big fan of the Civ series, but this game has so many bugs in it (still, even now after Firaxis patched the game a couple of weeks ago) that it's almost impossible to enjoy. And believe me I'm trying to--If you can get through all of the glitches and crashes (I've had to force quit several times or just end up on myI have to say that this 5 is hard for me to give, mostly because I'm a big fan of the Civ series, but this game has so many bugs in it (still, even now after Firaxis patched the game a couple of weeks ago) that it's almost impossible to enjoy. And believe me I'm trying to--If you can get through all of the glitches and crashes (I've had to force quit several times or just end up on my desktop when I'm trying to START a game) the gameplay itself is quite good...
    Yes there are a few things missing for fans of Civ IV (I particularly miss the religion aspect...as has been mentioned many times elsewhere) but the gameplay seems solid...the AI hasn't given me too many problems and I like the fact that only one unit is able to be in a square at a time (no more gigantic stacks of units slowing gameplay down).....but in the end...it's a fun game in principle (thus my 5), but with so many flaws that it's really hard to sit down and enjoy.

    I hope to change this review in the future if it gets fixed    … Expand
  18. Lavres
    Apr 26, 2011
    5
    Too much bugs in this game!. In Big maps is impossible to finish due to recurrent crash. It's fun, but too frustrating when you couldn't load a game in turn 400. I hope that Sid Meier fix the game!
  19. ravenblade
    Dec 3, 2010
    5
    The good things first, wars are more fun now and less of a dice game. It does look really good in DX11 mode. Alot things have been streamlined and even so playing it still gives you the typical Civilization feeling. However there is alot of things which clearly were not mentioned in official reviews at all. Despite best intentions the game is still littered with exploits, game-stoppingThe good things first, wars are more fun now and less of a dice game. It does look really good in DX11 mode. Alot things have been streamlined and even so playing it still gives you the typical Civilization feeling. However there is alot of things which clearly were not mentioned in official reviews at all. Despite best intentions the game is still littered with exploits, game-stopping bugs and ghastly performance issues being the result of poor optimization with the latter two coming to bear in games featuring large and huge maps. The UI is tends to be a cause for frequent lock-ups and confusions and also feels rather clunky. The AI behaves rather erratic and illogical, refuses to cooperate and to be offensive altogether even when it would be far better for it to do so. On the sound side there seems to be a step back altogether, whereas Civ4 would offer era-typical scores for your cultures it is now just back to using licensed scores of somewhat awkward choice and mediocre quality.… Expand
  20. ashlambert
    Dec 19, 2010
    5
    One word to describe Civ 5 perfectly: simplification. Or maybe: disappointment.
    They should really have called this game Civ Revolutions 2, because that is how it plays like.
    As a long term Civfanatic I played every Civgame since Civ I, and I can't help but feel terribly disappointed by Firaxis newest game. Although, after the bad Colo game I saw it coming. The Major flaws imho: hexagon    One word to describe Civ 5 perfectly: simplification. Or maybe: disappointment.
    They should really have called this game Civ Revolutions 2, because that is how it plays like.
    As a long term Civfanatic I played every Civgame since Civ I, and I can't help but feel terribly disappointed by Firaxis newest game. Although, after the bad Colo game I saw it coming.
    The Major flaws imho: hexagon tiles that look weird, the one unit / one tile - rule - come on, as if that is realistic...it complicates a lot of things to the point where I feel bothered playing this game, it's a real bummer. The compulsory Steam - love it or hate it. Also there are too few Civs in vanilla but this can be fixed, as well as the missing wonder movies.
    The half baked civic system isn't worth mentioning.
    Imho one should wait 1-2 years til the modders fixed the game to a point where it is playable.    … Expand
  21. giskard
    Mar 6, 2011
    5
    I got this game shortly after it was released and quickly realised this was not a Civilization game at all. The game play of this game consists mostly of next next next with the AI handling most things for you. All the challenges and fun of the series has been stripped away and replaced by want feels like a console version of Civilization. Also dipsite the patches, the slow down and lackI got this game shortly after it was released and quickly realised this was not a Civilization game at all. The game play of this game consists mostly of next next next with the AI handling most things for you. All the challenges and fun of the series has been stripped away and replaced by want feels like a console version of Civilization. Also dipsite the patches, the slow down and lack around the 15th century is still so bad, I doubt I will be able to finish it. So far I have lacked the will power to try. Civilization 1 and Civilization 4 remain my 2 favourites, just so you know where I am coming from and what I liked about the Civ series.

    Fans of the old Civ games seem to have a universal hate for Civilization 5, where as new fans that have never seen it have no idea whats missing and so like it.    … Expand
  22. kalimah
    Feb 5, 2011
    5
    Owned every Civ game since they started coming out. They ruined this one by making it PC and console. The game is watered down so the console can handle it. It's a shame when they ruin great games for the PC because the console can't handle what the PC can offer. Sorry Sid! Console games are the PCs little retarded brother that can't handle BIGBOY games!
  23. Viper
    Oct 7, 2011
    5
    This game has all the potential to be a great game. A new game play concept, nice graphics, easy to use (unpack and play) etc etc. However, the tech tree is what makes the games in the series so enjoyable (what to develop next, what new buildings, wonders and units will it enable etc). In Civilization V this tech tree is way to short. Whilst the early developments are similar to the olderThis game has all the potential to be a great game. A new game play concept, nice graphics, easy to use (unpack and play) etc etc. However, the tech tree is what makes the games in the series so enjoyable (what to develop next, what new buildings, wonders and units will it enable etc). In Civilization V this tech tree is way to short. Whilst the early developments are similar to the older games, it takes few inventions in the later years to develop flight and eventually win through a space race. I have reinstalled Civilization IV with its expansion sets to really immerse in a realistic tech tree (and accept the fact of huge stacked armies).… Expand
  24. bohb
    Mar 9, 2011
    5
    CIV 2 was a better game in almost every single aspect !!
    they have taken the very soul of the franchise and turned it into something quite abhorent... something to look at. I was proud of being a fan of a game that was just that; a game.
    PLEASE stop trying to improve the graphics evry time! do chess or card games benefit from pretty pictures? NO!
    let us all pray that CIV-VI will one for the fans
  25. ozumaro
    Apr 16, 2011
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I may surprise some of you, but waiting more than15 minutes to download an install a game when I actually bought a CD rom is just disgusting. I would not even comment on the game. How come I cannot score it as less than 4?… Expand
  26. tobas1
    May 30, 2011
    5
    Meh - definitely not what I was hoping for - It's still fun to play for few hours but when i finished 2nd one like 20 times (my favorite game for a loooong time -strong 10) and was little disappointed with 3 (would give it around 7), but hooked again with 4 (9 in my scale) this one definitely didn't went in good direction for me. It has few nice new elements (like hex fields, nationMeh - definitely not what I was hoping for - It's still fun to play for few hours but when i finished 2nd one like 20 times (my favorite game for a loooong time -strong 10) and was little disappointed with 3 (would give it around 7), but hooked again with 4 (9 in my scale) this one definitely didn't went in good direction for me. It has few nice new elements (like hex fields, nation specialization or barbarian activity) but a lot more were disappointing or just plain bad - happiness was definitely this thing for me - it is just unlogic why it had so global scale - i mean i could understand that if i have 1 revolting city I would get some negative bonus for every other city in empire - but we do not have this kind of mechanics here - here every new citizen gives negative impact doesn't matter if he was born in reachest city at plannet or poorest one with blazing borders- and when i build coloseum in 1 city it makes my every citizen little happier - the hell why??? It's like I should be happy when I live in New York that stadium was built in Denver - and like I would even care. Because of this global impact of happiness this killed my main tactics - to be an expansionist asap- you can't -every new city gives bigger negative impact than it can produce hapiness in next 30 turns. Another thing coming from hapiness is conquering cities - when you do that the only intelligent step is to burn it to the ground and place right away new city in the same spot - because you pretty fast will have population boom there anyway (especially if you have few free states providing food as allies-then new citizen every turn) and won't get such a big negative happiness bonus for different culture. What a hell? the only right way in conquer is total extermination? I don't like that - and it's not teaching kids nowadays to think properly and we don't want to raise new hitlers are we? I won't be pointing every other change that I wasn't found of - others did that already, so will only focus at happiness as main reason why this CiV has butchered gameplay - and in long term is just not fun to play. - So meh. No expansions or DLC that i'll buy for this one - going back to 4 or will wait for 6.… Expand
  27. McKampela
    Jun 9, 2011
    5
    The game is aesthetically good looking and the combat system is interesting. But the game sucks, mostly because of really poor AI, that fails all warfare and is boring. The AI takes the worst parts from human players and regular Civ Ai and mashes them into a poorly executed abomination. The AI is unpredictable, in a bad way, stupid and can't grasp the basic concepts of warfare. It alsoThe game is aesthetically good looking and the combat system is interesting. But the game sucks, mostly because of really poor AI, that fails all warfare and is boring. The AI takes the worst parts from human players and regular Civ Ai and mashes them into a poorly executed abomination. The AI is unpredictable, in a bad way, stupid and can't grasp the basic concepts of warfare. It also takes serious amounts of computing power to just move its million worker units from place to place, doing nothing. The game also lacks any feeling of wonder. If you want a supereasy strategy game, this is a game for you.… Expand
  28. haileris2
    Sep 11, 2011
    5
    Civilization - Lite Edition is what I call this. If you want the complexity of the last games look elsewhere. If you want a turn based strategy game with average to poor AI and the depth of the shallow end of the paddling pool then this will be just for you!
  29. Janov
    Oct 23, 2011
    5
    this game is absolutely overrated!
    i am not the typical strategy gamer but still i am a good stategy gamer ;)
    but civ 5 was a pure waste of money. ok, graphics and sounds are nice. but everything else is realy bad. this game simply has NO working KI. it feels like there are only a few scripts are working and waiting in the background. "attack the player at time x" "ask him for contract"    this game is absolutely overrated!
    i am not the typical strategy gamer but still i am a good stategy gamer ;)
    but civ 5 was a pure waste of money.
    ok, graphics and sounds are nice.
    but everything else is realy bad.
    this game simply has NO working KI.
    it feels like there are only a few scripts are working and waiting in the background.
    "attack the player at time x"
    "ask him for contract" (even if the have never seen you)
    "battle with player y" (but no results are seen)

    my resume: :(    … Expand
  30. czajmen
    Nov 7, 2011
    5
    I like all civ games. Civ IV was, no IS a great game. Civ V is only average game. Playing single is waste a time - AI is too stupid. Multi is better, but before last patch playing with more that 4 people was impossible. Now is better, but changing in the world wonders was a very bad idea. Wonders is too mach powerful. If play 1 vs 1 - the game win who first discovery a atom and build aI like all civ games. Civ IV was, no IS a great game. Civ V is only average game. Playing single is waste a time - AI is too stupid. Multi is better, but before last patch playing with more that 4 people was impossible. Now is better, but changing in the world wonders was a very bad idea. Wonders is too mach powerful. If play 1 vs 1 - the game win who first discovery a atom and build a atomic bomb. Playing with more people is better, but sill a average.… Expand
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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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