Civilization V: Beyond Earth (Sid Meier)

[Joelist]

Still having fun with Crusader Kings II. Yes it is detailed and complex (because it simulates in detail the economics, military and political systems of c1000 AD. Which adds to the experience as it does a good job of putting you in the shoes of the character so to speak. Being an independent noble in, say, Ireland plays completely differently than a Viking Jarl or a noble in the Caliphate or a strategos in the Byzantine thematic system. Hats off to the designers here - they set out to make an immersive historical RPG and to me they succeeded.

 

[Overmind One]

Okay, so GateFan76 has been pushing me me to try this game and I went ahead and bought the Gold Edition. WOW. this game is not for the faint-hearted. It is a very complex, intellectually and strategically challenging strategy game based more in civilization building and less in resource gathering and building improvements. There is diplomacy, trading, commerce and spying. The game has just about everything covered. This is not a shooter or character based game, and that makes things more layered. You are governing a culture and a civilization, and even your own religions (if you wish). You have to pick your ideology.

Gameplay (not mine):

 

[Overmind One]

Nuclear war is only an advantage when you are the only one with them. As soon as your enemy has them, full nuclear exchanges are costly and devastating to both cultures.

 

[Overmind One]

More on this game...

I have come to love this game a lot. The only drawback to it is that it takes SO LONG TO PLAY! No matter what you do or how small you make your map, each game will take from 6-15 hours to play. More ambitious settings can have you playing for most likely a couple of weeks to a month. The AI is not bad if you choose all AI opponents.

The Civ building process allows for a huge variation of progress paths, although after paying 4 different civilizations I did not notice any difference in strategy. I am still a complete noob at this game relatively speaking. With Gatefan's recommendation, I bought the Gold Edition and I see gameplay potential going into the many years forward. IMO it plays a whole lot like chess because you can see the entire board, where your opponent's forces are, and his/her sequence of moves which usually tips you off as to what their goal is. There is a fog of war, but it reveals like most strategy games do, when you explore the areas.

I like the game, but I find the default game settings to make for an extremely long drawn out game with multiple victory scenarios and random elements (like Barbarians which appear out of nowhere, right in the center of your lands. There is a Marathon setting which could make a game with a huge map and maximum civs involved and Barbarians, take perhaps several months to complete. At those settings, one's time expended playing this game could reach dangerous percentages of daily hours.

I look forward to playing my first real human character.

 

[Overmind One]

Still having fun with Crusader Kings II. Yes it is detailed and complex (because it simulates in detail the economics, military and political systems of c1000 AD. Which adds to the experience as it does a good job of putting you in the shoes of the character so to speak. Being an independent noble in, say, Ireland plays completely differently than a Viking Jarl or a noble in the Caliphate or a strategos in the Byzantine thematic system. Hats off to the designers here - they set out to make an immersive historical RPG and to me they succeeded.

That game looks a lot like it plays like a board game.

 

[Joelist]

It has a map but you're playing as an individual. The sheer amount of stuff going on and what you need to manage makes it extremely immersive. It also makes it a massive brain burn to play.

Paradox is famous for games like these (Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings and such). They also made Magicka and Pillars of Eternity and now are preparing to release a game of galactic exploration.

 

[Overmind One]

It has a map but you're playing as an individual. The sheer amount of stuff going on and what you need to manage makes it extremely immersive. It also makes it a massive brain burn to play.

Paradox is famous for games like these (Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings and such). They also made Magicka and Pillars of Eternity and now are preparing to release a game of galactic exploration.

You would like Civ 5. It also plays on an epic, massive scale and you have to manage just about everything. One thing I like about the brief look at Crusader Kings is the idea of human lineage being part of the gameplay. Characters getting married and having children who later become rulers and such...penalties when they die and so forth. Very interesting element to put in a game!

 

[Gatefan1976]

As much as I like/love Civ 5, games like CK are on a far higher level of management than Civ5. Civ really is a entry level game in comparison.

 

[Bluce Ree]

I have been playing Hulk Smash.

http://www.smashingames.com/games/hulksmashup.html

The game is rather compelling. The game play begins in a major city that remains unidentified with several well-architected and high-end design inspired buildings. The object of the game is to climb and smash the buildings one by one on both sides until they collapse.

The game is not for the faint of heart. By the second level, you are not only trying to beat the clock but also avoiding the military vehicles that enter on either side of the screen that shoot at you. You'll need both cunning reflexes and meticulous strategic planning to avoid being hit and anticipating which side of the screen the vehicle will appear next. With good strategy and sufficient luck, you will be able to smash the vehicles.

The game can be demanding on the casual user, tying the user down to their seat with unparalleled addiction never seen before. If you're not careful, days will seem like minutes as time rushes by while you continue your quest.

I give this game 0 out of a billion stars because this entire review was meant to waste your time.

 

[Gatefan1976]

Ahh, I would love for you to play Civ Bluce................

 

[Overmind One]

Ahh, I would love for you to play Civ Bluce................

Are you still playing this game GF? I sometimes play a game on a Friday or when I have several hours to play, but the long time it takes as the game progresses took a toll on me. I don't play as much.

 

[Overmind One]

It has a map but you're playing as an individual. The sheer amount of stuff going on and what you need to manage makes it extremely immersive. It also makes it a massive brain burn to play.

Paradox is famous for games like these (Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings and such). They also made Magicka and Pillars of Eternity and now are preparing to release a game of galactic exploration.

This is helpful. I am noticing that there is a class of PC games which fall under a category of "board to digital". Board games which have been adapted to PC game format. This is distinctly different than the arcade-style first person shooters and adventure games, which are again different than strategy games. Even within strategy, there is real-time strategy (my favorite) and turn based (like Civ 5 and most board games). Both you and GF play board games as well as PC, and your comment helps me to understand why.

 

[Overmind One]

I have been playing Hulk Smash.

http://www.smashingames.com/games/hulksmashup.html

The game is rather compelling. The game play begins in a major city that remains unidentified with several well-architected and high-end design inspired buildings. The object of the game is to climb and smash the buildings one by one on both sides until they collapse.

The game is not for the faint of heart. By the second level, you are not only trying to beat the clock but also avoiding the military vehicles that enter on either side of the screen that shoot at you. You'll need both cunning reflexes and meticulous strategic planning to avoid being hit and anticipating which side of the screen the vehicle will appear next. With good strategy and sufficient luck, you will be able to smash the vehicles.

The game can be demanding on the casual user, tying the user down to their seat with unparalleled addiction never seen before. If you're not careful, days will seem like minutes as time rushes by while you continue your quest.

I give this game 0 out of a billion stars because this entire review was meant to waste your time.

I actually even installed the Flash plugin for Firefox to try this game, and the instructions are all in Italian! I can't read any of it.

 

[Gatefan1976]

Are you still playing this game GF? I sometimes play a game on a Friday or when I have several hours to play, but the long time it takes as the game progresses took a toll on me. I don't play as much.

Yep, playing as Babylonia right now