War is hell… According to some philosopher, Hell is other people. War is other people? Sounds right to me.

It certainly was a polarizing strategy game, that much is sure. Fans, new and old, clamored all across the internet in defense or assault of the most recent entry in Sid Meier’s perennial Civilization games. The AI was broken, it was easier for new users to get drawn in, the tech tree was broken, the reworked combat made things more interesting, are all arguments I’ve read at one point or another. It became such a hot topic amongst strategy gamers that whenever I saw the words “Civilization V,” I managed to filter out all reality and completely forget whatever happened in the next five minutes – total mind wipe. It’s pretty safe to say it was a success though, at least on a commercial level.

2K Games did wind up doing a lot of nickel and diming on the heels of its release. As a fan of the Civ series for as long as it has existed, I found myself rather disappointed that it looked as though we’d only get minor DLC to expand the game; a new civilization here, a scenario pack there, nothing really added to the actual meat of the game in ways that I had become accustomed to (especially after Civ IV’s fantastic expansion packs). Thankfully I appear to be wrong, with the first major expansion pack, Civilization V: Gods & Kings announced today.

What can we expect from Gods & Kings? Quite a bit apparently, with the promise of new tech, 27 new units, 13 new buildings and 9 new wonders. Along with that we can expect 9 new civilizations, 3 new scenarios, and 2 new types of city states. The details that have me the most pleased are the return of religion, a re-working of naval combat, and an enhanced diplomacy and espionage system. Religion will have players select pantheons of gods, create prophets, and attempt to convert all comers in another prong on the trident of victory. Ships will now be classified into two categories: long distance and melee, making it more important for your navy to keep balanced, and also giving long distance bombardment of cities and targets to be a more viable, and dangerous option. As for the enhanced diplomacy and espionage, players will have the option to create embassies in other civilizations cities, to strengthen relations or serve as a base of operations for seditious actions. Spies will also be making a return, to steal, sabotage, rig elections, or even incite a coup.

This all comes as good news for me, as after all the five dollar DLC for Civ V, I figured we wouldn’t get a proper substantial expansion pack for Civilization V. Sometimes, it’s nice to be proven wrong about things. Civilization V: Gods & Kings will see release on Windows PCs in late spring of 2012.

Sources: Press Release, Civilization Website

Johnny Maloney

Having been a gamer since 1986 when his father brought home an IBM PCjr with King's Quest and Crossfire included, it seemed destined that PC gaming and Johnny Maloney's life would run parallel forever. Despite his occasional affairs with movies, books, music and single malt scotch, he's never once left the side of his PC. In fact, on a full moon on a friday the thirteenth, if you sit in his old chairs... chills will run up your spine if you say "you fight like a dairy farmer," and you can sometimes hear ghostly whispers in the night respond "how appropriate, you fight like a cow…" -- Attempting to contact Johnny at Johnny@Blisteredthumbs.net may be successful.

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