While the path of peace has always been a more noble and challenging route to take when playing Civilization, grinding through turns to win a cultural victory is crushingly dull when you could be whooping it up as a warlord and stomping all over your rivals.

Divide and conquer in this new installment of the Civilization franchise. Divide and conquer with a massive army, use cunning diplomacy and negotiations to woe foes to allies, or dazzle and confuse enemies with your technology; these are some of the ways you can dominate the world.

Amazing graphics; detailed game play and information; clear and clean menus; balanced and improved combat system

Late game turns take a while

There aren't many game franchises that have reached twenty years of age. There are even less that have kept up their quality. Mario hit 25 a few months ago, still going strong after rescuing the princess countless times, and the Prince of Persia is in good health – although maybe that's due to his...

Greatly improved combat; City states add are an excellent addition; Slick interface.

Frequent but isolated crash problem

The king of grand strategy is back to take its throne

New combat system opens up enthralling new challenges; Gorgeous graphics; It's Civilization..

Some minor niggles with unit movement and AI

Packed to the hilt, Sid Meier's Civilization V is just too complex and lacking in character to be an all too enjoyable experience

Refined, improved, and now with giant death robots – the best just got better.

franchise has stood the test of time and evolved through the ages. Between 2008's streamlined console iteration

Epic win?

"In my opinion this game is very good. I first bought this game when a few friends of mine recommended it to me due to its longevity and extremely fun multiplayer experience. At first I was reluctant to buy this game, seeing as how the base game cost 249 rubles (approximately 7 dollars) and the...

incredibly long longevity; guaranteed hours of fun; impeccable multiplayer

Very hard to learn; not suited for everyone

A great, addictive game

Highly detailed; addictive gameplay

Can be slow to begin with