Civ 5

[JohnyRico]

The return of the king of "Just one more turn!"

CIVILIZATION V

[Skud]

Are there any real battle scenes, or are they all just like the screenshots where the guys are as big as mountains? I just got "Empire, Total War" and the battles are pretty detailed. I know the Civ series has sold a lot of copies, but I don't see much to attract me. Can anyone tell me more about them?

[Grisu]

Civ got worse for me with each new release. It reminds me of the annual EA Sports series. Will skip this one.

[JohnyRico]

A normal game of Civ starts not much after the stone age and progresses through space flight. In between you control the direction of your country in everything from what your cities build, what science you go after, who you go to war with, your system of government, your civics and a host of other things.

The battles in civ are not action sequences. You have your guys with their various strengths and weaknesses against the other guys troops. Variables include things like are the defenders entrenched, are they behind city walls, are they veterans or raw and a hundred other things. Based on that and the luck of a hidden die roll you get a little visual display and someone dies. Combat is only one part of the game however. It's pretty hard to finish a game without going to war at some point but it is possible.

Civ 3 was a major fail at MP but ok aside from that. Civ 4 was way better but I regret getting the expansion "Beyond the Sword" that added overly annoying espionage and corporations.

Civ 3 and all the expansions (known as Civ 3 Complete) can be had on steam for $4.99. It's not the best one but it's pretty cheap to try it and well worth that price.