[h1] Finally at a stage where it's worth buying! But still trainer-wheel-tastic! [/h1]
On release, the game was a mess. It's now at a stage where I think it's worth buying (on sale). And to be fair to them, they're making lots of updates, though seeing as I paid about €120 for it, I'd have expected them all to have been included in that exorbitant price. Each of the updates has improved the game, and I imagine future ones will, too, though I personally won't be paying any more than €10 for any additions.
I've got issues, sure. I'd rather pick a Civ and have several leaders over time, for one, cos that just makes more sense! But I won't go into all of the complaints others have waffled on about. I'll just focus on one and dream of what could have been:
[b] My main issue [/b] is that it still seems like you have trainer wheels on throughout the game. They want you to play a certain way, so that you can "win" by following one of their pre-chosen "victory paths". Late game is still a slog, and victories just feel hollow, because the steps that led me there weren't [b] my [/b] ideas.
I just wish there was a sandbox version of the game, where you could just pick a Civ and a leader and explore different game styles, without being pushed to settle here or there, have a massive empire, colonise far off lands, deal with this or that crisis, join the space race, or what have you. No suggested settling locations. No ages. No universal periods of crisis. No different victory types. Just a map, a certain number of turns, a random collection of civilisations, and a leaderboard and point score at the end. You know, so you could just actually enjoy the different game styles that each Civ and leader offers. So you could make your own choices and see where they led you. You could even throw in random crises hitting random areas of the map at random points during the game, just as events that have to be dealt with. Treasure convoys could be something you researched, built, and sent to your capital (certain amount of gold per hex distance to capital, with different values for hexes on your vs. foreign vs. open land and land vs. sea). Sigh.
OK, enough about the game it isn't. For the game that it is:
It looks great. It sounds great. The UI is improving. The civs and leaders are varied enough. The events and memento-building aspects add some spice and replayability. It's another variation on the theme that is Civilisation, and it's a pretty good one (but it's also a massive missed opportunity). If you're on the fence and you have the cash, go for it. If you don't, wait till it's on sale. It'll be a better game by then, and it'll be cheaper. Win-win!
