Welcome to the Interrogation Room, GameSpy's signature pre-release game coverage format. Here, a GameSpy editor (typically one who's relatively in-the-dark about the game in question) grills his peers for information on a hotly anticipated game -- hopefully with more entertaining results than the typical boilerplate preview would provide.
Ryan Scott, Executive Editor: I heard you actually used a Windows hack to brute-force your way into a password-protected PC in order to play Civilization V. Truth?
Will Tuttle, Editor in Chief: I can neither confirm nor deny that my l33t hacking skills allowed me to start playing the game early on a pilfered Alienware, but I can confirm that I played for nearly 20 hours this weekend... and that I'm tired.
Ryan Scott: I'd just like to point out that you just had twins. Maniac. Anyway, this is your first PC game since, like, Doom II, right? Did you have trouble with all the buttons? I kid (mostly), but this isn't exactly your usual cup of tea, is it?
Will Tuttle: You might kid, but you're not that far off. I definitely would not call myself a hardcore PC gamer -- mainly because I never felt like dropping the coin necessary to buy a top-of-the-line machine (and upgrade it every few months). I'm one of those people that needs the latest and greatest tech, so I'd be homeless if I jumped wholeheartedly into PC gaming. But it's not like I didn't play any PC games; it's just that I was mostly focused on the big PC-only shooters like Half-Life 2 and Far Cry, as well as more casual stuff like Plants vs. Zombies.
I have a confession to make, though: I've tried to play the Civilization games, and I was just never able to get into them. When we gave Civilization IV our Game of the Year award back in 2005, I was its biggest opponent on the staff... and I'll still argue that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the best game of that year!
(Side note: Yes, I just had twins, but it turns out that Civilization V is the best game ever if you've got a couple of helpless infants lying around. More on that later!)
Ryan Scott: OK, so what turned you into such an addict this time? How is it that Civilization V has managed to hook you?
Will Tuttle: The biggest difference this time out was simply the ease-of-use when compared to previous Civilization games. The development team said they went to great lengths to make the game easier for first-time players, while still leaving just about everything in for long-time fans of the series. For instance, every time you need to know or do something, it'll pop up on the right side of the screen as a clickable notification. Have a unit that could use some direction? Just click, and you'll be taken right to them. Time to pick a new research? Just click, and you'll be given a list of what's available and how many turns it'll take to learn. The Civilopedia is beautifully implemented this time out, as your advisors (economic, military, cultural) aren't afraid to jump in if it seems like you need a little guidance. From there, you can delve as deep as you'd like into everything -- from why your citizens need to be happy, to the complete history of each of the game's civilizations.
When I first sat down to play the game at a recent press event, I expected to get the full spiel from the producer on how I should start playing or where I should move, as I made it very clear that I was a Civ newbie. Instead, he sat me down and immediately stepped back. Within minutes, I had my capital city up and running, and was well on my way to clearing the area of barbarian hordes and learning how to fish.
Now, I know a lot of readers are probably thinking, "But Will, you're a stupid (albeit dashingly handsome) idiot, and I don't want to play a Civ game that's been dumbed down for you and your mouth-breathing ilk. I'm hardcore!" Well jerks, you'll be happy to know that you can tweak the level of hand-holding to your heart's content; plenty of sub-menus (and sub-sub-menus) are hidden underneath the basic command menus if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty. I won't insult you by trying to pretending to know why the basic commands aren't enough, but they're there if you want them.
Ryan Scott: Walk me through how your typical games go. How does the empire of Will Tuttle work day-to-day? Also, you're a stupid idiot, and I don't want to play a Civ game that's been dumbed down for you and your mouth-breathing ilk.
Will Tuttle: You forgot handsome! Anyway, I wouldn't really say I have "typical" games, as I've been trying to experience everything that Civilization V has to offer. However, I generally like to stick to the coasts, so I don't have to deal with creating a bunch of trade routes between cities. That's precious farmland! Instead, I get my tech skills up to the point where I can build harbors, which allow everything to go over the waters. This also allows me to give my units embarkation orders, as my ships can move a lot farther than most of my land units (even when I've got horses) in a single turn. I'm from a family with a rich nautical tradition -- but since I hate actually going on boats, I'm hoping this will somehow make my father proud of me. The fact that one of my best games was spent controlling the English also helped, as they get a nautical bonus right off the bat.
I'm a pretty fair leader, as the happiness of my citizens actually matters to me. Instead of focusing on building a massive army and steamrolling every other civilization I come across, I lean toward building stuff like libraries, universities, temples, and courthouses, as they increase culture levels and keep everything running smoothly. Since I'm a sports nut in real life, I generally build the colosseum as soon as possible, so my people have a place to let loose on the weekends. My civilizations work hard, but I allow them to play hard, too. I'm also a big fan of the finer things in life, so I'm usually quick to work on my mining and calendar technologies, as those allow me to cultivate stuff like gems and silk. Those make great bargaining chips further down the line, too, so I can always sell some of my classy luxury items if I need some gold or want to encourage a research agreement with another player. Or I could just give a friendly city-state some loot to do my dirty work for me!
Since I'm still learning the Civ ropes, I tend to play fairly balanced when unlocking and researching new technologies. I don't want to miss out on anything, although I'm sure that works against me at times. However, I think I'm going to start shooting for my first science victory, which means I need to start focusing more on getting my space program together instead of just building nukes and wiping my enemies off the face of the planet.
Ryan Scott: How do the city-states work? Do you just bribe everybody to hang out with you and be your friend, like in real life?
Will Tuttle: I've really only dealt with the city-states a bit, initially caring about them simply because they instantly award some gold to the first civilization to come in contact with them. However, as I played more and more, I found that you can -- as you so adeptly put it -- "bribe everybody to hang out with you." Want to weaken the defenses of your biggest rival so you can swoop in to deliver the killing blow? Consider funneling funds and resources to a friendly city-state and "asking" them to go to war "with" you. If you can do it correctly, you can take out your rivals without causing yourself any harm on the diplomatic front. I've yet to see how that works in the long-term, but I like to imagine that it'll be something like the way the United States "secretly" funded the Afghan freedom fighters in their war against the USSR. It was a great idea in the short term, but doesn't seem to be working out so well nowadays. And hey, if that isn't what happens, I'm sure some crafty modder will come up with a sweet Cold War mod.
Of course, if you don't give a crap about all of that secret war mumbo-jumbo, you can just attack a city-state and take it over, but even then you've got to choose wisely. Razing a captured city-state will make you look like a jerk to the rest of the world, but it'll allow you to build a new city that fits in better with the rest of your civilization. Simply taking over the city makes its citizens miserable and instantly lowers your civilization's happiness, but it allows you to dictate the production of the city.
The first thing I build in this case is a Courthouse, which restores a modicum of law and order to the now leaderless city, and a Colosseum or Circus, which instantly makes the citizenry more happy with their lot in life. Finally (and this is new to Civilization V), you can create a puppet government. Basically, this keeps everyone happy and living their lives as normal, but the big drawback is that you have no control over what's produced there. Still, you can collect resources and taxes like normal, so this is the easiest option if you don't feel like micromanaging that stuff. I have a lot left to explore in this area, so I'm planning on seeing just how much I can do this weekend.
Ryan Scott: You mean when you're not changing diapers and bottle-feeding two newborns? "Just one more turn, I'm about to invade Japan!"
Will Tuttle: See, that's actually one of my favorite things about Civilization V. I can play an entire three hour game sitting on my couch (thanks to a DVI-D to HDMI connection) with a wireless mouse in one hand and a baby in the other. Naturally, the whole turn-based thing helps a lot too! But enough about babies, let's talk combat.
One of the reasons I've never been a big Civ player was the series' reliance on resource hoarding and the resulting bum-rush known as the "stack of doom" a term I never actually knew existed but I now appreciate as some strategic badassery. Everything's changed now that Civ V has made the jump to a more chess-like layout that only allows for one unit per tile and allows. Being able to launch arrows (or, let's saaaay... tactical nukes) over your front lines by necessity enhances the experience (at least for me) by not forcing me to worry about how many units to cram into one hexagon. As for the move to that new tile shape, I can certainly see why they went in that direction, although I never quite understood what the big deal was until I played. Civ V's angled movement just feels more graceful to me than was afforded to me by Civ 4's square tiles, but I barely even considered the shape of the tile once I was immersed in this insanely addictive, beautifully streamlined game. And yes, "beautiful" is a perfect way to describe the game's greatly improved visuals.
While I certainly appreciate that some of our fine readers may be vehemently opposed to the changes that, yes, could justifiably be viewed by longtime fan as a slight "dumbing down" of the franchise, the fact is that change is (usually) good, although getting used to the alterations will probably require some adjustment. You know what though? It's safe to say that not only has Civilization V already earned itself one new fanatic, it's likely to have thousands (millions? BILLIONS?) more come September.
And hey, if you don't like it, you can always release your frustrations by stomping the ever-living crap out of me online.
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