We’ve covered most of the major issues, but there’s still much to talk about. The Civilization games have always been ones with multiple layers of mechanics, and we’ve barely scratched the surface – so let’s talk about Culture. Culture, in the Civ games, is a measure of your civilization’s influence, and directly impacts the extent of your borders. Given that you can only improve and work resources and terrain within your borders, this quickly becomes extremely important.
The fourth and fifth entries in the Civilization series of games are very different beasts. While the essence of the game remains unchanged – explore, expand, exploit and exterminate – the systems through which the player interacts with the game differ greatly, sometimes radically, from their predecessor. This was enough to cause furor throughout the Civ community when the game was first released; but what was the shouting really about?
Every once in a while, a segment of the gaming community is rent asunder by conflict. While from without, the disagreement often seems to be the sort of tempest in a teacup that afflicts any subculture from time to time, to those caught up within it, it can be of dire importance. Civilization V caused just such a conflict, due to its radical shake-up of the venerable series’ internal mechanics, and hard-liners still hold out to this day.
Northern Beholder 