Like espionage in Gods and Kings, I suspect that Brave New World will once again do little to address the glaring problem of depth, that Civ V has battled with since its infancy. In Gods and Kings, religion and espionage were once pushed down our throats, giving civilisations with a head-start in religion an extra edge over other civilisations, which in some cases continue to rot away in the midst of their superior, more optimal neighbours (Germany, for instance). In Vanilla, the game persistently and flamboyantly flaunted its new feature, the City State, by constantly plaguing Unique Abilities of Civilisations, making gameplay without dealing with City States next to impossible, or certainly nonoptimal.

My second problem with these is that they will once again, I suspect, sweep under the rug old features of the game as has been the case with every incarnation of Civ V, making certain civilisations even more useless than they already are. At no point during my many hours of playing Civ V did I feel culture was inadequately supported in fact, a cultural or scientific victory are my favourite pursuits. I do not believe that they address issues that the expansion ought to have addressed in order to improve the game. Secondly, while I approve of the addition of tourism and the changes to culture (I include here social policies) I am critical of the features in two respects. The two features are nothing new, and rather than taking a step forward in complexity and innovation, they take just enough of a step forward to be at the same level of detail as Civ IV, which, considering how long it's been since Civ IV, is embarrassing. Like the addition of international trade routes the UN is also something that so obviously ought to have been considered not only sooner, but also more thoroughly. It's about bloody time that they were added, and given how long it's been since the release of Civ 5, I would've expected them to be more than what they've so far been advertised. The features are either inconsequential or glaringly lacking.įirstly, international trade routes are something that ought to have been in the game from the very beginning. I understand that game design is no easy task, but from what I've seen of the new expansion it hardly seems worth the advertised price.

Am I the only one who has been disappointed by Brave New World?

Brave new world civ 5 ep 1